The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos)

Wow, this book. I was not quite sure what my thoughts would be on it before diving in, but I am so glad I finally read this huge novel! I haven’t read many 500+ page books since high school, so I was looking forward to seeing how I would do with one now.

Let me tell you, this book sucked me IN!

THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE is an adult high fantasy standalone novel set in the world where dragons are either reviled or worshipped—depending on which side of the world you live in. In the West, there is the Queendom of Inys, the seat of Virtuedom. Here we meet Ead, one of the two main heroines of the novel, who is a mage on a mission set down from the Prioress, the leader of the Priory (a secret group of mages who live halfway across the world). Her mission is to protect Queen Sabran, as it has been known for a thousand years that as long as a Berethnet queen sits on the throne of Inys, the Nameless One will never be able to return.

Who is the Nameless One, you ask? He is the leader of the wyrms, also known as the “evil dragons”. They are what you think of when you think of dragons—fire breathers who reign destruction on their enemies. The Nameless One surfaced over 1000 years prior to the events of PRIORY, and has been entrapped in the middle of the ocean since. As far as Virtudom is concerned, all wyrms are evil spawn of the Nameless One, and must be destroyed.

In the East, however, the dragons are worshipped. Here we meet Tané, the second of our main heroines. She is in training to be a dragon rider. And yes, in the East there are dragons, not wyrms. The dragons of the East are the opposites of wyrms—they get their power from water and cannot breathe fire. They are thought to be sacred gods.

Thus, throughout the story, we the readers are taken on a fantastical journey that explores the vibrant worlds present in PRIORY, as well as seeing a magnificent take on the growth of characters who learn that all they have been taught to believe is a lie. I think some of my favorite parts of this novel were ones that reminded me of our society today. The characters who lived in Virtudom held deep prejudices for those who lived elsewhere. Seeing how those characters grew (or didn’t) out of those prejudices reminded me of what I wish our real world was like.

Another favorite part of mine was all the amazing women! No matter which part of the world a character was in, there was at least one woman leader, whether that be militarily or in the government. It was so refreshing for it to be so ordinary to have women be the leaders. Another high point for me was how LGBT+ relationships were not thought of as abnormal! If there were any oppositions to a relationship, none of them dealt with the gender or sexual orientation of the participants. Honestly, there are many people in our society who could learn a thing or two!

Overall, I rated this book 5 stars. I thought the worldbuilding and character development were amazing, and I loved the unexpected twists. I think Shannon did a great job of telling this story as a standalone. The way the book ended was enough to spark my curiosity on what happened next, while also ensuring that there was nothing missing. I highly recommend this novel!

The Priory of the Orange Tree has been one of my favourite reads of the year thus far! The book looks super imposing so I put off picking it up for a few weeks and then ended up absolutely devouring it over the course of three days! It has everything one could possibly want-- strong character arcs, religious zealots, cultural clashes, magic, DRAGONS (which, Clan Miduchi will have you know, are NOT the same as wyrms) and writing that literally transports you elsewhere.

The premise of The Priory of the Orange Tree is a bit hard to describe because it tracks the perspectives of multiple characters from East and West, but essentially: Ead has been a transplant at a foreign court and is meant to protect Queen Sabran, who is the current ruler of the Virtudom and claims descent from the supposed defeater of the Nameless One (a big scary fire-breathing wyrm). She protects the queen using forbidden magic, which comes from her training as a mage in the Priory of the Orange Tree. In the West, a girl training as a dragon rider is trying to overcome her lack of pedigree in a fiercely competitive struggle to be named as one of the warriors in the most prestitious dragon rider clan of all time, the Miduchi. There are two other POVs that come from less major characters that sketch in some of the gaps around the world, but the book basically threads together disparate pieces of heritage, us vs them mentality, religious fanaticism, developing romantic interests, and the history of three magical trees and women they made powerful into one epic, lush fantasy with world-building for days.

What I Loved:

• Ead was an incredibly interesting character. Her ambition, thoughtfulness, and protective nature make her one of the fiercest characters I've ever read without the typical sass and aggression that we might see in one of those characters. She doesn't have a problem speaking her mind, but she isn't hot-headed or explosive.
• The world building was just.... intensely lush. It was so richly detailed, and while I spent a lot of time in the beginning having to double check where I was, the chapter headings with "East" and "West" simplified a lot for me (which is saying something because I am TERRIBLE with geography).
• Dragons and wyrms. Just... dragons and wyrms.
• The kind of ongoing commentary on historical manipulation and the lies our ancestors tell us was really incredible and I think very, very fitting when we think about history today. (This is just a little nugget that really made an impression on me, even if it wasn't something we were beaten over the head with.)
• The descriptions of scenery. WHOOOSH. This book was descriptive AF without clogging up the pages with unnecessary prose.
• The backstory was so well done and so clever. There were so many amazing elements of the story-- three trees, the stars and the earth, and so on. I still find myself daydreaming about the intricacy of everything Samantha strung together. LOVE.

What I Liked:

• It was immersive, rather than full of info-dumps, which is great. It does have its drawbacks, because there was stuff I wanted more information on, but stuff generally came together neatly.
• The pacing was very well done and kept me engaged in almost all of the storylines at once, though sometimes I was impatient to pop back to another storyline I liked more.

What I Didn't Like:

• At times, I did get a little bit lost with the epicness of it all-- there were so many tiny cultural details and the words used to describe clothing or certain scents were things that I was completely unfamiliar with (and were often unique to the world) BUT I FOUND A GLOSSARY IN THE BACK AFTER. So make use of that!
• There were a couple times that I got very frustrated by the same character, again and again. It was not a main POV character, but because of all of the contact between these characters, we saw a lot of her. I came to appreciate her in the end, which I feel like is a testament to the beauty of Samantha's writing.... she made me convinced I should love a character I originally wanted to punch in the nose.
• I have conflicting feelings (still) about the way that Tane was treated in the middle of the book by the people who claimed her as family. Won't say anything else because spoilers, but I felt like Tane was a better person than I am if she still felt such intense love and respect for them.
• There was one character who I low-key shipped with Tane for a enemies-to-lovers relationship and it didn't pan out, which was fine... but it seemed like this character just literally ghosted after the antagonistic bit of their relationship was over and it served her character development, which was kind of a bummer. There weren't too many loose threads like that, but this one was fairly memorable for me. (Really though, all of these are tiny gripes.)

Overall, I absolutely love this book and would highly recommend it. If you enjoy epic high fantasy, then this would be a great choice. If you like feminist books with empowered female characters, then Priory of the Orange Tree might be your new favourite. If you like multiple POVS, intense world building, F/F relationships, or to be dropped into a new world and left to explore, then this book is definitely for you. But if epic fantasy isn't your thing or if you get confused by multiple POV, then this book could be a bit much to handle... though I'd definitely give it a go anyway!

5/5 stars!

The Priory has been on my TBR list for years now. As someone who fell into a reading slump for several years and recently (2020) got out of it, I had a lot of catching up to do, and frankly, the size of this behemoth novel was uninspiring as I worked my way back into regular reading. Two years later, after my bookish side was finally back in full force, a book box I subscribe to announced special editions of the Priory and it's standalone prequel, and I knew the time had come.

If you want to read a review outlining the story and the characters, there are plenty of those other than this one. The Priory is fantasy unlike any I've ever read before, and I say that in the best way possible. I can honestly say that I had almost zero spoilers before reading, except I knew there would be a sapphic romance involved. Since that was quite literally all that I knew (minus knowing there would be dragons, due to the cover - which is honestly what appealed to me to begin with), I went in completely blind and with moderate expectations. It blew all of them out of the water. I devoured this book; it was physically hard to put down when I had to stop reading for whatever reason. Shannon's pacing and prose are something I've rarely encountered, and I can't get enough of the story or the characters. I honestly wish the book was twice it's size so I could read more about this world and these characters. I also felt so much in this novel. I felt the anguish, the joy, the uncertainty, the victory, the defeat, the duplicity, like it was happening to me, and it's not even written in the first person.

I have a love/hate relationship with multiple POV books, and this one is done exquisitely well. There wasn't a single character that I inwardly groaned at when I got to their next chapter; I was always excited to read what was next, even for the character who becomes (sort of) an antagonist. This is the first book I've read with multiple POVs that hasn't been like that (yes, I'm looking at you, ASOIAF).

The female characters were diverse not only in their origins/appearance, but also in how they can be a strong female character without having to be a sword-wielding, curse-breaking, "the one who was promised" type role. There is female strength shown in a myriad of ways, and I appreciated that as a female reader who generally (especially in fantasy) has to constantly read about how this poor, malnourished girl learns how to fight and becomes hot and strong in like, a month, and cool, now she's a strong female character. I also appreciated how the few romances included stemmed naturally, and not from forced circumstances (another pet peeve with romantic fantasy novels).

As my second favorite reading genre is history, I also loved the clear research into actual history reflected in the book. While it's a made-up fantasy realm, many elements of the story and the societies stem from the real world, which helped cement the believability of the story in my brain. I especially loved the East/West dynamics and how the two eventually collide.

If I had to nitpick, the part the book that disappointed me was the final conflict. Compared to the rest of the novel, it felt rushed and glossed over, like she wasn't sure exactly how to write it so she just kinda skipped over it. 800+ pages of buildup, and then it just...is over. I am glad that we still got to see each character after the final conflict and that each arc felt (mostly) completed, but that would be my only issue if I had to pick one.

((SPOILER)) Side note: this is fully just my opinion, but I do find it ironic that the Priory is presented as good for worshipping the Mother, and the people of Virtudom are presented as brainwashed sheeple, when both "religions" worship a mere human. The Priory has magic and the truth, and yes the story of the Saint is a lie, but at the end of the day both Cleolind and Galian were humans. The members of the Priory worship a human just as the people in Virtudom do. So, the Priory is kind of also a cult, just one based on a true story and not a lie. It's hard to discern what (if any) "afterlife" in the world of the Priory actually exists, but both religions exalt a figure who was just a human and likely has no bearing on any sort of afterlife or answering prayers.

All in all, 5/5, and I highly recommend getting the Kindle version like I did because this beast of a book is a lot to hold onto. Also, I've attached a photo to show the beautiful edges of my special editions :)

They described this book as a feminist fantasy that is perfect for fans of Game of Thrones andI totally agree. I just read the ASOIAF books and this one holds to that standard. It's just such a cool, interesting story that despite its' length, doesn't feel like a difficult read. It also didn't drag for me at all. I was always enrapt by something that was happening in one of the four main POVs. I love reading books where there are multiple POVs and they begin to intersect with one another in a dramatic way. Though this one was certainly frustrating in more than one part, you were almost constantly begging characters not to do something headstrong, it was also very satisfying. I was completely in agreement with the ending, it felt like a strong end to a strong book.

The way that Shannon was able to weave the different points of view together so that they fed on one another was great. Just, the story in general was great. The combination of Eastern and Western politics and the way that their world views differed so significantly was fascinating. The world views of the different places were also so well developed. It served to illuminate the concept of religions being closely based on one another, but disagreeing on minute details. Then it emphasized how those details culminate into something bigger until there are wars or feuds happening over something so unlikely. The idea of religion being based on real events and how little changes in the canon can be so detrimental to historical accuracy was a nice touch. It was just such a well-developed story okay? There was always enough action, backstory, or intrigue to keep the reader interested.

Seeing the different point of views of the four of the characters also allowed for the opportunity to understand their different world-views and their various cultures. They all possess these deep-seated beliefs and ideals (well, maybe not Niclays) and it was so interesting to see how they clashed and intermingled. The characters themselves were just interesting to read about. They felt not only well-rounded and interesting, but also realistic. They didn't feel stiff or abnormal, they just felt like people with their own thoughts and emotions. Not only that, but there was a very diverse cast of protagonists. Three of the four primary characters were people of color. Two of the four were queer and the society itself was essentially a post-queer, post-racial society. Really, the main biases that existed within the society were primarily based on religion. The romantic aspects of the story were very touching, though I will say that it wasn't necessarily the focus. Really only Eadaz's POV was the one with a big, active romantic influence and it isn't constant, nor is it for the entire four. What I'm saying is, the plot doesn't take a back seat for the romance. In fact, it's far more heavily influenced by the plot than the romance. So, come to the book for the queer romance, but stay for the over-arching plot. Also, let me just say that I found Niclays's backstory regarding his romance with Jannart and his desire to accomplish what Jan set out to do was heart breaking. Their whole dynamic was simultaneously so sweet and so gut-wrenching. Just, very well-written.

The setting of the story was established very well. The cultures of the East and West were well-rounded and simultaneously all-encompassing. It was important that the reader understand the different cultures and the impact that it had on character behavior and potential consequences. It was developed beautifully, just like everything else. The magic system felt wonderfully original and also understandable. I saw a review where someone said that they wished it had been developed more, but I totally disagree. It felt like it was done well to me. It was all explained in such a straightforward way, that I felt like I had a great grasp of it. Shannon's writing style in general was simultaneously beautiful but understandable. Like, the story wasn't dumbed down, and once you got used to the writing style it added a layer of believability to the story. You were never taken out of the story by writing that was too modern or far too complex. It was simple enough to keep the story going (which is great because 804 pages has to be kept at a constant pace), but not so simple as to lose its' lovely nature.

My only problems that I had are relatively minimal. Every book has its' issues and this one isn't exempt. First off, it felt like we didn't get nearly enough of Tané's POV. Her point of view was one that I felt like I didn't see nearly enough, especially since her's and Eadaz's are the two that I was the most interested in. You just really want the warriors' points of views when you know you're going to have a battle at some point. My other issue was that it felt like some of the problems that happened within the story were solved way too fast. Like, when they needed to solve a puzzle that somehow nobody has been able to figure out for years, they solve it on the first try. Or when they need to find something important, it's in the first place that they look. Like, just a little more struggle felt necessary. It gave the illusion that they were really non-problems. That's it though. Those are my only two qualms and given the expansiveness of the book, they're very minor.

Now that I've read the book, I completely understand the hype. This is a must-read for any high fantasy lovers. It really gives you everything you could want in a fantasy book and it's done in a way that just makes you want to devour it as quickly as possible. This was definitely a top read for 2021 for me. I'm so glad I enjoyed it and that I made the decision to read it this year. By all means, if you've been considering reading this book, take this review as your sign to read it!

This book reinvigorated my love of fantasy. The story was so well-paced with no exposition dumps. I would wonder about a concept or phrase in one chapter and then a different character would explain it in the next. It all felt so natural.

Yes, this is a very long book. But plenty of people read GRRM and Maas so Priory deserves the same effort. I enjoyed the touches of the Old English language, attire, and courtly life. Very well researched!

This is a wonderfully feminist story. There are female rulers--a whole queendom--and warriors and acknowledged same-sex couples. There are also plenty of male leaders so it all feels natural, again.

The religious and dragon concepts felt original and unfolded nicely. In today's instant communication and Wikipedia, it can be easy to forget how long information used to take to spread with only birds and ships as Messengers.

I look forward to more from this author!

Folks, I finally did it. It was my plan to read this book in the first half of ‘21. When I had set myself that guideline I more so had like January 15th in mind, but June is still the first half, so BOOM. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite covers, I had to have it immediately when I saw it. I wish I had read it immediately too!

What really could I say about this book that hasn’t been said before? Regardless, I’ll try in my own words I suppose… to me, this book is the most successful in its attempts to feel like medieval chivalric knights and court. It does start slow, and for the most part, it is entirely a slow burn anyway, but each section builds up and there is action or raised stakes to feel the pressure. This novel is also super successful in its attempt (and to me success) in being a full fledged standalone epic tale. Yes, from start to finish there are some things that you’d call unnecessary to the overall story, but this one tome is the characters’ entire lives. And boy did I love these characters entirely. They are so fleshed out and each decision they made made sense even if it made me angry. Ead being both a lady of court and a secret badass assassin is a combination that worked really well for me, she ended up being my favorite. Sabran has probably the most traumatic life of a book character I’ve seen, and she still ends up staying strong. I actually wish we saw more book time of her being badass. And Loth is a great example of a virtuous man, perhaps the best in Virtudom, but at the same time, he’s not so trapped in faith that he can’t actually exhibit those virtues in the face of change.

Another thing I really think hit as a huge success for me was the different continents and cultures and races shown here. Although a complete fantasy world, having things from the real world mirror onto theirs was a great way to lock in how absorbing the world is. Although there is hate and ethnocentric feelings towards each other, they all have to put those feelings aside to save the world together. Division isn’t an option.

To avoid spoilers I will just say that the ending did feel a little “Harry Potter,” aka a tad rushed. Especially when dealing with something of such a size and scale as this book. In HP we come to accept the endings because there was always more, this one however did leave me feeling just a little slighted, although it was good! I guess with such a slow burn, we could never really receive as long of an ending as the build up…

And here is a quote I really liked and read several times before moving on, “Gone are the days of heroes…From North to South and West to East, your world will burn.” To me this felt Tolkien-esque in the sense that the scale was grand. I enjoyed it a lot.

If you’re afraid to jump into this book because of the size, I say just so it. You don’t have to read it fast. Give it a shot.

A world divided for over a thousand years: the west fears dragons, the east reveres dragons, yet their common enemy is about to rise again.

In the west, it is believed that the great evil wyrm called the Nameless One will remain at bay as long as an heir of Berethnet rules Inys, as has been the case for the past millennium since he was vanquished, but the current Queen Sabran has rejected all her suitors and the people are worried she won’t marry, which will thus release the Nameless One to wreak havoc once again.

In the east, they believe differently, and they have dragons of their own that are not at all like the fire-breathers of the west. I love the juxtaposition between the dragons from the east, dragons of water, and dragons from the west, dragons of fire. I saw a similar connection to the dragons in our world, the traditional Chinese dragon and the European dragon.

This story follows four perspectives. In the west we have Ead, who is a lady-in-waiting in the court of Inys, sent there to protect Queen Sabran; and Loth, best friend of Sabran and who has been sent away on a mission to a foreign land. In the east we have Tané, a girl who has spent her whole life training to be a dragon rider but who harbors a secret that could cost her everything; and Niclays Roos, an alchemist who was banished from Queen Sabran’s court seven years ago and is now living in exile.

It is easy to keep straight the four main perspectives, and it’s easy to keep track of the secondary characters, but there are a lot of tertiary characters that I kept getting mixed up, especially the people of the court and who held which positions. Ultimately it didn’t matter too much and it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story, but just know that there are a lot of characters in this book, especially when you take into account all the historical and mythological figures that play an important role in the religion and politics of the world.

That is one thing I loved about The Priory of the Orange Tree though, is that it is a highly detailed world with a very rich history. The history of this world plays a huge part in the founding of all of the religions, and you can see where they each divided over time. There are also distinct cultures and landscapes described in the different nations of the world, and each nation has its own language that is consistently referenced. I cannot communicate how in-depth this story is, like there had to have been so much research and time put into constructing the world because of how utterly expansive it is, and I love that. The world-building here is some of the best I’ve ever seen.

I also love how everything connects. Some characters are related to certain historical figures, of which some of these were the cause for the creation of the religion in Inys, and the present-day religious beliefs in Inys completely drive their politics, which in turn affects the political climate of the surrounding nations, and the list goes on and on. So many threads weave together to form a beautiful story. I love all the political intrigue discussed as well.

Despite the size of this tome, Priory is actually very readable, and it’s easy to get right into the story. I was intimidated to start it but after a few chapters, I knew I was in for a good ride. I will say that the beginning is much more drawn out than the end, but I think that’s because we are being introduced to the vast world and cast of characters, plus I was constantly referencing the maps, the timeline, the glossary, and the comprehensive character list while I was getting used to the story. I like knowing everything when I start a book so I will spend time getting to know the world and the characters at the beginning, even if it takes extra time. It’s not a slow-moving or boring story, but it does require time and patience to read, so just know that before starting it.

Speaking of the maps, I am so grateful they were included. I really don’t think I would have made it through this book otherwise. They were beautifully drawn across three pages and were very helpful in pinpointing all the locations mentioned throughout the story. I do wish, however, that we had an even broader map. There were vague references to locations beyond the borders of the map and I wished I could see them and see even more of this world. I think a fold-out map would be perfect for this book.

I also wish we would have learned more about Hróth and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. We see so much of the other nations but we know next to nothing about those two. The Empire of the Twelve Lakes is the biggest nation on the map and it has a very detailed landscape, yet we learn very little about it during most of the book, and Hróth literally has only one city on the map because most of the nation is beyond the page. I would love to see this world expanded in every direction because I just can’t get enough of it and there’s so much more to explore.

We spend a great deal of our time in Inys, seeing as it’s the influence for the primary religion of the west and three of our four main characters have lived in Inys at some point. I love the idea of the queendom in Inys, where the queen is expected to produce a female heir. That’s a complete flip on the traditional patriarchy where the king is expected to produce a male heir, and it was great. This book has a lot of feminist undertones, and I thought it was wonderful. Also, there is very little romance in this book, but what little is there is beautiful.

This was one of the first books where I didn’t mind reading about pirates. Normally—and I don’t know why—I don’t like stories set on boats or involving pirates, but I actually enjoyed the small part of this book that included pirates.

The last 150-ish pages went a lot quicker than the rest of the book. Not that the beginning and middle were slow, but the ending seemed a lot faster in comparison. And the climax of the book felt a bit rushed, to the point that I was slightly disappointed because I expected the final battle to take longer and be more difficult. We have nearly 800 pages of buildup and 1000 years of preparation for this final moment, and then...it’s over like that. Maybe that’s just me, and this isn’t a huge complaint because the rest of the book was so extraordinary, but I would have liked to see a bit more.

Also, I think the finding of Ascalon was too easy. It’s been lost for centuries and all of the sudden a character is like, oh I think it’s in this place, and it is, and I wish there had been more behind that. There are some great twists and unexpected reveals in this story, but sometimes the path to get there was so convoluted that the outcomes felt a bit too easy for all the trouble the characters had to go through.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Priory of the Orange Tree, and I would recommend it to high fantasy fans who love dragons. It’s long and takes patience to read, but the world is so beautiful and the characters are so wonderful that every second spent in this book is worth it. And although this is marketed as a standalone fantasy, I want more, I really do. I can see so many openings for a sequel, like which directions it could take, because each character’s future is left open, and I need more details. I hope one day we get to see more in this world, even if it’s set another thousand years in the future and involves different characters.

Here are some SPOILERY questions I had about the ending: What can we learn from the ending? Who was Ead’s real father? What was the blood on Tané’s side? I expected Niclays and Nayimuthun to be dead and was surprised when they came back, especially the dragon. The Nameless One tells Sabran, “Beware the sweet water.” What does that mean? Do not say things unless they are important to the future of the story. The emperor of the Empire of the Twelve Lakes told us about his lover who he spurned and she said that she was coming for him. Will we see what this really means? What will become of the celestial jewels? Will Tané and Ead become friends? What will Sabran do in the next decade, and who will she elect to rule Inys once she abdicates the throne and moves to Lasia to be with Ead? Also, Fýredel is still out there and therefore could be the villain of the next installment.

Even though the story wraps up nicely, there are still so many questions left unanswered. I need more.

Although this book is verbose, I’m not sure that it would have been better or worse if it was less so. The world building and story telling are top notch. Thankfully I read it on Kindle as I needed to use the definitions feature a lot.

It was a slog to get through the first third of the book, but after that I did not want to put it down. That is the only reason I did not give 5 stars.

This is going to be a "it's not you, it's me" scenario.

I can tell that this has a lot of plot threads that it's slowly building up and I firmly believe (given all the reviews) that the execution is going to be perfection but it's just taking a little bit too long for my ADHD to handle. There is a reason I can't do shows despite how much I like those plot lines either. I apparently need some sense of containment or urgency within a certain period to finish.

I am pretty happy to have made it to 37%, though! That's 314 pages which is roughly around my usual novels I think. All-in-all, well written and would recommend for the peeps that don't have limited attention spans.