Thoughts on : The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Posted by on June 16, 2019 12:21 am in 4.5 stars reads | 0 comments

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Genre : Fantasy
Series : Stand alone

About the Book  :

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

My Thoughts :

I loved this one.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of those books where, even though I noticed some flaws along the way, I ended up so completely immersed in its beautiful, magical world that I didn’t really mind said flaws. I read it over three months, taking break between sections to read other books, and I think it helped a lot with my enjoyment of it.

I think my favourite aspect of the book were the characters, mainly Tané, Sabran and Ead, as well as Thruyde (spelling?), who is not a main character but who’s story was really good. I found everything about them interesting : who they were, their backstory, their goals,  I was rooting for them from beginning to end, through mistakes and successes. They felt complex and alive, and once I finished reading the book, I immediately missed them.

I also thought the author created quite an interesting world. Divided, yes, but each country or region felt as though it completed each other in some way. You’ll definitely enjoy this book more if, like me, you love to read about politics and intrigue. That was by far one of my favourite parts; I love books where “nothing happens” except characters discussing and scheming, and there was definitely a lot of that.

Also : dragons! I always love dragons, good or evil, and these ones were amazing – though I wish I could have read and learn more about them.

There’s a few reasons why I couldn’t quite give this book a big five stars : I felt the pace was slightly uneven, going from slow in the beginning to suddenly super fast in the last third. I personally prefer the slower pace, but I know a lot of readers preferred the last third – which means you have to wait quite a long time for the “good part” when the book is 800 pages long!

I also felt like the world the author created needed more than one volume to be fully explored. It was so rich and detailed, sometimes I felt that details of history or culture were mentioned but barely explained (even with the glossary at the end). In the same way, some story lines felt a bit rushed (I would have loved to see more of Tané’s training, for instance) and I feel like a duology, at least, might have given us a little more of everything.

All in all, I had a blast with this book and I’d love to read more stories taking place in the same world.  There were friendships, enemies, a bit of romance, plotting, pirates, magic, dragons… what more can you wish for? Maybe more dragons!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: