REVIEW: The Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon)

Book: The Priory of the Orange Tree

Author: Samantha Shannon

My rating: 4.5/5.

Premise: A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter, but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, but she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child. And all the while, forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

I must admit, this doorstop of a book was intimidating. But I lapped it up! We have the western world with Ead, Sabran and Loth as the bad dragons start to stir up trouble. In the east we have Tane and Niclays. Tane is becoming a dragon rider (good dragons) and Niclays is a shady character who keeps getting swept up into adventures. I loved spotting the influences from various cultures and bits of history. I loved the strong female characters and how this is a queernorm world. You really get drawn into the story and the characters. Just when you think "hmm I wonder what they're doing now", you go back to their story for a bit. I adored this book!