This is a spoiler-free review! A list of trigger warnings can be found here.
I have to admit, I was extremely intimidated to read this book. I received an ARC in 2018 at Book Expo America and it has been sitting on my shelf ever since, taunting me -- it's huge! But, it was finally time I picked up a high fantasy book, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I read The Bone Season a few years ago, and from what I can recall, I enjoyed Shannon's writing, and was excited to dive into a new genre of hers.
Like many readers, going into a book that is notorious for having tons of characters and interconnecting plot lines can lead you to push off reading a book. However, after reading the first four Game of Thrones books, I felt that I was up for the challenge. The author dives right into one of the main plot lines, but does not make it so convoluted that the reader is left spinning in circles trying to understand what is going on. As we switch perspectives between The West and The East in Part I, we follow groups of characters on their own journeys that affect other characters throughout the book.
Part II introduces us to The South, and we see characters begin to travel across lands and encounter each other in passing or through gossip. Unfortunately, Part II is also where many beloved side characters meet their fate and we are left in what seems to be in a constant state of characters dying left and right. The character development of Sabran and the Eastern dragons take precedence in the beginning, and we see the nature of religious differences between lands. I found that the more we discovered about one land, the more we are able to see the sides of this conflict arise, especially when the action finally gets rolling after the world-building was established in Part I.
Parts IV and V are where true conflict arises and revelations are made by the characters, in addition to characters moving to different parts of the world as their discoveries come together. For hundreds of pages, we see characters and their journeys, and at this point in the story they slowly start interacting with one another and searching for similar items and people.
Part VI absolutely blew me away. Everything comes together in a final encounter with nearly all of the characters we have been following throughout their own quests and travels. Seeing the Eastern dragons and the Nameless One together at the very end was cathartic and epic. After reading over 800 pages of world-building and adventures, you could feel the finale drawing in. The complexities of all the characters follow them and are interwoven through pain, suffering, and self-discovery. Relationships are built just as quickly as they fall, and Shannon brings such emotion into characters that were once struggling to open themselves to another.
If I had to critique one thing about The Priory of the Orange Tree, I would say that I wish that the author had explained more of the lore surrounding the creatures that exist in this world. While they were described physically sometimes, it was somewhat hard to imagine what they looked like, and even register that these creatures can speak with humans. The glossary at the back of the book did help with some things, but it was just a tad inconvenient having to flip back to the glossary and search for what they were talking about when it could have just been expanded on in the actual text.
I really enjoyed the defining characteristics of the dragons in this book -- we typically see dragons portrayed in media and literature as winged creatures who spew fire, but Shannon takes a different approach and has dragons forged from air and water, with only some adorned with wings. It differentiates the world we are reading, and it made it all the more interesting when first starting the book.
For fans of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone, this is the book for you. The Priory of the Orange Tree is a great gateway introduction to high fantasy if you are a newcomer to the genre.
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