#reading tpotot

[redshoes-blues]

Reading The Priory of the Orange Tree 🍊🐉🗡

Chapters 18–25, aka, the 35% mark. How is this book so fucking good?!

So much is happening!!

West

Sabran’s marriage. Tbh, I didn’t expect her to get married at all, so this was an interesting twist. I think I like Aubrecht, he seems kind and gentle, although him not listening to Ead’s advice (aka: maybe don’t parade Sabran around the streets?!) makes me wary of him. I also wonder if she actually has any romantic and/or sexual feelings for him at all, or whether she’s playing her role and duty. I think the latter, especially because she retreats to the ladies of the bedchamber as soon as possible.

And Ead is definitely having some feelings towards Sabran, as well as feeling some jealousy. That scene when Sabran was being undressed and she feels a certain way? Girl. Wait until you hear about lesbianism.

Ead’s unwavering loyalty to Sabran is very beautiful to see. I also love that despite her being so loyal to Sabran, she hasn’t given up her faith (at least not internally). Her character isn’t just all-consumed by Sabran. She’s still her own person with her own wants, desires, and beliefs. That is so refreshing to read, as many books would have her lose herself to Sabran entirely. I also love that she’s very untrusting of most of the court, aside from Margret. It’s very realistic for what she knows and has been through.

Now that Sabran is with child—which I was expecting to take way longer, tbh, though I’m glad it didn’t, because it could’ve dragged on and made the story drag on when we have so much else to get into—I’m interested to see what Ead does about the Priory. She has been told to return by Chassar, and becoming part of the Priory (not exactly sure how all that works yet) was everything she dreamed of. But now? She has feelings for Sabran, even though she hasn’t realized this yet, and she feels such a sense of duty towards her. It’s hard to imagine her leaving Sabran, especially now that she’s one of her most intimate companions—the only person she trusts with information like her dreams.

Everything happening in Yscalin is so tragic and terrifying. At first I felt bad for their king…but learning he killed Sabran’s mother, the queen?! It’s hard to feel bad for a person who has brought on so much of their own wretched fate.

Now, Loth. Sweet, poor Loth. Kit’s death took me by surprise and made me so sad. 😭 I wasn’t expecting that at ALL, and now Loth is all alone with such a huge task to carry out. I’m so scared for him, I stg, if anything happens to Loth…

I’m wondering what’s in the box he’s carrying. Nobody could open it. In Tané’s perspective, we learned about two jewels that were used to defeat the Nameless One, and now I’m wondering if that could be what’s in those boxes. Although how they ended up in Yscalin, I have no idea.

East

Picking up right away with where I left off in the West section, the jewels. Okay. So Virtudom believes that Galian is responsible for defeating the Nameless One. According to Ead, this isn’t true, and it’s actually Cleolind who did so. But now, the dragon says a woman from the East defeated the dragon using two jewels…

I have so many questions lol.

I’ve been inclined to believe Ead’s account over Virtudom’s, but you’d think an actual dragon would know more about what happened than these humans who weren’t even alive when the Nameless One was defeated. Still, there’s that window of time where Cleolind vanished. We have no idea what she did during that time, aside from setting up the Priory and then leaving them for some sort of quest or other. Maybe it does have something to do with that box and the jewels, or the East? Cleolind is from Lasia, which is the South, so she can’t be the Eastern woman the dragon mentions…

Could they be the same woman? Idk. Or maybe that part of the dragon’s account is also biased. Well, whatever the truth is, I love how much of this one story is contested. This is so true of real folklore and legends, who often have many, many versions and retellings that become warped over the years, and more distant from their origins. Same goes for historical sources, which are always biased, because that’s the nature of humans. Even historians, who try their best to remain as unbiased as possible, are biased. This also ties into the theme about the power of stories that is said throughout this book. Stories and who tells them, why they tell them, and what form they comprise, are very powerful tools. And seeing how stories can become corrupted to be used as tools by various people with power IS. SO. DAMN. GOOD.

The bonding between Tané and her dragon is lovely, and the mythos surrounding them, as creatures who evolved from a comet, is so cool. Love that bit of lore. Although I do wish Tané would just tell her dragon the full truth, as I’m sure they would be understanding and not cast her away as she has been told.

Niclays continues to be pitiful, lol. This man is really going through it. I’m interested to know what the warlord has to say to him.

[may12324]

Eadaz and her queen

[cerasifera]

Tané, and the star that was inside her.

[eye-crescented]

The Lady of the Woods throughout the centuries

[pathos-bathos]

Piranesi? What are you doing in my "the priory of the orange tree"?

[dice-wizard]

So I'm half way through The Priory of the Orange Tree

[thejabber-talkey]

I know I'm mad late to the Priory of the Orange tree craze, but I'm about halfway through and I have thoughts. Specifically thoughts on the religion of the western half of the book's world.

I don't super love how religion is handled in terms of overall rhetoric. The religions on a ground level are really well done; they're realistic and believable without being too direct a rip from existing religions. Though, the Saint and the Virtues are more clearly Christianity than the rest of the other religions are anything else. And I think this really effects how the narrative treats that religion in relation to all the others. I find it really cheap and uninteresting when books have two 'opposing' religions where one is obviously wrong and the other is obviously right. That's not how any religion has ever worked, for starters, and it also lacks nuance. You can tell from the get go that the Saint and Virtues are meant to be the bad/wrong religion. Even if Ead wasn't our primary narrator and perspective into Inys culture, the way things are written have an obvious derision for the Saint. Now, I don't hate the idea of a false religion built on lies, but the way it's set up against the vastly superior and narratively favoured woman-led counter religion is just, well, boring. You have the 'bad' religion founded by a man who is a liar, and the good religion founded by a cool woman. The whole, one religion is good and one is bad just lacks any sense of real intrigue, especially when the book flat out tells you which one is bad and which one is good. I would really love for there to be truth in both the Saint's and the Mother's stories, but I can tell that that's not the direction the book is headed and it bums me out, because it makes the religious divide in the west into obvious moralism that plays on what we as readers are apt to agree with. The rest of the world-building bangs, so why cant we have nuance in the two main religions, too?

The narrative and Ead + the rest of the priory are generally unfairly shitty to those who believe in the Saint. Fuck those guys for believing their religious leader, I guess? It's not like they chose to be lied to, and they don't know any other truth, so having all the other characters treating Inys citizens like deliberately ignorant and hateful doesent have the same punch as if they did know their origins. Getting pissed at another culture for not knowing your real history when you deliberately hide it from everyone is petty, esp when you know they've been lied to for the past thousand years. It also makes Ead's perspective vaguely annoying because she has an obvious bias against the Saint and Inys, which isn't inherently wrong because, again, she follows the good/real religion. But it does feel a bit, i dunno, unfair, because Ead knows they don't know their religion is a lie, and she still thinks poorly of them for it. Like, i cannot emphasize how little empathy is spared to these people who do not know their entire religion a lie, they're just treated how we would treat a nation of christian colonizers. Except, the people of Virtudom aren't colonizers and, I cannot stress this enough, do not know that their religion is wrong, as far as they are aware, it is actual history. I can smell from a while away that Ead is going to convince Sabran to convert, and that Sabran in turn is going to forcibly convert her entire queeendom, because she has that power as a monarch. And the book is going to treat this like a 'good ending' and not the massive cultural and life upheaval it actually is.

The whole 'there is only one right sect of this religion, and all others are inherently bad' thing just reeks of christian rhetoric, even though the 'good' religion is supposed to be from a more Arabic leaning culture. It reads a lot like an ex-christian trying to overcompensate for their former religion, whilst still maintaining all of that religious rhetoric about sin and 'true good' and there being only one right way of life and that the people who don't follow this right way are bad and morally inferior by default.

The book is still great (could use more dragons, tbh, I feel like they oversold how many dragons are in this book) I just hate that one specific narrative aspect.

[antibagel]

I’m socially isolated at this house I’m dog sitting at. Send me asks I’m lonely :((((

[piratekane]

april reading wrap-up

another month, another reading wrap-up. i said in my last one that april would be stronger and for once, i was right. i'm basically a genius now. anyway, i read books. i'm going to tell you about them.

some facts: - i read 13 books this month - i've branched out in the reading world and got to read a couple of ARCs for upcoming books - i went to four independent bookstores this month - i bought 2485309 books in 30 days - i did 3 buddy reads

anyway, here's the top books:

a) Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang - if you haven't read this book, you need to read this book. it's my favorite of the month. a magic system based on computation that sounds hella cool, a morally gray main character with the kind of growth you love to see, complex comments on the morality of right versus wrong and what those things really mean--this book was so well-written, the characters were fantastic, and i had to slow myself down reading it so i didn't get too far ahead of my reading buddy 5/5

b) The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon - full disclosure, i started this book in December and just finished it a few days ago. idk why i was stuck--maybe because i read The Bone Season in a day and dove right into TMO and just burnt out? either way, i decided April is when i would finish it and daaaamn, am i glad i did. someone told me that Shannon really blows things up at the end of book 2 and, well, she did. i put the book down. i stared at the wall. i asked, out loud, did that really just happen? totally worth the wait. 4.5/5

c) The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood - i went into this book blind and came out the other side with a tab open on my computer saying "thank you for your purchase" [of the sequel]. this book could have probably been two, because there were two distinct arcs, but also they wove together so well, i didn't mind. sacrifice-turned-sword-hand meets girl-destined-to-be-sacrifice and they decide to just fuck things up. we love to see it. 4/5

ARCs i read: - The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozzo, a YA sapphic contemporary story about a girl who wakes up as a ghost and has to figure out why she's reliving what she believes to be the worst weekend of her life--but what the angel assigned to her is positive is her best. i thought this was cute and def had YA vibes, but a good story overall. out May 14, 2024 - Director's Cut by Carlyn Greenwald, an adult sapphic contemporary romance about a woman who is looking to get out of Hollywood and into teaching and maybe into her co-teacher's, uh, bed (felt weird just typing that), while figuring out what she really wants from life. this suffered a few tropes that i am not a huge fan of and wasn't the book for me, but could be the book for you! out June 11, 2024

queer rating: 10 out of 13 books this month. thank you, lesbian visibility week!

[lonelylesbian2]

It’s feeling like it’s time for reread priory of the orange tree

[a-devout-shannonite]

Me whenever Niclays breathes:

[redshoes-blues]

Reading The Priory of the Orange Tree 🍊🐉🗡

Chapters 9–17

Overall

Okay. I’ve got some of my confusion over the dragons cleared up. I originally thought all dragons were the same (despite having different species or subspecies depending where they’re from), and that the West/East worldviews surrounding dragons, as well as their mythology, was the reason for why they’re viewed differently. Now it’s clear that there are some dragons that are evil, such as the dragon who attacks the tower. Makes sense!

Also so much has happened that I don’t even know what to say here lmao. This book is so good. Somehow I’m 25% through, and I’ve only been reading it for three days. That’s insane for me.

West

It’s official. The dragons have returned. I’m so intrigued by this magic system and my heart was racing when the dragon was facing off against Sabran (and then Ead). That whole scene was written so well that I could perfectly visualize it happening.

I. FUCKING. LOVE. LOTH. Oh my god. He’s so good I just love him. And Kit is giving Shakespearean himbo in the best way. I love their dynamic. Am I picking up ace or demisexual vibes from Loth? I thought for sure he and Kit were gonna have a romantic relationship at first, but Loth mentioned never have feelings for somebody, and he’s in his thirties. Which is making me think he could be some kind of asexual?

Also I love Margret and I love her friendship with Ead. She’s one of the most understanding people in the court and I love her.

Chassar is so beloved to me already I stg if anyone brings harm to this lovely man…

Ead continues to be absolutely amazing. I love how protective she is of Sabran, which I suspect is because she’s harbouring some feelings for her maybe. BUT also. The dynamic of Sabran being a descendent of Cleolind, WHO EAD WORSHIPS IN SECRET (just like how she’ll maybe love Sabran in secret). So that’s why she’s SO protective of her. More so then she was asked to be originally. Nobody is doing it like them.

The whole Priory situation is fascinating to me. Both the secretiveness of what it is, and especially the mechanics. Like, okay. Cool magic aside, eating fruit from this tree gives her power. A power viewed by some as evil. It so reminds me of a garden of eden situation. Eat the fruit and you gain something forbidden by some. At least, that’s how it seems so far. Such a unique magic system, and really unlike anything I’ve read before. Did I mention I love this book?

Sabran has 100% been putting off marriage for lesbian reason, combined with her horrifying dreams, and I feel so sad for her :( she’s in such a difficult and impossible situation, having to sacrifice her happiness and desires for the sake of the world’s survival. God.

The final part I left off on. Sabran is having horrifying visions and thinks witchcraft may be involved. First of all, the image of her giving birth was so awful and as someone who gets very vivid, disturbing intrusive thoughts, I honestly appreciate how this scene was handled. I know it’s not exactly intrusive thoughts and seems to be something related to magic. But still. The way Ead talks to Sabran about this darkness was beautiful and made me teary eyed.

East

Tané my girl, slaying the competition, as she should. I loved the descriptions of she and her childhood friend. Very sweet. And the dragons of the East have so much personality I just love them—that dragon that was smiling at her and almost seemed proud of her was so!!

Technically some of this info comes from the West chapters, but we’re learning a lot about Niclays, and it makes me feel even sadder for the guy. He lost the man he loved and turned to alcohol to cope and he seemed to genuinely want to help Sabran. But then everything goes to shit and he’s exiled and now he wants revenge on her. Which…Niclays, you silly goose. I understand, but also how about no?

This section has been very West-heavy, with Niclays captured and Tané undergoing her training, so I don’t have any more to say here.

[may12324]

Sabran and the White Wyrm - from The Priory of the Orange Tree.

[lucyshypemaster]

I hate and love high fantasy at the same time. hate because the beginning is usually so confusing and descriptive with the characters talking about their versions of war and kingdoms. LOVE because as you read more and reach the end, everything finally clicks in place and you realize that all of it was hinted from the beginning and that satisfaction isn't comparable in the slightest.

[marxonculture]

On Epic Fantasy, Gender, Changes in Belief and Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree

Ordinarily I don't write about books here, but I had something I wanted to get out about what I've been reading lately, so here goes...

I’ve always maintained that high fantasy is something in which I have very little interest. While friends and family have raved about Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones over the years, I’ve felt a great disconnect from those stories and worlds, and I always assumed that it was the genre itself at the root of the problem. Meanwhile, I was raving separately about the immense creative achievement of The Matrix (all of them, not just the original film), which is (if I’m being honest with myself) high fantasy wearing the skin of science fiction. Chosen one narratives, prophecy, fantastical creatures, magic systems, and a great battle to determine the fate of humanity are the makeup of The Matrix, just as they would be any other work of high fantasy.

I learned the hard way during my undergraduate degree and subsequent three years as a post-graduate student that reading for pleasure can very easily fall by the wayside when you have to read so much for work – the act of reading itself becomes a massive chore. So, when I left academia and started getting back into reading for pleasure in a habitual way, part of the journey for me was discovering my taste in literature as an adult, which meant giving fantasy another try.

The discoveries I’ve made since getting back on the horse have been a mixed bag – some expected and some very much unexpected. Among those realisations was the fact that fantasy as a genre is not as immediately repulsive to me as I thought; what is repulsive to me, on vibes alone, is fantasy written by men. It turns out that my lifelong struggle with masculinity (I’ve only recently begun coming out to myself and others as non-binary - I use he/they pronouns) applies to literature, too. Surprise, surprise, The Matrix’s exploration of gender identity and transness was more relatable to me than the aggressive hyper-masculinity of Game of Thrones and to a lesser extent Lord of the Rings (yes I know the consensus is that LotR is very gay, but it’s also very male). So, while in search of something to read on my local library’s eBook lending service, I decided to give Samantha Shannon’s epic fantasy novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree, a shot, and I’m so very glad that I did.

TPotOT has been misleadingly described by some as ‘feminist Game of Thrones’. And, while I can see where those people are coming from, this work feels like its own entirely distinct thing. Rather than plunging into the darkest, grimmest depths of humanity’s worst moral failings, as George R.R. Martin does almost fetishistically, Shannon uses her beautifully engrossing fantasy world to explore the necessity of trust and cooperation with those whom one’s belief system might deem unacceptable, in order to confront something that threatens everybody. This is less an allegory for climate change, and more an allegory about dogma.

The world of this Roots of Chaos series is built upon a series of conflicting, yet paradoxically overlapping, paper-thin religious belief systems. These systems hold the societies of Shannon’s four, wonderfully drawn POV characters together, and what makes the narrative of this gargantuan book so captivating, is the necessity of these characters coming to terms with the elements of their belief systems that have been falsely constructed in order to serve an agenda. This isn’t a didactic story about one morality system being superior to another, but rather one of learning to find common ground with those who believe differently to you, accepting truths when you are confronted with them, and having enough faith in humanity to trust that society won’t collapse as a result.

The Priory of the Orange Tree isn’t the only book in this series (Shannon has since published a prequel entitled A Day of Fallen Night), but it does function as a standalone story with a definitive ending. That being said, Shannon smartly chooses to end her story at the conclusion of its central conflict – the battle with a terrifying, all-powerful dragon called The Nameless One – rather than spending extra time exploring the aftermath. We don’t know whether the colossal revelations poised to shatter this world’s religions will lead to societal collapse, or whether the characters’ faith in humanity is justified. Anyone who knows me is aware of how I feel about certainty in narrative storytelling. Asking questions is much more interesting than answering them.

Ultimately, The Priory of the Orange Tree is a story that leads (and ends) with its characters. The book is deeply concerned with the repercussions of its plot on its intricately detailed world, but it is more focused on the way these characters grow and change when confronted with undeniable truths. Eadaz uq-Nāra is up there with my very favourite protagonists, and her journey and relationships are rapturously entertaining and moving. Shannon clearly adores her characters, which makes it so very easy for us as readers to fall in love with them, too.

I’m so glad to have found this book. TPotOT, along with Becky Chambers’ miraculous space opera, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, have been genuine reassurances to me as I come to terms with who I am as an adult, both in my tastes as a reader, and more fundamentally in myself and my identity. In short: genre fiction written by queer women is good for you.

[smellerbug]

I’m nearing the end of my reread of A Day of Fallen Night and am just as enthralled as I was the first time. What I’m appreciating even more this time around are the relationships between characters, and the character writing in general honestly. Tunuva’s and Esbar’s relationship is so beautiful. And I love the the amount of forgiveness and understanding between many characters throughout the book, there’s just so much depth there. Samantha Shannon continues to impress me