The Priory of the Orange Tree

, #1

by

eBook, 880 pages

English language

Published Feb. 26, 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

ISBN:
978-1-63557-028-1
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4 stars (3 reviews)

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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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.

6 editions

reviewed The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Many nice ideas

3 stars

Many interesting ideas and some strong leading female characters, but the plot felt contrived at times or needlessly confusing, with inconsistencies (like distance and travel time), and some parts of the worldbuilding felt too simplistic -- also I wasn't too impressed with the quests for magic objects. Edit : also worth mentionning is that in the 800 pages, there really isn't much happening at the Priory of the title.

avatar for mgouker

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Fantasy fiction.
  • Magic -- Fiction.
  • Dragons -- Fiction.
  • Assassins -- Fiction.
  • Imaginary places -- Fiction.