#the priory of the orange tree spoilers

[standardissueplottwist]

The mood around 200 pages in.

[bbygirlsunite]

i finished reading "the priory of the orange tree" and i very much enjoyed it, here is a list of thoughts in no particular order:

Loth aro/ace icon? more likely than you think

very much enjoyed the scene where Ead is like "I'm no longer wearing fancy clothes, can't protect you in them" and Loth remarks on Sabrans odd expression.... she wants her so bad

the sadness i felt when Niclays was like "you know what? i'll be better, i'll go to Truyde, be a grandfather to her, make Jannart proud:)" while knowing that Truyde is dead

Kalyba, vomiting violently, her talking about Galian completely took me out of my immersion in the story, i was not ready for that at all, hate her

i understand the criticism that the final fight was too short, i felt that the part where they stuck the sword in the nameless one could have had a few more pages

did Tané die at the end???? like "[...] a white butterfly was cupped in her hand, and her side was damp with blood" what????

[magic-is-something-we-create]

im currently reading A Day of Fallen Night (im almost exactly half way through) and it's been a year or so since I read Priory but HHHHH. HHHHHHHH

GOD I LOVE HAVING THE CONTEXT OF PRIORY BUT THE DRAMATIC IRONY IS KILLING ME BECAUSE I KNOW WHO THIS PERSON IS AND THE CHARACTERS DONT AND I DONT TRUST THIS ONE BIT

[yennefer]

i am so unwell.

[iblamethenubbins]

Me reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, trying to guess the sapphic relationship...

" ... In all that time, she had never said anything to nettle her. Now she was like a viper, unable to keep her tongue in her mouth. Something made her want to rile the Queen of Inys."

There they are

[obscene-beans]

THATS HOW YOU DESCRIBE A FUCKING KISS, CASSANDRA CLARE.

The book is The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

[Photo ID: the first photo is a paragraph from a book that reads, “Sabran drew back to look at her. Ead caught a glimpse of her face in the candlelight—brows smooth, eyes dark and resolute—before they came together again, and the kiss was hot and new and world-forming, the flare of star birth on their lips. They were honeycombs of secret places, fragile and intricate. Ead shivered as the night welcomed her skin.” End paragraph.

The second photo is a screenshot from the Simpsons, the “that’s how it’s done” meme, of a father in a green shirt smacking the back of his son’s head and mouth open with scorn, while the son himself looks aggravated. End ID]

Forever irritated and mildly scarred at how Cassie described kissing in her books, especially in The Infernal Devices, because it was all just so physical and it lasted for like 6 fucking pages, I couldn’t stand it. Yes they melted into each other’s bones or whatever, what else.

[free-dogs]

[schmopples]

Chapter 53 of The Priory of the Orange Tree is my favorite so far!!

"But it would be a greater burden to know that my friend felt she could not open her open her heart to me."

I absolutely love Loth's relationship with Ead and Sabran because it isn't often you get accurate portrayals of deep platonic relationships between men and women. Samantha Shannon does a great job of making relationships between characters feel meaningful.

And of course I have to mention:

"I shared all my secrets with you, Ead. You saw me as the night does. As my truest self"

...

"Tell me, Eadaz uq-Nāra, am I a greater fool to want you still?"

"No more a fool than I to love you as I do."

aaahhhh!! Every page to get to this scene is worth it. I mean it's all so so so good, but still! I can feel the conflict in Sabran when she asks Ead that and for her to respond back with that!!!

Also- good for Margaret! She deserves happiness, the scene between her and Lintley was cute.

[orangelit]

Kalyba is such an evil woman… but that’s why I love her character so much. She’s so corrupt and horrible. Besides the obvious (the Galian thing): when she shapeshifts it’s seriously unsettling, and when she kissed Tunuva - it honestly scared me, for the same reason. She is genuinely *disturbing*. Samantha Shannon is an amazing writer.

What makes it so good is that you also sort of feel for the witch in the woods - she’s been lonely for centuries. but then she does something so goddamn evil again that you remember why she’s a villain in the first place

[tragedykery]

I wonder when the position of spymaster in inys was created, since it doesn’t seem to exist yet in adofn. considering the circumstances with eller, though, I think it would make sense if glorian invented it, to make sure something like that could never happen again

[a-devout-shannonite]

The people of Inys being told that their queens who have all looked almost identical for 1000 years are actually clones of an evil sorceress:

[kiindfires]

A collection of my favourite quotes from The Priory of the Orange Tree

This is mainly for my own reference, but I thought some of tumblr may also appreciate it :)

Priory is a big book and I have far too much annotation in my copy to be able to keep track of all my favourite quotes, so I decided to compile everything here, organised by the part the quote is from so it is a bit easier to navigate than one huge list of somewhat out of context quotes.

I have plans for a reread before ADOFN comes out, so this is definitely subject to addition (especially for part V ... I have no idea why I have only one quote there).

Obviously, spoilers ahead! Skip this post if you haven't read Priory!!

Enjoy :)

I - Stories of Old

''All the world is a cage in a young girl's eyes.''

''All stories grow from a seed of truth,' Truyde said. 'They are knowledge after figuration.'

'Then I trust you will use your knowledge for good.''

'Red hair and a rose garden. That was how it had begun.

They had spent the whole season together, with the easel and music and laughter for company.'

'Niclays turned on to his side, aching all over.

'Jan,' he said softly, 'when did we get so old?''

''You have not seen death, my lord. You have only seen the mask we put on it.''

''There, light of my eyes. I am here.''

''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.''

II - Declare I Dare Not

'He called on the Knight of Courage, but all he found was a pit of dread.'

''...my fears are selfish. The Damsel has given me the child I begged of her, and all I can do is ... quake.'

... Ead pressed her hand. ' Childing is not always easy. It seems to me that this is the best-kept secret in all the world. We speak of it as though there were nothing sweeter, but the truth is more complex. ... now you feel the weight of your condition, you believe yourself alone in it.'' - I love this entire conversation, but this post would be even longer than it is already if I were to write it all down here.

'It took Tané a long time to find her voice. She had left it in a bloodstained ditch.'

''If I had convinced myself I was no sinner, I would never have kissed the lips I longed to kiss. The lips of a man with rose-gold hair, whose birth, by the laws of a long-dead knight, made him unworthy of my love.'

Niclays tried not to stare like a fool into those grey Vatten eyes. Even now, after all these years, looking at this man took his breath away.'

'Sabran framed her face between her hands. In her gaze was both a question and her fear of the answer.'

'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.'

III - A Witch to Live

''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.'

Gooseflesh freckled Ead as she remembered another rose, tucked behind a pillow.'

''All alchemists have madness in their blood. That, dear lady, is why we get things done.''

'Throwing up its wing to shield its face, it let out a rasping call, over and over, like a crow greeting the dusk.

The sky came alive with echoing answers.'

IV - Thine is the Queendom

''I am not in her shadow. I am her shadow. And that,' Roslain bit out, 'has been my privilege.''

''When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.''

''Tell me, Eadaz uq-Nāra,' she said softly, 'am I a greater fool to want you still?'

Ead crossed the space between them. 'No more a fool than I,' she said, 'to love you as I do.''

''To ask you to stay would be like trying to cage the wind,''

V - Here Be Dragons

''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.''

VI - The Keys to the Abyss

''Behold the Roar of Hróth, who hides in the snow,' Fýredel sneered, exposing his teeth again. Canons barked from the Bear Guard in answer. 'Behold the warlord of Seiiki, who preaches unity between human and sea-slug. We will throw down your guardians and scatter them like sheep, as we did centuries ago. We will leave black sand from shore to shore.''

''Gone are the days of heroes,' Fýredel said. 'From North to South and West to East, your world will burn.''

''Come, blood of the mulberry tree. Let us see who is the greater witch.'

'Seek not the midnight sun on earth

but look for it within.'

''I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.''

''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.' He glanced at her. 'You ought to know, Eadaz uq-Nāra. You whose secrets will one day be a song.''

[bbygirlsunite]

I keep forgetting that all the Berethnet women look the same so I’m imagining Sabran as uh sabran but glorian as freckled and blonde and curly haired and she does just not look like that

[readingbooksinisrael]

He had fallen for a trick--a trick that should have fooled no one--because he had expected weakness. As he looked her in the face, Tané knew, at last, that he would never call her village chaff again...The only way to save face was to treat her as his equal.

The Priory of the Orange Tree/Samantha Shannon

[yennefer]

are you kidding me???? ead and sabran finally hook up and then she has to flee the country? this is an attack against me personally.

[kienava]

you’ve got to be careful reading fantasy books that are also romances because when the horny scenes arrive they’ll say shit like “i had a dream you were still a godsinger, and i was your shrine” and “i may not be your queen, but i am yours, and you will find that i can be very generous”