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Review: The Priory of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Book 10 of 2022

Start Reading Time: 11 April 2022

Finish reading Time: 21 May 2022

Page Count: 848

TRIGGER WARNINGS: MISCARRIAGE, DEATH, VIOLENCE

This is the spoiler-free part of the review. I will put up a spoiler alert before going into the review that contains spoilers.

Yes, you read that right. It took me 40 days to finish reading this book. Part of the reason why it took so long is because i took a break from reading it for the last 10 days of Ramadhan, and then the next 1 week after Ramadhan, because i was celebrating Eid and enjoying my only holiday to the absolute max the only way i know how: sleep all day, eat millions of calories at inhumane hours of the day, watch multiple Netflix shows, and just basically turn off my brain for 7 days. I do feel guilty for the week that i didn't read at all, because i was really looking forward to reading as many books 24 hours for that holiday, but i ended up reading nothing at all. But mentally, I need that rest, and am still really grateful that I got it. One can simultaneously feel guilty and grateful about one thing.

So, I spent a lot of time being lost in this book's fantasy world, which is kind of scary but amazing. There are dragons, mages, and queer people and their longings. It was a good time, although i gotta admit, the story got kinda convoluted that sometimes i have to read the paragraphs a couple times or go back a few pages to understand what's going on in the story. So, yeah, the book's not without its flaws, which I will explain further in the review, but overall, I was immersed in the fantasy world and now I want to read more books with dragons in them.

Also, because the story's kinda convoluted, and because I took breaks from reading it a few times, I kind of forget the story here and there. So, I have to refresh my memory and go back to reading some parts of the book in order to make this review. I really want to get it right for this review, because I see that this book gets mixed reviews online, (which I totally understand) but I want to make my case of why I think the book deserves the 4 stars even though it has its challenges.

Let's see if I can make a brief, non-spoilery summary of this 800+ pages long book with 4 POVs:

1000 years ago, the most powerful draconian dragon known as The Nameless One, was put in a deep slumber. However, there are signs being noticed by a certain group of people and other beings who can sense it, that he will soon wake up to sow chaos and conquer humankind.

In the west, the people of Virtudom have this long held belief that The Nameless One can never return and harm them as long as the House of Berethnet rules. However, the current head of the House Berethnet, Sabran IX, is unwed and now getting even more pressure to get married and provide an heir. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to many, there are multiple assassins trying to kill Sabran, and those assassins would have been successful if Ead wasn't there.

Ead Duryan, as the people of Inys knew her, is an Ordinary Chamberer in the Upper Household of Sabran. However, that's not the truth, it's just an identity she uses to disguise herself in order to protect Sabran from harm. The truth is, she's an initiate of the Priory of the Orange Tree, which is located in the south. Being an initiate of the Priory of the Orange Tree meaning that she's trained to slay dragons, as they are quite literally, dragon slayers. Their job is not only to slay dragons, however, the tree has magical powers that grant whoever eats the fallen orange from its magical powers, and the priory works secretly to make sure to maintain order and peace in the world.

Meanwhile in the East, Tané, an apprentice who's training to be a High Sea Guard, did something she should never do. She rescued a foreigner who's been washed ashore, and hid him in the village, which forbids any foreigner to enter, due to a dangerous virus that they fear the foreigners possess. Tané was worried the village would go into lockdown and her test would be delayed. She can no longer wait to be a dragon rider, she has been dreaming about it since she was just a little orphan.

Little did Tané knew, the foreigner she rescued was carrying an important message from the west, and he was in a mission to bring together the East and the West to work together to fight The Nameless One whom he and his lover in the west predicted will return very soon, and that's just what he told Niclays Roos, an exiled anatomist and alchemist who used to work for Queen Sabran. Niclays is just the man the foreigner was looking for in the East. After hearing the foreigner, Niclays can't help but think of how ridiculous he and whomever his lover in the west is. That is, until he discovered that the foreigner's lover is the granddaughter of his late lover. The foreigner informs him that his lover comes to said prediction from reading the books that her late grandfather left her. Now, Niclays is not really sure if the prediction and the mission to bring together the East and the West is just a silly idea, and what he should do in all of this.

Will the Nameless One return and destroy the world? Will Sabran discover who Ead really is? Will Tané get to be a real dragon rider? And what will Niclays do? As Brando Sando said, you've gotta RAFO (read and find out), and you'll be lost in an epic magical world with mages, witches, dragons, queer love stories and lots and lots of amazing and powerful women.

🚨SPOILER ALERT🚨

From this point forward in the review, i will mention spoilers, plot twist and the ending, so if you don’t wish to be spoiled, you can skip the rest of the review and come back once you’ve finished reading this book

Here are my favorite things about the book:

THE👏🏻 WOMEN👏🏻. Oh, my gosh, to say these women are amazing, multi-dimensional, bad-ass, and inspirational is not doing them justice because they are just THAT GREAT. And to say that I love them is a gross understatement. Ead, Sabran, and Tané can step on my throat and I would thank them. And not only them, I love almost all of the women, I think even the Golden Empress is so iconic. Marosa Vetalda? Brilliant, strong, amazing perseverance. Margret? Absolute queen, the best friend we all wish we have. Kalyba? Literally enchanting, straight up scary MILF. Truyde? She's kinda dumb and impulsive, but she gets the spirit and she was the first one who did something to try to make the West and the East to work together to fight the Nameless One.

I love how so much of the story is about Girl Power, and the men who listen and support the women, and they don't mind taking the backseat and let the women lead, and they sincerely admire and are proud of the women for it. The queen who's not afraid to change the status quo, the mage who stood up to the corrupt prioress and fought to protect what she loves, the dragon rider apprentice who've lost everything she fought her whole life to have still not losing hope and discovered her destiny and so many more awesome women characters story-lines. I also love how the books shows how two strong women characters who have believed such opposite beliefs their whole lives, having an open mind and accept that maybe what they believed in is not the whole truth and they were able to put aside their differences, help each other and work together to defeat true evil for the well being of so many. It was truly a joy to read.

The gay longing. The tragic love story. We get a happy ending and a tragic ending to 2 different queer love stories in this book, and i think it's amazing that i get really invested in multiple love stories in a book and the fact that it's giving me both happy and sad endings is just ✨la perfection✨.

Niclays' character development. I started out already really liking the guy because he was funny. Literally a few of my first notes of the book were about how funny and relatable he is. But then when his cowardice and shittiness started to show, I was disappointed and started to see him as a really bad person. However, I think that he's not an inherently a bad person, I think he's just really cowardly, meaning that he knows that what he's doing is not morally good, but he doesn't have the spine to stand up for and actually do the morally right thing, and that, I think a lot of us can sympathize with. Because sometimes, doing the right thing can cost a lot, and really, really hard to do compared to doing the wrong thing. But in the end, when he finally did the right thing, and the fact that the main drive for him to do it was Jannart, I think it's just a really beautiful character development, and it just goes to show how much a person can inspire others in choosing to be on the right side of things, and how love is so powerful that it has the ability change a person, either for the better or worse. I think he has the best character arc in this book and that's saying a lot, because I really like a lot of the other characters too (see point 1 above, where I rave about the awesome women characters of the book), but Niclays is, I think, the best among others.

THE PROSE. Wow. Such beauty, such graceful choice of words, I can get stuck on a sentence for a while just admiring how beautiful the words are. Please see my favorite quotes below to see for yourself and you'll see what I mean. Samantha Shannon is a really good writer, indeed. I hope I'll get to read more of her works this year.

As much as I love the story, the characters, the book, I cannot give this book a perfect 5 stars, and here's why...

I have read many reviews saying this book is far too long, and even though I really like it, I do concur that this could be better if it was shorter. Don't get me wrong, i love thicc books, if you read my previous reviews, you'll see that i complained a lot about books being not long enough, and some of my favorite books of all time are about 1000+ pages books, so obviously, i don't mind thicc books and long stories. But with this one, I feel like there are some scenes that could be cut and make it more compact. And even though I adore the prose and writing style, and yes it is very beautiful and a joy to read, sometimes I feel like it can get in the way of telling the story effectively. I sometimes have to look up words and go back a few pages to understand the story better (maybe it's just me, because I'm a dumdum). I feel like there's a middle way, where you can use beautiful prose and tell the story effectively, and not make the reader feel like the book's too long.

Also, I do feel like the story sometimes gets too convoluted, and I have to look for the last chapter of a character's POV to remind myself of how things are, where they ended the chapter at, etc. Again, it may be because I'm just a dumdum who cannot keep up with multiple characters' POVs, but in my defense, The Stormlight Archive uses multiple POVs too and I didn't have this problem. So, yeah, I do think it could have been done better. Also, I think there are some story-lines that did not get a conclusion, for example, I feel like Turosa was meant to have some kind of a redemption arc or was supposed to be Tané's love interest? It feels that way to me from reading about their relationship dynamic in the book (or maybe I was just hoping to get another Rin-Nezha of TPW type of enemy-to-lover story-line), but then after Tané got expelled and exiled, we never heard of Turosa anymore. Also, I feel like Loth is supposed to end up with Marosa Vetalda, but we didn't get any conclusion to their relationship in the book, which was a shame, in my opinion.

I feel like the big fight scene between Ead & Tané VS the Nameless One and his servants & Kalyba was disappointing. It wasn't as epic as I'd hoped it would be. I feel like it was rushed, and the author caved in to a good old simple "Happily Ever After" ending. I understand that the author meant for this book to be a standalone so she wouldn't put any cliffhanger and make the main protagonists lose the final battle to the antagonist, I know the women would win it but the way it was executed it all just feels predicted, and thus felt kind of boring.

And finally, here are my favourite quotes from the book:

"“Reading,” Ead said lightly. “A dangerous pastime.” Truyde looked up at her, sharp-eyed. “You mock me.” “By no means. There is great power in stories.” “All stories grow from a seed of truth,” Truyde said. “They are knowledge after figuration.”"

"“What I know is less important than what the world sees,” Kit said. “Allow me to indulge in a little allegory. Art. Art is not one great act of creation, but many small ones. When you read one of my poems, you fail to see the weeks of careful work it took me to build it—the thinking, the scratched-out words, the pages I burned in disgust. All you see, in the end, is what I want you to see. Such is politics.”"

"Susa had risked everything for a dream that was not hers. That sort of friendship was something not found more than once in a lifetime. Some might not find it at all."

""We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs.”"

"The sun was an open wound, the sky a thousand variations on pink. A pale mist hung over the plain. Loth had never seen a view quite like it. They were shielded from the brunt of the heat, but their collarbones were jeweled with sweat. It must have been unspeakably beautiful when the lavender still grew. Loth tried to imagine walking through the open-air corridors in the summer, warmed by a perfumed breeze. Was it fear or evil that had seized King Sigoso, to corrupt this place the way he had?"

"“So you see, Ead,” the queen said, “I do not sleep because I am not only afraid of the monsters at my door, but also of the monsters my own mind can conjure. The ones that live within.”"

"Ead held her hand a little tighter. “You are Queen of Inys,” she said. “All your life, you have known that you would one day wear the crown.” Sabran watched her face. “You fear for your people, but cannot show it to your court. You wear so much armor by daylight that, by night, you can carry it no longer. By night, you are only flesh. And even the flesh of a queen is prone to fear.” Sabran was listening. Her pupils were large enough to almost blot the green from her eyes. “In darkness, we are naked. Our truest selves. Night is when fear comes to us at its fullest, when we have no way to fight it,” Ead continued. “It will do everything it can to seep inside you. Sometimes it may succeed—but never think that you are the night.”"

"As warm salt water swilled around her calves, her breath came short. She reached out a hand. Head down. Eyes shut. Her hand was steady, but the rest of her was quaking. Cold scale brushed her fingers. She dared not look. She must. When she did, two eyes, as bright as fireworks, stared back from the face of a Lacustrine dragon.""

"As Ead followed them back through the door, she looked back at the queen, and their gazes touched. For the first time, she saw Sabran Berethnet for who she was beneath the mask: a young and fragile woman who carried a thousand-year legacy on her shoulders. A queen whose power was absolute only so long as she could produce a daughter. The fool in Ead wanted to take her by the hand and get her away from this room, but that fool was too much of a coward to act. She left Sabran alone, like all the others had."

"Her voice was steady, but her face was an ode to fatigue. Ead considered, then reached for her. At first, Sabran stiffened. A moment later, she twined their fingers and held on. No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough."

"Tané turned to see over her shoulder. Ginura was already far below. It looked like a painting, real and unreal, a floating world on the verge of the sea. She felt alive, truly alive, as if she had never breathed until now. Here, she was no longer Lady Tané of Clan Miduchi, or anyone at all. She was faceless in the gloaming. A breath of wind over the sea. This was what her death would feel like. Jeweled turtles would come to escort her spirit to the Palace of Many Pearls, and her body would be given to the waves. All that would be left of it was foam."

"“No,” Tané said, voice cracking. “No. I order you to stop this!” Susa stared back at her. Hope had rushed into her eyes, but now grief quenched it. “I am god-chosen,” Tané screamed at the executioner. “She is under my protection. The great Nayimathun will bring the sky down on your heads for this!” He might as well have been made of stone. “It was not her. It was me. It is my fault, my crime—” Susa shook her head, lips quivering. Rain beaded on her lashes. “Tané,” she said thickly, “look away.” “Susa—” Sobs clotted in her throat. It was a mistake. Stop this. Fingertips bit into her arms as she struggled, all her self-possession gone, more and more hands grasping her. Stop this. All she could see was Susa as a child, crowned with snowflakes, and her smile when Tané had taken her hand. The executioner raised his sword. When the head rolled into the ditch, Tané slid to her knees. I will always keep you safe."

"The silence of the Great Bedchamber was vast. Vast as night and all its stars. Ead heard each rustle of silk, each brush of hand on skin on sheets. Their breaths were hushed, held in anticipation of a knock on the door, a key in the lock, and a torch to bare their union. It would light a flame of scandal, and the fire would rise until it scorched them both. But Ead called fire her friend, and she would plunge into the furnace for Sabran Berethnet, for just one night with her. Let them come with their swords and their torches. Let them come."

"Ead gazed at the canopy. She knew one thing now, and it blotted all else out of her mind. Whatever the Priory desired, she could not abandon Sabran. As she stirred in the depths of sleep, Ead breathed in the scent of her. Creamgrail and lilacs, laced with the clove from her pomander. She imagined stealing her away to the Milk Lagoon, that fabled land, where her name would never find her. It could never be."

"As the archers stood down, Ead looked back at the place that had been her prison and her home for eight years. The place where she had met Loth and Margret, two people she had not expected to befriend. The place where she had grown to care for the seed of the Deceiver. The guards came after her. They hunted a ghost, for Ead Duryan was no more."

"“I think we should open your side, Tané,” Elder Vara said decisively. “Let me send for the Seiikinese doctor who attends us. Most growths of this sort are harmless, but occasionally they can eat away at the body from within. We would not want you to die needlessly, child, like the Little Shadow-girl.” “She did not die needlessly,” Tané said, her gaze blank. “With her dying breath, she restored the joy of a dragon and, in doing so, restored the world. Is there a more honorable thing to do with a life?”"

"“Love and fear do strange things to our souls. The dreams they bring, those dreams that leave us drenched in salt water and gasping for breath as if we might die—those, we call unquiet dreams. And only the scent of a rose can avert them.”"

"There was no cure. Jannart had known that, and had wanted to leave before his blood started to burn and his soul was scorched away. And so he had gone to the shadow market in disguise and procured a poison named eternity dust. It gave a quiet death. Niclays trembled. He could still see the scene now, detailed as a painting. Jannart in the bed, their bed. In one hand, the locket Niclays had given him the morning after their first kiss, with the fragment inside. In the other, an empty vial. It had taken the physician, the innkeeper, and four others to hold Niclays back. He could still hear his own howls of denial, taste the tears, smell the sweetness of the poison. You fool, he had screamed. You fucking selfish fool. I waited for you. I waited thirty years . . ."

"Did lovers ever reach the Milk Lagoon, or did they only dream of it? He gripped his head between his hands. With Jannart’s death, he had lost one half of himself. The part of him worth living for. He closed his eyes, head aching, chest heaving—and when he fell into a fitful doze, he dreamed of the room at the top of Brygstad Palace."

"Mita had banished the witch and never allowed her to return. An outsider, after all, was an easy scapegoat. “It was not the witch who killed Zāla.” Ead closed a hand around her blade, and it nerved her. “It was you.”"

"“When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.”"

"“People will see that you are not with child.” Loth hesitated. “Will you tell them you are barren?” Sabran dropped her gaze to her belly. “Barren.” A thin smile. “We must think of a different word for it, I think. That one makes me sound like a field stripped of its crop. A waste with nothing left to give.” She was right. It was a cruel way to describe a person. “Forgive me,” he murmured."

"“Piety can turn the power-hungry into monsters,” Ead said. “They can twist any teaching to justify their actions.”"

"“Make no mistake,” she said, “I am wroth with you.” Ead stood on the threshold. “I shared all my secrets with you, Ead.” Her voice was hardly there. “You saw me as the night does. As my truest self.” She paused. “It was you who drove away Fýredel.” “Yes.” Sabran closed her eyes. “Nothing in my life was real. Even the attempts to take my life were staged, designed to influence and manipulate me. But you, Ead—I believed you were different. I called Combe a liar when he told me you were not what you appeared. Now I wonder if everything between us was part of your act. Your assignment.” Ead searched for the right words. “Answer me,” Sabran said, voice straining. “I am your queen.” “You may be a queen, but you are not my queen. I am not your subject, Sabran.” Ead stepped inside and shut the doors. “And that is why you can be certain that what was between us was real.”"

"Surely this was an unquiet dream. She would throw herself on the mercy of the desert if it meant that she could have this woman."

"Ead tried to speak. To say her name, just one more time. To say she was sorry to break her promise. I will always come back to you."

"Elder Vara seemed to know from her face that she could give him no answer. “I will send you away with my blessing, Tané, if you promise me one thing,” he murmured. “That one day, you will forgive yourself. You are in the spring of your life, child, and have much to learn about this world. Do not deny yourself the privilege of living.”"

"Tané turned and looked once more at Feather Island, her place of exile. One more home she had gained and lost. She must be destined to be rootless, like a seed tossed on the wind. She ran and dived beneath the waves. The storm roiled the sea, but she knew how to survive its wrath. Her heart was rising from the dead. She had worn armor to survive her exile, so thick she had almost forgotten how to feel. Now she savored the warm embrace of salt water, its tang in her mouth, the sense that she could be swept away if she put a hand or foot wrong."

"She paused before saying, “Why did you sail with people from over the Abyss?” Thim furrowed his brow. “They are not only raised to hate fire-breathers, but our dragons,” Tané reminded him. “Knowing this, why would you sail with them?” “Perhaps you should ask yourself a different question, honored Miduchi,” he said. “Would the world be any better if we were all the same?”"

"“To be kin to a dragon,” Nayimathun said, “you must not only have a soul of water. You must have the blood of the sea, and the sea is not always pure. It is not any one thing. There is darkness in it, and danger, and cruelty. It can raze great cities with its rage. Its depths are unknowable; they do not see the touch of the sun. To be a Miduchi is not to be pure, Tané. It is to be the living sea. That is why I chose you. You have a dragon’s heart.” A dragon’s heart. There could be no greater honor."

"“It would be unconventional. You are not my subject, and you are in disgrace,” the Unceasing Emperor mused, “but it seems we are destined for a change in the way of things. Besides, I like to defy convention now and then. No ruler made progress by playing a safe hand. And it keeps my officials on their toes.” Sunlight gleamed in the darkness of his hair. “They never expect us to actually rule, you know. If we do, they call us mad. “They raise us to be soft as silk, distract us with luxury and wealth beyond measure, so we never rock the boat that carries us. They expect us to be so bored by our power that we let them do the ruling in our stead. Behind every throne is a masked servant who seeks only to make a puppet of the one who sits on it. My esteemed grandmother taught me this.”"

"“The Witch of Inysca is persuasive,” she said to him. “She must have promised you all the riches you desired. Why confess?” “Oh, she offered me something far greater than riches, Lady Nurtha. Something for which I would gladly sacrifice what little wealth remains to me,” Niclays said, with a bitter smile. “She showed me the face of my only love. And she promised to return him to me.” “And yet you do not do her bidding.” “Once,” he said, “I would have. If she had not worn his face—if she had only promised that I would see him again—I might well have become her little homunculus. But seeing him . . . I was repulsed. Because Jannart—” The name snared in his throat. “Jannart is dead. He chose the manner of his death, and by resurrecting him like that, Kalyba dishonored his memory.”"

"“I am an alchemist. All my life, I believed that the end goal of alchemy was the glorious transformation of imperfection into purity. Lead into gold, disease into wellness, decay to eternal life. But now I understand. I see. Those were false destinations.” His professor had been right, as always. She had often said that the true alchemy was the work, not its completion. Niclays had thought it was her way of comforting those who never made any progress. “Sounds foolish, I know,” he continued. “Like the ravings of a madman . . . but it was just what Jannart always knew, and what I failed to see. For him, the pursuit of the mulberry tree in the East was his great work. He had the final piece, but not the rest.”"

"“One shortcoming of immortality,” she said, “is that everything you build seems too small, too transient. A painting, a song, a book—all of them rot away. But a masterwork, made over many years, many centuries . . . I cannot tell you the fulfilment it brings. To see your actions, in your lifetime, made into a legacy.”

"It was Eadaz uq-Nāra who had mortally wounded the Nameless One with the True Sword. And then, as if that were not sufficient heroism for one night, she and Tané Miduchi had finished him off with the jewels. It was the stuff of legend, a tale destined to be enshrined in song—and Niclays had slept through the whole damned thing. The thought made a smile pull at the corner of his mouth. Jannart would have laughed his guts out."

"It was icy cold in the mausoleum. An effigy, sculpted from alabaster, lay upon the tomb. As he approached it, Niclays breathed in deeply. Whoever had captured his likeness had known Jannart well when he was in his early forties. On the shield of the statue, representing the protection of the Saint in death, was an inscription. JANNART UTT ZEEDEUR SEEK NOT THE MIDNIGHT SUN ON EARTH BUT LOOK FOR IT WITHIN Niclays spread his hand over the words. “Your bones lie behind me. Nothing lies ahead. You are dead, and I an old man,” he murmured. “I resented you for such a long time, Jannart. I had been comfortable in the belief that I would die before you did. Perhaps I even tried to ensure it. I hated you—hated the memory of you—for leaving first. Leaving me.” With a lump in his throat, he turned away."

"“I thought—” Niclays shook his head. “I thought of dying. When they brought me up from inside the Dancing Pearl, I watched the sea burning. Light from darkness. Fire and stars. I looked into the Abyss, and I almost let myself fall.” A dry chuckle. “And then I stepped back. Too heartsore to live, too craven to die. But then . . . you sent me on that journey for a reason. The only way I could think to honor you was by continuing to live. “You loved me. Without condition. You saw the person I could be. And I will be that person, Jan. I will endure, my midnight sun.” He touched the stone face one more time, the lips that were so like they had been in life. “I will teach my heart to beat again.” It hurt to leave him in the dark. Still, leave he did. Those bones had long since let him go."

"“Some truths,” he said, “are safest buried. Some castles best kept in the sky. There’s promise in tales that are yet to be spoken. In the shadow realm, known only to the few.”"

Despite its flaws, I still had a great time reading this book. I ,once again, get to experience being lost into this fantasy world, which I haven't been able to experience since I finished Rhythm of War. I was able to fully immerse myself into the book and forget about the harsh reality for a second and it was awesome. I recommend this book for fantasy book lovers who like beautiful prose and long stories.

PLOT - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

WRITING STYLE - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ENTERTAINMENT LEVEL- ❤️❤️❤️❤️

BOOK COVER DESIGN - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

OVERALL BOOK RATING - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#book review #the priory of the orange tree

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terramythos · 4 years ago

Text

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 9 of 26

Title: The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019)

Author: Samantha Shannon

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Third-Person, Female Protagonists, LGBT Protagonists

Rating: 10/10

Date Began: 3/12/2021

Date Finished: 4/12/2021

1000 years ago, the world burned. Draconic creatures terrorized the land, led by a horrific evil known as the Nameless One. But then something happened that sent the monsters into a seemingly endless sleep, and the world has rebuilt in the centuries since.

But the Draconic evil begins to stir in its slumber, and the divided nations of the world have little chance to stop it. Eadaz is a mage from the Priory of the Orange Tree, sent to spy on the northern queendom of Inys. Legend has it that as long as the royal line continues, the world will be free from the Nameless One. While it's a long shot, Ead guards the young Queen Sabran closely to preserve the peace. However, as she and the queen grow closer to each other, Ead has to decide where her loyalties lie. Meanwhile, her close friend Loth is secretly sent into exile by the royal spymaster due to his controversial friendship with the queen. Supposedly sent as an ambassador to the newly Draconic kingdom of Yscalin, he soon finds himself out of his depth, entrusted with a deadly secret.

In the isolationist Eastern country of Seiiki, Tané wants nothing more than to become a dragon rider. The dragons of the East are old, wise, and revered as gods-- eternally opposed to the Draconic legions of the West. However, the night before the choosing ceremony that will decide her fate, she breaks isolation and discovers a young man from the West on the shore. Rather than report him to the authorities, she and her friend smuggle him to the island of Orisima, the only place Westerners are permitted. Niclays Roos, an old man exiled to Orisima by Queen Sabran, soon finds himself caught in the conflict. He believes if he finds an elixir for eternal life, he will finally be able to return home. When he's forced to shelter the forbidden Westerner, Niclays' entire way of life is upended-- but he is soon granted the opportunity to escape his exile.

'My grandmother once said that when a wolf comes to the village, a shepherd looks first to her own flock. The wolf bloods his teeth on other sheep, and the shepherd knows it will one day come for hers, but she clings to the hope that she might be able to keep him out. Until the wolf is at her door.’

Full review, minor spoilers, and content warnings under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Some sexual content. Blood, gore, violence, traumatic injury, suicide, and death. Torture and execution. Miscarriage. Body horror (kinda). Drug use.

Clocking in at just over 800 pages, The Priory of the Orange Tree is a long, detailed story. I tend to label things Epic Fantasy when they have world-changing stakes. While Priory certainly fits that criteria, it's the first fantasy book I've read in a while that really does feel like an epic. It stars a huge cast of interesting characters from many walks of life, all of whom find themselves caught up in a world-spanning conflict. It captures the sense of a standalone, grand adventure that shorter fantasy novels of today don't typically reach.

With a book this long, it would be easy to ramble on forever about everything I liked. However, I'm going to try to keep it short and simple.

One of my favorite things about this story was the sheer depth of the world. Lots of people compare this to The Lord of the Rings not for its tropes, but the attention to detail regarding the countries, politics, history, religion, and so on. I'm inclined to agree with this assessment. The world felt alive and multi-dimensional. I could pinpoint many parallels to our own mythologies and histories-- particularly drawn from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. There's also a clear love of language in the story via its beautiful prose. I like to think I know English pretty well, but this book taught me quite a few new words! Might fuck around and call sunsets "rutilant" from now on.

I thought all four leads were interesting. Ead is kinda the "main" lead of the novel, although Tané overtakes her in the latter half. Everyone had different personalities and backstories, and I genuinely enjoyed all of their arcs. Niclays in particular would be an easy character to hate; of the four, he's the most selfish and does some real questionable shit. At the same time, it's hard not to sympathize with him. He's a sad, unjustly exiled elder who's lost the one man he cared about, and finds himself in a desperate situation. These types of characters are interesting to me; a glimpse of what anyone can become given the wrong circumstances and cruel treatment.

With stories like this, one of the most satisfying payoffs is how the different characters and stories come together. It was interesting to see how their paths converged and diverged over time, and ultimately how everything tied together in the end. I also appreciated the character relationships. I liked that Loth's close friendships with both Sabran and Ead were intimate yet platonic without some awkward love triangle.

From some story specifics... I'm a sucker for the bodyguard romance trope, and seeing it done with women in a mainstream novel gave me life. I thought the romance between Ead and Sabran was really sweet; I didn't see how it would work early on since Sabran was a little insufferable, but she had hidden depths (oh god, another weakness of mine). I also really liked the idea of traditional European and Asian dragons being diametrically opposed, and that being a core theme of the story. Intelligent and/or talking animals are another thing I adore in spec fic, so I dug characters like Aralaq. Kalyba's ongoing relevance and gradual exposition was also neat; I love minor world details that turn out super relevant later.

Also, the entire final battle/ending sequence was SO good. Really creative and action packed. Action scenes often blend together for me (and can be logistical nightmares) but Priory's climactic ending was just awesome. I don't want to spoil specifics, but it reminded me of many beloved epic battles in modern fantasy. Avatar the Last Airbender, How To Train Your Dragon, and Pirates of the Caribbean all came to mind.

My main criticism with Priory is that often, the plot relied on convenient coincidence to get the characters out of a jam or otherwise advance the story. I can excuse a minor contrivance or two for the sake of a smooth story, and the scope of this book is big enough that it'd be hard to avoid. But some are nuts. For example, Loth gets rescued from certain death by a giant ichneumon while traveling through the mountains. We later learn the ichneumon is Aralaq, a friend of Ead's, and he just happened to be in the middle of nowhere, far from his home, and stumbled upon Loth. Loth, who ALSO happens to be Ead's best friend... which Aralaq presumably doesn't know?

Another is the MAJOR SPOILER regarding the rising jewel's location. I didn't hate the twist itself, but there was so little build up to it. I wish there were more early hints to justify it, because with setup it would be a pretty cool development. These things didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story, but the borderline deus ex machina (machinae? machinas?) did take me out of it a bit. It’s possible I missed stuff so I’ll give some benefit of the doubt.

Overall, though, The Priory of the Orange Tree is a fun, world-spanning adventure. Like any long book, it's an investment to get into. However, if you're looking for a standalone, feminist fantasy epic, this is certainly a good place to start.

#10/10 #taylor reads #2021 reading challenge #bro this took exactly a month to read but in my defense it's long and i also powered through Pillars of Eternity lmfao

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spiritintheteapot · 3 years ago

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Yuletide Letter 2021

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you for offering a story in one of these rare, excellent, wlw-centered fandoms!

I nominated the first three fandoms listed below for their shared characteristics of thoughtfully complex writing and explicit and tasteful sex. Of course, simple and chaste stories within these worlds can be nice as well!

Some things I like (Gen):

Self-sufficiency and logistical planning. A character having a problem and taking initiative to solve it.

Stories that examine small, overlooked aspects of a world or a character. I like reading about strange ideas that don’t necessarily have top-selling tropes.

The mortifying ordeal of having to be in community (work, family, or elsewhere) with someone you just can’t stand. Petty drama and gossip!

Women chafing against the confines of their lives, and discovering healing friendships within and across gender lines, with people who also want women to be free.

Some things I like (shippy):

Established relationships, and the interpersonal dynamics that take time to arise between partners.

Partners supporting each other against outside conflicts.

Sex where partners switch between giving and receiving roles.

Sex with external vibrator use.

Verbal instructions during sex.

Stories that subvert stereotypes of butch women being dominant/aggressive/selfless in bed. (Bonus points when a butch woman puts on feminine clothing or underwear for an erotic context, when she won’t wear it for other occasions)

Global DNW:

Any maturity level is A-okay for f/f ships.

DNW: content rated above G for other ships (e.g. m/f, m/m, poly ships)

DNW: sex scenes that feature anything phallic (e.g. a dildo), or any anal contact

DNW: non-con

DNW: significant torture, gore, body horror; I prefer you keep the story at a lighter level than the source material

DNW: stories that don’t match a character’s canonical gender

On to the requests!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

I nominated this book for its beautiful depiction of first love and erotic awakening, the loneliness of being multiply marginalized, and the power of collecting images and stories that reflect your queerness back at you in some way.

I’d find a post-canon story interesting--do Lily and Kath stay in love? Will they have a chance to build a home together like Tommy and Lana? Where are they when Kath gets her pilot’s license? Where are they during the moon landing? If they remain a couple, does Kath actually grow up to be butch, and does Lily like the femme role or is it uncomfortable for her? Does Lily try out a nonconforming gender expression of her own?

Elemental Logic - Laurie J. Marks

I nominated this series because it is criminally underrated, while being among the best queer fiction in print. I can’t say enough about the delicacy and originality of the magic system. I love the complexity of our heroines, and the practical, steadfast way they work for a long-awaited peace. I finished Air Logic the week before signups and I cannot stop thinking about Shaftal.

I’d like a story about Zanja and Karis helping each other with a difficult problem, which could be set any time after the end of Fire Logic. I didn’t request any other characters, but I also nominated Clement and Seth--if you have read Earth Logic and like them as much as I do, you are welcome to give them large supporting roles. I’m also happy to see Zanja and Karis’s whole family in small supporting roles. Maybe Zanja must represent the interests of some Border People to Shaftal, but their needs are very different from the Ashawala’i? Maybe Karis must resolve the situation with the Basdown cow dogs? Maybe a natural disaster strikes somewhere?

A fic I loved from this fandom

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

I nominated this book for its beautiful writing and empowered women. Ead’s outlook on life is just so good!

Suggested prompts: During their time apart, what do Ead and Sabran write to each other about? Leading up to the final battle, how does Ead approach training Tané, who is presumably her first student of magic? (Does Sabran help her plan lessons?) When Ead comes home to take up the mantle of Prioress, how is she received? (Does she need Sabran to comfort her when someone doesn’t accept her authority?)

A fic I loved from this fandom

This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Suggested prompts: post-canon adventures, either together or writing to one another again. Do they have to go undercover in a place they hate? Do they get unexpectedly attached to something in a thread of time that they have to prune? Does anyone cross paths with an earlier version of herself?

A fic I loved from this fandom

Alice Isn't Dead (Podcast)

Because this story is so tight and well-crafted, I see the most opportunity for interesting fic in Canon Divergence and Alternate Universes. For example: What if Keisha had given up the chase not by going home but by leaving the continent? (Could Thistle follow her across an ocean?) What if this story was set earlier in American history? Or a maritime journey instead of a land-based one?

However, if you’d like to remain canon-compliant, I’d also enjoy an exploration of what Keisha and Alice’s sex life is like during their reunion and forgiveness arc.

Saving Face (2004)

Suggested prompts: Where do Wil and Vivian go on their first vacation together? Do Wil and Vivian ever get married, and if so do they wait until same sex marriage is legal in New York (2011) or do they go out of state? Do they ever have to babysit Wil’s tiny brother, and what is that like?

---

If you’d like to get a sense of my own writing style, my ao3 is here.

Thanks again for writing, I hope you have a great time doing it!

--spirit

#yuletide #yuletide 2021 #yuletide letter #fandom #last night at the telegraph club #elemental logic #fire logic #the priory of the orange tree #this is how you lose the time war #alice isn't dead #saving face

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