The New York Times bestselling ”epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones” (Bustle).A world divided.A queendom without an heir.An ancient enemy awakens.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 … 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.
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I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this book. I knew that per the author it was supposed to be a standalone but there were a lot of people that were complaining that there was no way it was. After reading this book I can 100% say it is a standalone. This story came to an end. That is not saying that she can not write another story that is down the road in this world when the characters come together again. This is a case of just because you want more does not mean that there will be more.
I enjoyed this book more than I really thought I would. The story flowed and did not drag on. There were just enough POVs to keep you engaged without being bored.
The love story was wonderful and was built into the story and I did not see it as the main focus. Which for me was a nice change.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy fantasy to read. Yes, it is large but it was a fun read.
It is hard to say enough good things about this book. The author carefully plots the various intersections of East, West, North, and South without bogging down in useless and confusing detail. Characters are wonderfully and carefully created and show emotional development, maturation, intelligence, flexibility and much more, especially when dealing with foreign cultures and differing religions. The story contains many characters, but the author takes care to leave peripheral folks on the edge of the action, allowing them to make their contributions and then to fade away. One of the strongest feature of character interaction is an intense commitment to friendship and selflessness. (Except for Roos who is truly evil and self-centered for 90% of the book.) this is one of the finest fantasy novels i have ever read, and I plan to store it in my “To Be Read Again” folder.
An ambitious novel, that gives us one well-developed memorable character (Ead Duryan) , and several that you wanted to learn more about. The threat to them all is an excuse to get us travelling around this world. In our tour we get a few history lessons, brief thumbnail descriptions of empires which all have echoes in our own world , and the truth behind the origins of one region’s religion. Which is all well and good in a fantasy novel, except it’s a shallow look. Other than Ead Dryan, we get no feel for people live in those cultures, religions, etc. It’s 800+ pages, all driven by plot. And it’s a slow plot with a rather unsatisfying ending.
Sweeping in scope, utterly original, gorgeous prose, fearless plot…you just can’t ask for more from high fantasy. Bonus points for being complete and self-contained within a single volume (and not leaving one waiting for a literal decade for the next installment…).
I LOVED everything about this book! It is beautifully written and the story lines, though complex in the beginning, come together perfectly. If you’re looking for a fantasy book that is adultish but not smutty or completely irrational The Priory of the Orange Tree should absolutely go to the top of your reading list. Hands down one of the best books I’ve read this year.
4.75 stars
Magic, fire breathing dragons, court intrigue, friendships, water dragons, an assassin covent, pirates, a smidge of romance, and oh, did I mention dragons? Yep, there’s dragons.
Ok, they’re wyverns and that’s good enough for me.
I still had a few questions about some of the more minor details and one character’s wrap up but overall I really enjoyed this read.
At first I was excited to read a single volume fantasy story but now I’m bummed that there are not more books with these characters waiting for me. I would gladly read 6-7 more books about them; 800 pages is just not enough.
Not game of thrones, but not a bad read
Wow! Sometimes as I plod through yet another derivative work I feel like the world of epic fantasy has lost its mojo, but then I read something like “The Priory of the Orange Tree” and my faith is redeemed.
I won’t try to summarize the plot here, because it’s complicated and epic in scale. Instead I’ll just say that there are several plot threads that start off unconnected and then gradually weave together as the story unfolds. And, while this is not the only reason to read the book, kudos to the author for including a diverse cast of characters, including a lesbian love story.
However, there are lots of well-meaning authors out there who try to do just that, only to find their good intentions dragging their artistic abilities down into the dust. “The Priory of the Orange Tree” is also a pleasure to read as a work of literature, with lots of gorgeous language and imagery, as well as lots of intrigue and action. Fans of Jacqueline Carey or Robin Hobb will very likely enjoy this book as well.
Readers should be be aware that this is a long, complex work with plenty of obscure language–there’s a glossary at the end–and the typical meandering plot of epic fantasy, so if you have a problem with that, this will probably not be the work for you. But if you like that kind of thing, chances are excellent you will like this book as well. Strongly recommended for readers looking for a fresh and exciting voice in epic fantasy.
It takes about 200 pages to get really interested in the story but it’s worth it.
I enjoyed the book as it did some different things with old tropes. The characters were realistic and I had feeling for some of them. Not always good feelings. I think I’d give this book 4.5 stars but it was worth more than four.
An epic fantasy destined to be a classic. A world crafted with such intricacy and detail, I had to remind myself it was not a real place. The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of those rare novels that captures your imagination so completely you will read it over and over, until the cover cracks and the spine breaks.
The Priory of the Orange Tree feels like a feminist successor to The Lord of the Rings – something I don’t say lightly. Epic and awe-inspiring in its scope, its rich, diverse world captivated me. I loved each complex narrator, all wonderfully human heroes and anti-heroes, and adored sinking into the world Samantha Shannon has created with such heart and beauty. This deserves to be as big as Game of Thrones… An expertly woven saga that feels very relevant for the contemporary world we live in.
Nothing short of extraordinary. An audacious, ambitious, sprawling epic, set across a world like no other, The Priory of the Orange Tree takes everything you think you know about high fantasy, rips it apart and remakes it… Nothing short of game-changing… An absolute masterclass in story telling, from one of the most exciting and innovative fantasy writers alive today. With it, Samantha Shannon has set the bar stratospherically high. This is the book of 2019.
I have been waiting my whole life for this fantasy. It’s the kind of book you never want to end. Utterly unique, wild, and rich. Sheer perfection.
If you love dragons, magic and epic battles but are sick of the misogyny, sexual violence and tissue-thin female “characters” that all too often characterize classic fantasy, this one’s for you. Just as epic, just as magical, but with fully drawn, compelling women at the story’s heart.
This had so many traditional elements of an epic fantasy, but it felt so fresh. Obviously it’s a huge book and had moments that the story dragged (two of the four POV characters could be boring/annoying, though the other two generally made up for it), but I couldn’t put it down. It was also very queer friendly and full of women in positions of power.
If you thought Brandon Sanderson had a corner on standalone epic fantasy then you’re in for a surprise with this one!
As usual, let me start with the narrator.
I’ve never listened to an audiobook read by Liyah Summers before, and after hearing this I can’t understand why! She is absolutely one of the top talents in the business.
She has impressive vocal range, giving us a wonderful assortment of voices, and even her male voices are widely varied and sound amazing! Her skill with accents is likewise incredible.
She varies her pace to be a reflection of the events she’s describing, which provides an excellent tempo throughout the book, and her vocal inflections are damn near perfect!
Now, as the story begins there is a bit of a learning curve as we’re dropped right in the middle of several different characters in different places doing different things and it does take a bit of time to acclimate to the nuances of each character and location.
And I love it!
One of my biggest complaints about so many fantasy novels is the over explaining. I don’t need twelve minutes of exposition to explain the context behind the events you’re about to describe. Just describe them and let me draw my own conclusion.
Blessedly, there is very little to none of that in this book!
Samantha Shannon has built a wonderful world here with deep, rich history (not all of which is known or true), complicated political atmospheres, fascinating mythology, and some startling revelations.
At first, it seemed she had committed the (to my thinking) sin of making all dragons evil. But it turns out the world is a whole lot more complex than that.
There is a part of me that’s tempted to compare this book to A Game of Thrones, as there are definite similarities (largely in that court intrigue is a massive part of the story). There is a problem with drawing that comparison, however.
In short, this book is better. Way better. In every way.
The pointless, senseless brutality, vulgarity, violence, and sexual assault are absent. What brutality and vulgarity there is always serves a purpose.
The storyline is way more concise, without the meandering and randomness.
And frankly, the writing is just better. Orders of magnitude better.
I can’t say I’m entirely on board with the magic system, as I’m not overly fond of magic sources being external to the user (I have the same problem with GoT and many others). However, it is interesting.
Elsewise, the closest thing I have to a criticism is the profusion of matriarchal cultures/societies. So far as I can tell, the world seems to have numerous matriarchies but only one patriarchy. And none that treat both gender with equal merit.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think fantasy needs to be all about gender equality or anything, it just strikes me as a little odd that all these human societies are so strongly weighted toward female rule.
In the end, whatever excites you about epic fantasy, you’ll find it here.
We have court intrigue galore, reversals, twists, secrets, and mysteries at every turn. We have deep, rich history, epic battles, phenomenal magical items, and genuinely heartfelt moments, both sweet and passionate.
In short, this is the single best standalone fantasy I have ever read. You can’t go wrong with this one.
The Platonic Ideal of a fantasy novel . . . This story of good and evil, struggle and triumph, love and loss and return is beautifully written: complex but clear, and utterly immersive. I loved this book.
Though I enjoyed this book, it wasn’t quite the riveting tale I was expecting. Yes, it’s an adult epic fantasy with queer ladies and dragons and a good old stabby murdery time, but there was hardly any character development, and the characters just felt extremely flat the whole time. It’s as if there was a wall between me and the characters.
For example, there are a few romantic relationships that happen in this book, but we only see “hey, they know each other” or “hey, they meet each other” and then later we suddenly see “hey, they’re in love” with nothing in between. Not seeing those relationships develop made me less invested in them, so that when things happened, like they have to stand up for each other or they think one of them won’t make it, I wasn’t as afraid for them or anything, because we had hardly seen the relationship happen or gotten any picture of what these people meant to each other.
Also, there’s a main character whose story is so far removed from the entire rest of everything going on in the book, that she doesn’t meet the other characters we keep reading about until almost the end.
Overall, I did love this book for its gender equality, matriarchical monarchy (if not society exactly), and very well thought out worldbuilding and folklore of the world. The character development and relationship development was the only real weak point, but it was a big weak point to me.