The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos)
The million-copy bestselling “rich and engaging high fantasy novel that puts women and their stories front and center . . . will pull you into its magical world from the first page.” (Bustle)
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE * AUTOSTRADDLE
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 all her life to be a dragonrider, 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.
Experience more of this New York Times bestselling series in the Roots of Chaos prequels, A Day of Fallen Night and Among the Burning Flowers.
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What Bookclubbers are saying about this book
✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *The Priory of the Orange Tree* by Samantha Shannon offers immersive worldbuilding, strong female leads, and rich political intrigue, prai...
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3-3.5!
This book has a lot of great things going for it- dragons, political strife, breaking traditions, strong female leads and characters in general, an absolutely insane immersion in world building, great writing, and character development.
I enjoyed my read and would re-read. Especially now that I’ve finished this book, and understand better each character and some of the lore in its earlier stages, I feel I may have missed some key details fleshed out in the beginning that I would have a greater appreciation for now.
The early chapters were tough- the immediate introduction to the world building and the politics of each region while trying to learn how to pronounce everything was INTENSE. Typical for fantasy introductions I’d say, but this one took their lore to a whole new level!
I’ll wrap up criticism by wrapping back around to the end of the book, and coming full circle. The beginnings for its intensity and the end for its perceived “rush” to end things were what kept me from rating 4-4.5, which I contemplated in the middle (where I really enjoyed things). This closure on the book feels a mix on incomplete (which I credit to be purposefully lain for the next book(s)) and rushed. When I got to the last 83% and 5-6 chapters of the book and only 100 pages left, and the Nameless One still hadn’t made his appeareance, I figured the final battle was to be one of quick defeat. This isn’t a terrible thing, but felt to me the same way the killing of Smaug did in the Hobbit- for something so hyped up for the better part of 730+ pages, I expected something more long-winded but was met with something that felt quick and easy.
Now, I expect a lot of the same as with the hobbit, that maybe this also lays the foundation for major plot points in other books (like the battle for the mountain) and hold onto that notion. Because the battle in the abyss was scarcely as intense as I expected. What happened to the jewels? Do Tanè and Ead still have them? What of Sabran in that whole event? The right hand (Feyrèdel or whatever his name was) still is amiss. So I expect that to be an issue later LOL.
I very much enjoyed the writing, albeit the names were hard to say, and the world building was fantastic! I am invested in this fantastical place of magic, mages, dragons, and breaking of societal role and expectation. The multiple POV’s of each character were very well fleshed out and we seen the developments of each at a good pace that felt genuine and true to the nature of the character first introduced. Sabran and Ead’s relationship, though not my personal preference, felt sincere and was delicately mentioned in a way that wasn’t overdone or forced, and added a sweet layer to the book that didn’t take away from the real adventure and plot. Same with Roos and Jannart’s mention. The reader really came to understand each character’s motives and that’s an art I can say is scarcely seen in love stories these days.
Eadaz and Tanè were two of my favs, and I love their strong personalities with a contrast that was emulated in their respective stones: starlight/fire and the sea. The dragons and their political structure that then played into each region’s religion was so well done and felt believable and sophisticated!
The underlying plot points that dealt with sexism (Cleolind being the real beneficiary of the initial defeat of the Nameless One, Sabran’s line being only deemed worthy with the continuation of the blood line, etc) were great secondary discussion points that added to the overall storyline and by its end, as everyone is discovering that what they were taught to believe is not always truth or even the right thing to do, really felt full circle.
I loved Tanè’s dragon, and there were a lot of great quotes and descriptions in this book!
For the amount of times people were supposed to die- seriously, a lot of unfatal throat slashing- they didn’t, but also key characters who were the catalyst for peace treaties between the regions were killed off without second guess. Nice change of pace in that regard.
Overall, an enjoyable behemoth of a read. The beginning was tough but the pay off by 20% in was well worth it. And though the end felt rushed, considering how big the book is and how much time has surpassed, it wasn’t a total flop. The same sex relationships aren’t for me but I’m pleasantly surprised and happy with their involvement in this story and appreciated the adventure, the magic, and the dragons!
This book has a lot of great things going for it- dragons, political strife, breaking traditions, strong female leads and characters in general, an absolutely insane immersion in world building, great writing, and character development.
I enjoyed my read and would re-read. Especially now that I’ve finished this book, and understand better each character and some of the lore in its earlier stages, I feel I may have missed some key details fleshed out in the beginning that I would have a greater appreciation for now.
The early chapters were tough- the immediate introduction to the world building and the politics of each region while trying to learn how to pronounce everything was INTENSE. Typical for fantasy introductions I’d say, but this one took their lore to a whole new level!
I’ll wrap up criticism by wrapping back around to the end of the book, and coming full circle. The beginnings for its intensity and the end for its perceived “rush” to end things were what kept me from rating 4-4.5, which I contemplated in the middle (where I really enjoyed things). This closure on the book feels a mix on incomplete (which I credit to be purposefully lain for the next book(s)) and rushed. When I got to the last 83% and 5-6 chapters of the book and only 100 pages left, and the Nameless One still hadn’t made his appeareance, I figured the final battle was to be one of quick defeat. This isn’t a terrible thing, but felt to me the same way the killing of Smaug did in the Hobbit- for something so hyped up for the better part of 730+ pages, I expected something more long-winded but was met with something that felt quick and easy.
Now, I expect a lot of the same as with the hobbit, that maybe this also lays the foundation for major plot points in other books (like the battle for the mountain) and hold onto that notion. Because the battle in the abyss was scarcely as intense as I expected. What happened to the jewels? Do Tanè and Ead still have them? What of Sabran in that whole event? The right hand (Feyrèdel or whatever his name was) still is amiss. So I expect that to be an issue later LOL.
I very much enjoyed the writing, albeit the names were hard to say, and the world building was fantastic! I am invested in this fantastical place of magic, mages, dragons, and breaking of societal role and expectation. The multiple POV’s of each character were very well fleshed out and we seen the developments of each at a good pace that felt genuine and true to the nature of the character first introduced. Sabran and Ead’s relationship, though not my personal preference, felt sincere and was delicately mentioned in a way that wasn’t overdone or forced, and added a sweet layer to the book that didn’t take away from the real adventure and plot. Same with Roos and Jannart’s mention. The reader really came to understand each character’s motives and that’s an art I can say is scarcely seen in love stories these days.
Eadaz and Tanè were two of my favs, and I love their strong personalities with a contrast that was emulated in their respective stones: starlight/fire and the sea. The dragons and their political structure that then played into each region’s religion was so well done and felt believable and sophisticated!
The underlying plot points that dealt with sexism (Cleolind being the real beneficiary of the initial defeat of the Nameless One, Sabran’s line being only deemed worthy with the continuation of the blood line, etc) were great secondary discussion points that added to the overall storyline and by its end, as everyone is discovering that what they were taught to believe is not always truth or even the right thing to do, really felt full circle.
I loved Tanè’s dragon, and there were a lot of great quotes and descriptions in this book!
For the amount of times people were supposed to die- seriously, a lot of unfatal throat slashing- they didn’t, but also key characters who were the catalyst for peace treaties between the regions were killed off without second guess. Nice change of pace in that regard.
Overall, an enjoyable behemoth of a read. The beginning was tough but the pay off by 20% in was well worth it. And though the end felt rushed, considering how big the book is and how much time has surpassed, it wasn’t a total flop. The same sex relationships aren’t for me but I’m pleasantly surprised and happy with their involvement in this story and appreciated the adventure, the magic, and the dragons!
The Priory of the Orange Tree was epic fun. Some books are 80 pages and take 80 days to read, while others are over 800 pages, and make you want to finish them in a day. Priory is the latter. I wanted to fly through it because it was absolutely delicious. Yet I had to keep reminding myself to fully absorb the fantastical world-building and imagery that Samantha Shannon delivers through her evocative prose. It's a world that draws on the familiar yet feels entirely new and refreshing. And my enjoyment didn't start or end there – the plot is detailed yet fast-paced, kept me turning the pages. The writing is poetic without being drawn out. The characters are complex, and their actions and motivations feel natural. Even the twists arise from a well-crafted plot and characters rather than for shock value.
I couldn't help but yelp with delight every time I encountered a "her" instead of a "him." After reading a mountain of high fantasy, you almost expect the default characters to be male - pirates, privateers, governors, professors, knights of 'virtue', soldiers, scholars, warriors, and so on. Yes, it’s a feminist retelling, but that doesn’t mean treating men as women are treated by men in a patriarchy. That’s the thing I loved most about this book – it doesn’t diminish, demean, or subjugate one gender to lift another up.
It's been a while since I've read a high fantasy this good – definitely one of my favorites in this genre.
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