The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - Book Review

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4 out of 5 stars

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

This is one of the first times I have uttered the words "this should have been a series, probably a trilogy but even a dualogy would have done it" I did really enjoy reading this book but I felt there was so much more story to tell, so much things I wanted to learn more about.

But lets get started.. You know how it goes, dislikes, likes, who should read, and wrap-up followed by spoilers way at the end. Already finished the book be sure to chat with me!!

Dislikes:

As I said I feel like there was so much left unsaid. As I came to the ending while the plot felt complete it still for whatever reason felt rushed. The whole climax of the story came to an end in the last 70 pages.. of an 800+ page book so I guess I gripe with how fast the end came to be. While the end didn't leave me unsatisfied plot wise it did feel like everything fell into place to conveniently and I didn't get enough of the big bad guy, enough to feel the true weight of his evil.



Likes:

Which brings me to likes. I loved the character development and all the different view points. Samantha Shannon is a great story teller the flow of the story was great and I loved most of all that you never felt you were too long trapped in one area. There was great movement across the world.. although that aspect does reiterate how much this would have benefited from being more than a standalone epic fantasy. I adored Ead, Margaret and Loth.. some of my favourite characters but, my most favourite character has to be Aralaq and ichneumon and Nayimathun a Lacustrine dragon.. both non-human but they truly stole the story for me. There was awesome representation in this book. Multiple races, species, cultures, LGBTQ, religions, and personalities across the board which I found quite refreshing. I also found myself deep in the workings of the political courts. I loved the the small nuances of how the political world worked. How easy a dynasty and queendom could fall. How ones religion and faith is constantly tested and how one must get past their differences to understand each other. This book had great banter, and political intrigue at every corner.

Who should read this:

Lovers of epic fantasies should pick this up today. Those who love dragons and different spieces. Lovers of political intrigue who want to deep dive into the daily workings of court in a queendom, who want to explore the religious workings of multiple regions. Those who love to see how a kingdom/queendom/dynasty came to be!



Wrap-up:

All in all a truly great read. I hope the author explores more in this world at a later date. It would be nice to see some prequels to this time-line and maybe even a sequel! This is a definite recommended read so if this book is not on your radar at it to your TBR. Spoilers at the bottom..

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SPOILERS
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Ok.... Did anyone really hope to see Loth with Donmata Marosa Vetalda at the end as much as I did.. I mean just implying that they "could" soon meet wasn't enough for me.. I also wanted to see Ead rule as a Prioress for a bit... man I hope there are more stories to come!!!