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A review by pages_oflau
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
4.0
Thank you so much to @TandemCollectiveUK and Bloomsbury for sending me a free paperback of this book in exchange for participating in a ‘teaserlong’.
I liked this book a lot, but I didn’t love it. But I also didn’t hate it either. I’ve been so conflicted about this review...
Okay, I’m going to be totally honest with you all. Yes, I started this last year and yes I DNF’d it at page 302. Not really because it was bad, but because at the time it was a lot to take in. Let me tell you, no one is as surprised as I am that this ended up being a 4 star read (rated in CAWPILE).
I’m also going to just say that it’s taken me 4 days to figure out my feelings towards this book and I’ve spent so long thinking about it that I really just wanted to review it and get it done.
This plot is so vast and complex that I’m not even going to do a summary of it like I usually do in my reviews. I’m going to just talk about the things I liked and the things I didn’t like. This is just an intriguing fantasy story but I feel like it was missing that something that made it special.
The things I liked:
- I really liked every single character. Yes, there are some I like better than others, namely Ead and Sabran. I think they are such a perfect character pairing and they were my favourite chapters to read. I also really liked Tane’s chapters.
- I loved the dragons. They were super cool and unique and really worked well with this plot and the story that was being told.
- The world building was incredible at the start of this book, there is a map included but for me that really took away the element of imagination for me.
- Everything about this book is complex and for some reason, at the time I read it, I was completely into it and I can’t believe I actually finished it!
Now, for the things I didn’t like:
- The ending. The first half of this book is soooooo slow, and with it being over 800 pages, it was a bit of a struggle to get to page 400. Then suddenly it’s the ending and I really felt like was rushed, and it was too neat. There were no shocks, nothing to make my heart beat out of my chest. Basically after such a HUGE build up to the end of the world and everyone dying, nothing happened and I was disappointed. I wanted main character deaths, especially after how bad we were lead to believe it would be.
- I feel like this book was way too long which caused pacing issues. The start was slow as hell, the middle was pretty boring and the ending felt like a whole different book because it was so rushed.
- I also found that the world building and map went down the pan in the second half. In the first half we are lead to believe that this is a HUGE world and that it would take weeks to travel between the different parts. But towards the ending everyone conveniently was able to get places in such a short amount of time. I felt like this completely undid the whole of the world building that had been done in the first 400ish pages.
Ultimately, I rated this 4 stars because of the characters mainly, but also because I enjoyed reading it this second time around and because I liked where it was going...until the last 150-200ish pages when it took a swan dive.
I liked this book a lot, but I didn’t love it. But I also didn’t hate it either. I’ve been so conflicted about this review...
Okay, I’m going to be totally honest with you all. Yes, I started this last year and yes I DNF’d it at page 302. Not really because it was bad, but because at the time it was a lot to take in. Let me tell you, no one is as surprised as I am that this ended up being a 4 star read (rated in CAWPILE).
I’m also going to just say that it’s taken me 4 days to figure out my feelings towards this book and I’ve spent so long thinking about it that I really just wanted to review it and get it done.
This plot is so vast and complex that I’m not even going to do a summary of it like I usually do in my reviews. I’m going to just talk about the things I liked and the things I didn’t like. This is just an intriguing fantasy story but I feel like it was missing that something that made it special.
The things I liked:
- I really liked every single character. Yes, there are some I like better than others, namely Ead and Sabran. I think they are such a perfect character pairing and they were my favourite chapters to read. I also really liked Tane’s chapters.
- I loved the dragons. They were super cool and unique and really worked well with this plot and the story that was being told.
- The world building was incredible at the start of this book, there is a map included but for me that really took away the element of imagination for me.
- Everything about this book is complex and for some reason, at the time I read it, I was completely into it and I can’t believe I actually finished it!
Now, for the things I didn’t like:
- The ending. The first half of this book is soooooo slow, and with it being over 800 pages, it was a bit of a struggle to get to page 400. Then suddenly it’s the ending and I really felt like was rushed, and it was too neat. There were no shocks, nothing to make my heart beat out of my chest. Basically after such a HUGE build up to the end of the world and everyone dying, nothing happened and I was disappointed. I wanted main character deaths, especially after how bad we were lead to believe it would be.
- I feel like this book was way too long which caused pacing issues. The start was slow as hell, the middle was pretty boring and the ending felt like a whole different book because it was so rushed.
- I also found that the world building and map went down the pan in the second half. In the first half we are lead to believe that this is a HUGE world and that it would take weeks to travel between the different parts. But towards the ending everyone conveniently was able to get places in such a short amount of time. I felt like this completely undid the whole of the world building that had been done in the first 400ish pages.
Ultimately, I rated this 4 stars because of the characters mainly, but also because I enjoyed reading it this second time around and because I liked where it was going...until the last 150-200ish pages when it took a swan dive.