BOOKS | Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Name: The Priory of the Orange Tree
Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Circus
Date published: 2019
Genre: Fantasy, fiction, adult
Pages: 830
Rating: 5/5

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 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.

- From Goodreads.  

I was incredibly impressed by The Priory of the Orange tree. With all the space that needed to be taken up with the explanation of the world, its kingdoms, people, traditions and history, I was not sure that the author would have time to put personality into the writing style, but there were still strong moments of beautiful writing, witty humour and emotion that tugged on my heart strings. Her style of writing was enjoyable to read, and she wrote the exposition in a way that did not hold the story back.
The world itself was incredibly indepth, and it was obvious the author had put a lot of hard work into building the countries and characters and the magic system. It was incredible how much detail had been put into it all, and I could see why it has been compared to Game of Thrones. I was worried I would not be able to keep track of all the names and places, but the story kept my attention well enough that I managed to.
I did find some character viewpoints more interesting than others. I looked forward to Ead and Sabran's parts of the story the most, but I still found the others intriguing and enjoyed them, especially with how they all provided information that gave more context and backstory to each others perspectives. As the story went on I did begin to enjoy each perspective more equally as they began to intertwine more tightly. While I immediately took a liking to Eadaz and Sabran, Tané certainly grew on me and I found her to be another favourite character too by the end, and I thought Loth was a very likeable character too. I was never sure whether I really liked Niclays, so I never looked forward to his perspective as much as the others, but I understood the importance of his viewpoint and understood some of his actions.
Even when the main characters made questionable decisions and mistakes, it did not make them unlikeable, it made them more realistic, intriguing characters. Even the background characters we only caught glimpses of seemed like real, living people, and there were not any characters who felt like they were not necessary or not an integral part of the story. Even the ones that were dislikeable, because we were not supposed to like them, felt significant.
If you are considering picking this book up, please do it. It is a big book but that only adds to the enjoyment. It is beautifully rich with detail, the story gradually builds up to a wonderfully dramatic crescendo, and it is more than worth perservering through. I had a couple of times where I put it down for a few days, but I loved it more every time I picked it up.
I honestly think this book will become a classic. I am certain I have never read anything like it before and every time I think of it I am still in awe. Samantha Shannon has created a richly detailed, beautifully intricate and amazingly imaginative story and world and I believe it will always be one of my favourite novels from now on.