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The Priory of the Orange Tree Paperback – 10 September 2021
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- Print length848 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
- Publication date10 September 2021
- Dimensions20.3 x 25.4 x 4.7 cm
- ISBN-101526648717
- ISBN-13978-1526648716
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Product description
Review
About the Author
Samantha Shannon is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Season series. Her work has been translated into twenty-six languages. This is her fourth novel and her first outside of The Bone Season series. She lives in London.
samanthashannon.co.uk / @say_shannon
Product details
- Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing (10 September 2021); Bloomsbury India
- Language : English
- Paperback : 848 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1526648717
- ISBN-13 : 978-1526648716
- Item Weight : 590 g
- Dimensions : 20.3 x 25.4 x 4.7 cm
- Country of Origin : India
- Importer : New Delhi
- Packer : Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd New Delhi 110070
- Best Sellers Rank: #11,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #175 in Myths, Legends & Sagas
- #436 in Fantasy (Books)
- #960 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Samantha Shannon is the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Bone Season series. Her work has been translated into twenty-six languages. The Priory of the Orange Tree is her fourth novel and her first outside of The Bone Season series. She lives in London.
samanthashannon.co.uk / @say_shannon
Customer reviews

Reviewed in India on 21 April 2019
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Top reviews
Top reviews from India
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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
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.






If I would've just known if this kind of masterpiece novel was also out there.
This novel seriously contains all of the genre you can find- even Horror! The way of the storytelling Is the best thing I've liked but I just have one issue which is the reason I gave This 4 stars
Some chapters are unnecessary written which get pretty boring soon. I accept that the author has to explain the lifestyle of the characters but there was no need to explain it again and again
All other things that I've found are pretty awesome
I'm halfway through the book and I've literally felt like this is the best book I've read (for me it is even better than Harry Potter!). I hope that they soon would make a movie about This because I'm excited about the dragons in this book and some of the legends and mythologies.
Some still say this book would have a hard language to understand and that is true
I recommend that if you are good in linguistic then this is a great book for you!
It was a good read, even if muddy in parts.
So the good things for me, in no particular order:
1. Dragons & Wyverns
2. The women : The rulers, the warriors, the dragon riders, the dragon slayers, the mages, there are strong women through out. Interestingly enough, women are not put on a pedestal here, we see that many traitorous machinations originate from women too.
P.s : The queen is a character I felt nothing for as we started out, but her character arc is very well done.
3. Absolute normalcy of queer relationships throughout the book settings. People of the upper echelons of society may not join in "companionship" because of their social status but their same sex relationship is not a taboo.
4. Love & Romance : While the setting and backgrounds are romantic in ways, the narrative is not needlessly peppered with hidden looks of longing and visions of heaving bosoms.There is plenty of love in the book but it's not only of the amorous kind. It's also love towards family, motherland, country, people, traditions & beliefs.
What I did not like were the descriptions.
Introductory descriptions are important, that's how we have the image of the person. The main characters should be described well, or at least memorably.
While the clothes were described well, I struggled to put a face to many characters. Maybe it's that I unwittingly skimmed it, but I did not notice Ead's description nor Tane's. I first noticed Ead's description maybe half the book in, which is very late.
The eastern dragons were also not described well. Other than a curt mention regarding the number of toes and a point of wings nothing was mentioned. Nayimathun gets a slightly better description, but it feels half done.
I also would have liked a description of what about be considered an average wyverns in general, but in all fairness the Wyverns and their genetic inter-breeds were described a little more.
I also did not enjoy the final war scene. It was a little confusing (Who peeled away the scale from no name? Was it Tane or Nayimathum with the broken sword?)
While I am glad this is a stand alone book, I would have happily read this book divided into three with more details about the characters and more information about the creatures & mythology involved.
I feel like this is a prequel to something big planned for this universe, as there too many loose ends and too many unexplained phenomena.
This felt like reading the hobbit, ignoring the sheer size of this book of course, which makes me wonder if there is an equivalent to LOTR coming up?
Top reviews from other countries

To start off, the pacing is some of the worst I've ever seen in a book. Absolutely nothing happens in the first 400ish pages, most of which are spent discussing royal lineage, religious practices and etiquette among the queen's handmaidens. Peppered in are chapters here and there which hint at more interesting storylines but which are over before you've gotten anything worthwhile out of them, dragging you back to the palace for more excruciating chatter about who is changing the queen's bedsheets. In the latter half of the book, once the story does finally begin to move, it jumps around wildly with epic quests beginning and ending within a few pages, grand revelations being made one after another, centuries old conflicts mended in minutes and ancient mysteries solved with startling ease.
Characters constantly end up in the right place at the right time, often stumbling across something to advance the plot by sheer chance or avoiding certain doom by magic. This makes an already fantastical story seem so unrealistically convenient that it robs it of the agency, suspense and struggle needed to sustain a fairly lengthy novel.
Like the plot, the characters are a mixed bag. The bulk of the story revolves around Ead, magic-dragon-hunter-turned-queen's-assistant, but despite her impressive CV she felt very bland to read about with little personality to grab onto. Other characters, like prospective dragon rider Tané or lord sent on a suicide mission Arteloth, are a bit more interesting and likeable (respectively) but for the first 2 thirds of the book they are largely absent and undeveloped. By the time they became more central to the plot I had lost any desire to find out what happens to them.
The author indulges in the fantasy trope of ridiculous character and place names that could make Tolkien wince - not a deal breaker for everyone but a pet peeve of mine. The feminism that underpins much of the story, while welcome in a genre often dominated by male archetypes, is at times eye-rollingly unsubtle. Plot threads are often dropped or cleared up with lazy exposition.
At around 500 pages I looked on in despair at the bulk of the book still unread but forced myself to continue, hoping that like A Game of Thrones this would be a slow burn that built to something spectacular, but it never happened. What I got was a cliche and at times clumsy fantasy book with a few interesting ideas which feels like it would sit more comfortably beside Hunger Games than Game of Thrones.

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!


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!



Brilliant. Fabulous. All immersive. Devastating. Amazing
Everything I hoped and thought it would be and so much more.
Was what I said when I read this back in November 2018 and I stand by those comments. Since The Priory of the Orange Tree comes out next month, I think I'm now allowed to give a full review. So here goes.
Priory is not a perfect book but it was absolutely the perfect book for me. If that sounds contradictory bear in mind that from an objective point of view, I could see minor flaws. The wrap up is very sudden for instance. The pacing is a little off in places. Some threads could have done with longer conclusions - it's an 800+ page book and I would have happily read even more so just how much of a flaw these things are is up for question. This is not one of those huge books that is mostly filler. This is a tome that deserves to be a huge book because every bit of that plot was needed (and I still wish it was longer!).
The book opens on Tane, who yearns to be a dragon rider, making a fatal error the night before her dragon rider trials. Her actions set off a chain of events that send subtle ripples across the world. In the East, dragons are beautiful, wise, graceful and serpentine - creatures of air, water and intellect. Far from the Eastern reaches of the world, there are other kinds of dragons on the move - creatures of fire and greed and violence. A great evil is stirring in its sleep, ready to wake once more.
In the West, the queens of Inys have ruled for a thousand years. The current ruler is Sabran the ninth, a young woman who is reluctant to wed and bear the heir the kingdom is waiting for. Each queen of Inys bears only a single child, a daughter to rule after her. And then there's Ead, a foreigner who has climbed the ranks to become first a lady in waiting, then a lady of the royal bedchamber and trusted confidant. But Ead's loyalty is long since given to an ancient and mystical order, and her defence of the queen is secret, employing the use of forbidden powers. The young queen must face off against the fire breathing monsters her forebears defended the realm against before her, as well as the lesser draconic creatures - wyverns, cockatrices etc.
And under the surface calm, political turmoil and intrigue foment. Some believe that the great evil can only be defeated with draconic intervention from the East. Some believe the young queen who will not provide an heir should no longer rule. And the prejudice between East and West over their beliefs surrounding dragons makes any attempt at an alliance both unlikely and deadly.
This book has so much going for it, I almost don't know where to start. The world building was fantastic. Fully realised with multiple cultures, religious beliefs and practices unique to various countries, diverse characters - and dragons. The dragons cannot be forgotten because they are fully realised characters in their own right. When they actually do speak, they are dragons not just humans in dragon masks and it's perfect. The characterisation is strong full stop. This is a huge cast of female characters in starring roles with good male supporting cast. It never feels forced or like it's making any other statement than 'these are the best characters for telling this story.' While we're on the subject of characterisation, there are plenty of LGBTQAIP+ characters. The two main romantic sub plots are LGBT, with a third minor romantic sub plot being non-LGBT but mostly happening off page and reduced to longing looks and presumed touches etc. A complete reversal on the normal order of LGBT versus non-LGBT relationships in fantasy and fiction, and beautifully done.
Sabran, the young queen, is not always likeable but she's always engaging. It would be hard not to relate and sympathise with her situation. While she has flashes of temper and arrogance, it's easy to see they're rooted in self doubt and a privileged upbringing that at the same time divided her from close friendships which might have taught her better. Her manifestations of depression and anxiety are very real and poignant when they occur, and realistically frustrating for the reader.
Ead is a brilliant character. Her greatest qualities are her competence, intelligence and compassion, which is leavened by a spark of true ruthlessness and a single-minded desire to do what she believes to be right. She makes mistakes but not out of stupidity or over confidence - they're the sort of wrong calls anyone might make. Best of all, she has her own prejudices but logic and honestly force her to confront them again and again in order for her to complete her mission.
Tane is a harder character to get to know and her screw ups are harder to forgive or understand, at least until you really see things from her viewpoint with all the cultural conditioning she has be subject to. There's at least one truly awful moment when I wanted to flinch away from the page because of her facing the consequences of what she did. However, she is also honourable, courageous and steadfast. Her relationship with her dragon is lovely - a representation of love that goes beyond friendship and the physical.
All in all it's a huge story with lots of action, twists, political intrigue and character development. So much happens that I got to the end feeling I'd read an entire series, rather than one book. It does work as a standalone but I would happily read a sequel. I might have mentioned that I want more once or twice somewhere in this review?
The Priory of the Orange Tree is my most anticipated book of 2019. The fact that I mainlined it in three days in Nov 2018 has not changed that fact. I can't wait for my shiny new hardback version because it was one of those books where I could have turned the final page and then just gone straight back to the beginning and started the book again. Some books fully immerse you in a world. Some books give you no choice, you're just dragged in. And some books, like Priory, leave you homesick for the world they whisked you away to when you finally return to reality. This might well be my book of the year. Highly recommend.


However now that I've finished it, I'm more than happy to go to 4.
The reason why is that the first half was so very slow for me. It just went on forever and I did not feel invested at all. I had to take a break and pick another easy read to reset myself. Christ, it took me a month to finish it. I'm a fairly fast reader and once I'm hooked I can't put it down but it only happened in the second half.
I refused to just not finish this book because the writing was beautiful, the world building intriguing and I really wanted to know where this all was going, but it did not seem to go anywhere.
400 pages in - half of the book - and practically nothing of importance has happened. Everything picks up in the second half and boy oh boy does it get good.
Spoiler ahead!
Tané: from the start she was my favourite character, and while I love that we got to see her go through the water trials, it dragged on and, until she finds the jewel at around 500pages, I just couldn't tell how she fit in the story apart from the fact that she introduced Niclays to Triam. I thought we were going somewhere with her enmity with Turosa but we never hear from him again, even during the final battle.
It took forever for her to get her dragon and she lost her right away. I wish we had had more moments of her bonding with Nayimathun before she was disgraced. I felt little attachment to Nayimathun because of that.
Ead: we know her purpose very early on but until the dragon attack and Sabran's murder attempt, it's just faff and it was very frustrating for me - just as it was for her I assume!
Loth: I like Loth although I wished for a bit more character development for him. He's still a bit too sweet and delicate, even after all that happened to him. I love however how he came to turn with his world and religion being turned upside down. So maybe that where all his development went!
Niclays: I loved to despise him. I went from sympathy for his grief and the sadness of his story, to disgust for his lack of spine and cowardice. An amazing complex character too.
However!! Did it get good once everything was kicked in motion! So epic and beautifully told. I'm really glad I stuck it out and do not regret it one bit.