So. Dragons.
No, really, without even knowing much about the books, the one thing that made me pre-order it was the fact that there were queendoms and there were dragons. I was sold. Then the reviews started pouring in and I was a bit intimidated by them because everyone seemed to love this one and rarely did anyone have anything truly bad to say about it.
I finally started the book with these fears in my mind and I needn’t have. I really needn’t have. There’s something about the writing, quick moving plots and multiple narratives throughout the book that really helped me love it. It’s very clear as you read along that Shannon had her canon done to a T. There wasn’t a lot left to wonder about and there weren’t a lot of glaringly obvious plot holes scattered in the book and with a book this size, I was very worried about that. Especially considering the fact that this is a standalone.
So, let’s dive into this one. Let’s go with dragons first because let’s be honest, a lot of the people probably put it on tbr just for the dragons. There’s such a good variety of dragons and what constitutes as a dragon. The different regions having different and polarizing opinions of said creatures. With east and west having such vastly different outlooks (with a somewhat valid reason), it was absolutely amazing to read and learn more about them as the pages flew by.
World-building. If you know me at all, you know I am weak for world-building in a fantasy novel/ series. So, I was very worried about it with this one because how much of it can you really stuff into one novel? Well, on this front, Samantha Shannon absolutely floored me. With people of different faiths, different geography and different traditions and lore, Priory still managed to make me feel very much as if I was living all of those and that was victory for the author, I think. It is so hard to make up a whole new world with its societies and religions and traditions and even though she doesn’t go too deep into them, there’s still enough to make me feel satisfied about it.
Pacing and plot! With a book that is almost 900 pages, I did wonder about the pace and the plot meeting that golden ratio. And admittedly, the first 150 pages do take a bit of a time but once you cross that, it all settles into a nice pace that is easy and exciting at the same time because things don’t stop happening in the book. It is also a multi-perspective so you are reading things that happening in multiple parts of the world with such distinct characters. That’s always a plus for me, multi-perspective when done right can be phenomenal and here, it is.
Characters! Gosh. Okay, so, first of all, I am trying to contain myself here because this one is already too long a review but I just have to talk about the characters. From Ead, who’s from the south and has tried to climb her way to become Queen Sabran’s close friends and learning something about herself as well as the queen to Sabran who has such a heavy legacy to carry on, who’s caustic and remote and cold but also insecure and in need of love. From Tane, a commoner who becomes a dragon rider but who’s one action could bring about her downfall to Loth who’s such a dear friend of Queen Sabran and who has had to face far more than his station in the court might have hinted at. Then there’s Roos, who’s absolutely not likeable but at the same time, he’s suffered enough in life to warrant some pity. He sometimes tries to be better but almost always the results end in disasters.
Relationships. This book has some of the best friendships I have seen in a while. They are not perfect but they are solid, they just are. There’s sisterhood that is almost enviable if I am being honest because these women, while they do have their own ambitions, they try to raise each other up and that was so good to read about. Then there’s the opposite sex friendships which are just that, friendships. I am afraid that I haven’t read enough books where opposite sex friendships are pure friendships so when I do stumble into them, I am just absolutely in love with them. There’s also a really touching lgbt romance in there as well which feels so organic and natural that I was almost surprised by it.
Overall, I would like to say that this is entirely enjoyable and immersive book and frankly, I couldn’t have expected anything better. I do have a couple of things I was bothered by. I wanted more Tane POV and I wish there was more expanded to cover the north as well. But those are tiny complaints compared to the rest of the positive points and frankly, if you are at all a fantasy fan, or someone who’d love to see some badass women being badass or if you wanna read about friendships and relationships in general then this is the book for you. Don’t be intimidated by the size, the pace of the book takes care of the fear.
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Dragons and over 800 pages, what more do you want?
Reviewed in India on 21 April 2019
So. Dragons.No, really, without even knowing much about the books, the one thing that made me pre-order it was the fact that there were queendoms and there were dragons. I was sold. Then the reviews started pouring in and I was a bit intimidated by them because everyone seemed to love this one and rarely did anyone have anything truly bad to say about it.I finally started the book with these fears in my mind and I needn’t have. I really needn’t have. There’s something about the writing, quick moving plots and multiple narratives throughout the book that really helped me love it. It’s very clear as you read along that Shannon had her canon done to a T. There wasn’t a lot left to wonder about and there weren’t a lot of glaringly obvious plot holes scattered in the book and with a book this size, I was very worried about that. Especially considering the fact that this is a standalone.So, let’s dive into this one. Let’s go with dragons first because let’s be honest, a lot of the people probably put it on tbr just for the dragons. There’s such a good variety of dragons and what constitutes as a dragon. The different regions having different and polarizing opinions of said creatures. With east and west having such vastly different outlooks (with a somewhat valid reason), it was absolutely amazing to read and learn more about them as the pages flew by.World-building. If you know me at all, you know I am weak for world-building in a fantasy novel/ series. So, I was very worried about it with this one because how much of it can you really stuff into one novel? Well, on this front, Samantha Shannon absolutely floored me. With people of different faiths, different geography and different traditions and lore, Priory still managed to make me feel very much as if I was living all of those and that was victory for the author, I think. It is so hard to make up a whole new world with its societies and religions and traditions and even though she doesn’t go too deep into them, there’s still enough to make me feel satisfied about it.Pacing and plot! With a book that is almost 900 pages, I did wonder about the pace and the plot meeting that golden ratio. And admittedly, the first 150 pages do take a bit of a time but once you cross that, it all settles into a nice pace that is easy and exciting at the same time because things don’t stop happening in the book. It is also a multi-perspective so you are reading things that happening in multiple parts of the world with such distinct characters. That’s always a plus for me, multi-perspective when done right can be phenomenal and here, it is.Characters! Gosh. Okay, so, first of all, I am trying to contain myself here because this one is already too long a review but I just have to talk about the characters. From Ead, who’s from the south and has tried to climb her way to become Queen Sabran’s close friends and learning something about herself as well as the queen to Sabran who has such a heavy legacy to carry on, who’s caustic and remote and cold but also insecure and in need of love. From Tane, a commoner who becomes a dragon rider but who’s one action could bring about her downfall to Loth who’s such a dear friend of Queen Sabran and who has had to face far more than his station in the court might have hinted at. Then there’s Roos, who’s absolutely not likeable but at the same time, he’s suffered enough in life to warrant some pity. He sometimes tries to be better but almost always the results end in disasters.Relationships. This book has some of the best friendships I have seen in a while. They are not perfect but they are solid, they just are. There’s sisterhood that is almost enviable if I am being honest because these women, while they do have their own ambitions, they try to raise each other up and that was so good to read about. Then there’s the opposite sex friendships which are just that, friendships. I am afraid that I haven’t read enough books where opposite sex friendships are pure friendships so when I do stumble into them, I am just absolutely in love with them. There’s also a really touching lgbt romance in there as well which feels so organic and natural that I was almost surprised by it.Overall, I would like to say that this is entirely enjoyable and immersive book and frankly, I couldn’t have expected anything better. I do have a couple of things I was bothered by. I wanted more Tane POV and I wish there was more expanded to cover the north as well. But those are tiny complaints compared to the rest of the positive points and frankly, if you are at all a fantasy fan, or someone who’d love to see some badass women being badass or if you wanna read about friendships and relationships in general then this is the book for you. Don’t be intimidated by the size, the pace of the book takes care of the fear.
Reviewed in India on 21 April 2019
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Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 21 April 2019
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So. Dragons.
No, really, without even knowing much about the books, the one thing that made me pre-order it was the fact that there were queendoms and there were dragons. I was sold. Then the reviews started pouring in and I was a bit intimidated by them because everyone seemed to love this one and rarely did anyone have anything truly bad to say about it.
I finally started the book with these fears in my mind and I needn’t have. I really needn’t have. There’s something about the writing, quick moving plots and multiple narratives throughout the book that really helped me love it. It’s very clear as you read along that Shannon had her canon done to a T. There wasn’t a lot left to wonder about and there weren’t a lot of glaringly obvious plot holes scattered in the book and with a book this size, I was very worried about that. Especially considering the fact that this is a standalone.
So, let’s dive into this one. Let’s go with dragons first because let’s be honest, a lot of the people probably put it on tbr just for the dragons. There’s such a good variety of dragons and what constitutes as a dragon. The different regions having different and polarizing opinions of said creatures. With east and west having such vastly different outlooks (with a somewhat valid reason), it was absolutely amazing to read and learn more about them as the pages flew by.
World-building. If you know me at all, you know I am weak for world-building in a fantasy novel/ series. So, I was very worried about it with this one because how much of it can you really stuff into one novel? Well, on this front, Samantha Shannon absolutely floored me. With people of different faiths, different geography and different traditions and lore, Priory still managed to make me feel very much as if I was living all of those and that was victory for the author, I think. It is so hard to make up a whole new world with its societies and religions and traditions and even though she doesn’t go too deep into them, there’s still enough to make me feel satisfied about it.
Pacing and plot! With a book that is almost 900 pages, I did wonder about the pace and the plot meeting that golden ratio. And admittedly, the first 150 pages do take a bit of a time but once you cross that, it all settles into a nice pace that is easy and exciting at the same time because things don’t stop happening in the book. It is also a multi-perspective so you are reading things that happening in multiple parts of the world with such distinct characters. That’s always a plus for me, multi-perspective when done right can be phenomenal and here, it is.
Characters! Gosh. Okay, so, first of all, I am trying to contain myself here because this one is already too long a review but I just have to talk about the characters. From Ead, who’s from the south and has tried to climb her way to become Queen Sabran’s close friends and learning something about herself as well as the queen to Sabran who has such a heavy legacy to carry on, who’s caustic and remote and cold but also insecure and in need of love. From Tane, a commoner who becomes a dragon rider but who’s one action could bring about her downfall to Loth who’s such a dear friend of Queen Sabran and who has had to face far more than his station in the court might have hinted at. Then there’s Roos, who’s absolutely not likeable but at the same time, he’s suffered enough in life to warrant some pity. He sometimes tries to be better but almost always the results end in disasters.
Relationships. This book has some of the best friendships I have seen in a while. They are not perfect but they are solid, they just are. There’s sisterhood that is almost enviable if I am being honest because these women, while they do have their own ambitions, they try to raise each other up and that was so good to read about. Then there’s the opposite sex friendships which are just that, friendships. I am afraid that I haven’t read enough books where opposite sex friendships are pure friendships so when I do stumble into them, I am just absolutely in love with them. There’s also a really touching lgbt romance in there as well which feels so organic and natural that I was almost surprised by it.
Overall, I would like to say that this is entirely enjoyable and immersive book and frankly, I couldn’t have expected anything better. I do have a couple of things I was bothered by. I wanted more Tane POV and I wish there was more expanded to cover the north as well. But those are tiny complaints compared to the rest of the positive points and frankly, if you are at all a fantasy fan, or someone who’d love to see some badass women being badass or if you wanna read about friendships and relationships in general then this is the book for you. Don’t be intimidated by the size, the pace of the book takes care of the fear.
No, really, without even knowing much about the books, the one thing that made me pre-order it was the fact that there were queendoms and there were dragons. I was sold. Then the reviews started pouring in and I was a bit intimidated by them because everyone seemed to love this one and rarely did anyone have anything truly bad to say about it.
I finally started the book with these fears in my mind and I needn’t have. I really needn’t have. There’s something about the writing, quick moving plots and multiple narratives throughout the book that really helped me love it. It’s very clear as you read along that Shannon had her canon done to a T. There wasn’t a lot left to wonder about and there weren’t a lot of glaringly obvious plot holes scattered in the book and with a book this size, I was very worried about that. Especially considering the fact that this is a standalone.
So, let’s dive into this one. Let’s go with dragons first because let’s be honest, a lot of the people probably put it on tbr just for the dragons. There’s such a good variety of dragons and what constitutes as a dragon. The different regions having different and polarizing opinions of said creatures. With east and west having such vastly different outlooks (with a somewhat valid reason), it was absolutely amazing to read and learn more about them as the pages flew by.
World-building. If you know me at all, you know I am weak for world-building in a fantasy novel/ series. So, I was very worried about it with this one because how much of it can you really stuff into one novel? Well, on this front, Samantha Shannon absolutely floored me. With people of different faiths, different geography and different traditions and lore, Priory still managed to make me feel very much as if I was living all of those and that was victory for the author, I think. It is so hard to make up a whole new world with its societies and religions and traditions and even though she doesn’t go too deep into them, there’s still enough to make me feel satisfied about it.
Pacing and plot! With a book that is almost 900 pages, I did wonder about the pace and the plot meeting that golden ratio. And admittedly, the first 150 pages do take a bit of a time but once you cross that, it all settles into a nice pace that is easy and exciting at the same time because things don’t stop happening in the book. It is also a multi-perspective so you are reading things that happening in multiple parts of the world with such distinct characters. That’s always a plus for me, multi-perspective when done right can be phenomenal and here, it is.
Characters! Gosh. Okay, so, first of all, I am trying to contain myself here because this one is already too long a review but I just have to talk about the characters. From Ead, who’s from the south and has tried to climb her way to become Queen Sabran’s close friends and learning something about herself as well as the queen to Sabran who has such a heavy legacy to carry on, who’s caustic and remote and cold but also insecure and in need of love. From Tane, a commoner who becomes a dragon rider but who’s one action could bring about her downfall to Loth who’s such a dear friend of Queen Sabran and who has had to face far more than his station in the court might have hinted at. Then there’s Roos, who’s absolutely not likeable but at the same time, he’s suffered enough in life to warrant some pity. He sometimes tries to be better but almost always the results end in disasters.
Relationships. This book has some of the best friendships I have seen in a while. They are not perfect but they are solid, they just are. There’s sisterhood that is almost enviable if I am being honest because these women, while they do have their own ambitions, they try to raise each other up and that was so good to read about. Then there’s the opposite sex friendships which are just that, friendships. I am afraid that I haven’t read enough books where opposite sex friendships are pure friendships so when I do stumble into them, I am just absolutely in love with them. There’s also a really touching lgbt romance in there as well which feels so organic and natural that I was almost surprised by it.
Overall, I would like to say that this is entirely enjoyable and immersive book and frankly, I couldn’t have expected anything better. I do have a couple of things I was bothered by. I wanted more Tane POV and I wish there was more expanded to cover the north as well. But those are tiny complaints compared to the rest of the positive points and frankly, if you are at all a fantasy fan, or someone who’d love to see some badass women being badass or if you wanna read about friendships and relationships in general then this is the book for you. Don’t be intimidated by the size, the pace of the book takes care of the fear.
Images in this review
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 22 November 2022
Verified Purchase
Quality of paperback is good. Loved the product and store but amazon needs to game up by delivering books in boxes because these books are like our life, our little paradise for us readers. Better care them with good packaging
Images in this review
Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 24 September 2022
Verified Purchase
Great book.great cover page
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Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 24 June 2022
Verified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Overhyped and underwhelming
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 April 2019Verified Purchase
Isobel
Beautiful, Magical, worth every penny.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 4 March 2019Verified Purchase
Isobel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 4 March 2019
The world was completely fleshed out, breath taking and unique. Instead of taking the same generic medieval tropes to make each of the kingdoms vague imitations of England and Scandinavia, it's clear that Shannon researched world history and used it as an inspiration point to spring an epic fantasy universe that felt familiar yet new, and completely authentic. Her style of writing is beautiful and descriptive and for the first time in years it made reading a book over 800 pages a joy instead of a struggle.
There is a huge epic cast of different and unique characters. At first this is intimidating, and it takes quite a while to get all the names straight in your head, but once you do it's well worth it. Priory is a book you have to dedicate yourself to; if you want an easy, light read then you shouldn't be looking towards a piece of writing as complicated as this one is. If you take the time and the attention to understand the world and everything going on in it however, it will be one of the best bookish decisions you can make.
I do have quite a few issues with Priory which do hurt my admiration of it. I really feel like this book should have been around 600 pages. For pretty much half of the book, Ead sat around playing handmaiden to Sabran. Despite the fact that I adore her character just as much as the others, we sacrificed a lot of page time to her doing nothing, while the exciting and different side storylines were given short and fleeting chapters. Either some of this waiting around should have been cut out, or the other characters should have been given some more time. The biggest example I feel makes this obvious is Tané. Her being a dragon rider is surely one of the most exciting and interesting parts of the book, yet she gets next to no page time and even less time spent actually being with with her dragon. On that note, for a story about dragons, it feels like there's barely any interaction with them for most of the book. I really wish we'd have gotten more of an understanding of their society and how Eastern dragons view Western dragons.
The entire thing however, so so magical and dear to me that I could let big things like this slide. I love Priory with all of my heart and I hope Shannon releases more books in this universe!
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Tales of a Librarian
Everything a bi girl who never found herself in SFF growing up could ever wish for
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 February 2019Verified Purchase
R. J. Bulow
Flawed
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 March 2019Verified Purchase
Saffana
The second half was amazing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 24 October 2022Verified Purchase
