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The Priory of the Orange Tree
Last night I finished a behemoth of a high fantasy novel: Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree. Clocking in at 804 pages, I have to say the book did not feel like a slog at all. It actually flew by for the most part, and there was no part of the plot which I thought dragged, which is pretty impressive with this length. The description from Story Graph is:
Also fascinating is the mythology which underlays the world itself. The "present" state of Shannon's world is heavily influenced by quasi-mythical characters who lived and died long before our protagonists, and uncovering the truth of their lives and their deeds is a part of the current protagonists' story. It makes Shannon's world feel very rich, and it appropriately deals with the difficulty over time of separating fact and history from myth and legend.
The characters themselves were layered and nuanced, and while I don't want to give any spoilers, one character has a growth arc I particularly loved because she consciously puts effort into setting aside things she's been told her entire life when she understands they may not click with reality. All of the characters have their good and bad moments, and it makes them so real that I couldn't help but love all of them.
For a quick summary:
Recommend if you:
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.
I thought Shannon did a neat thing in working in the mythology of both European and Asian dragons, but having them play wildly different roles in her world accordingly. The various countries and cultures in the novel all feel "real" and the different ways in which they interact (or do not interact) with the magic in their world is interesting. 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.
Also fascinating is the mythology which underlays the world itself. The "present" state of Shannon's world is heavily influenced by quasi-mythical characters who lived and died long before our protagonists, and uncovering the truth of their lives and their deeds is a part of the current protagonists' story. It makes Shannon's world feel very rich, and it appropriately deals with the difficulty over time of separating fact and history from myth and legend.
The characters themselves were layered and nuanced, and while I don't want to give any spoilers, one character has a growth arc I particularly loved because she consciously puts effort into setting aside things she's been told her entire life when she understands they may not click with reality. All of the characters have their good and bad moments, and it makes them so real that I couldn't help but love all of them.
For a quick summary:
Recommend if you:
- Want female-focused fantasy
- Enjoy a romantic subplot but don't want it to take over the action
- Want queer characters in your fantasy
- Enjoy multi-POV stories that take time to roll out
- Like the tension of "duty vs. love"
- Want an epic dragon-on-dragon fight
- Want to have more action than build-up
- Prefer low-stakes conflict
- Want romance at the center of the story
- Do not like violence