Shannon, Samantha
About the Author:
Samantha Shannon lives in London, England.
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
4 out of 5
(1 book)
The Priory Of The Orange Tree
In the West dragons are reviled by the religious nations of Virtuedom, whilst in the East they are revered as gods. Meanwhile, in the South, the agents of the Priory of the Orange Tree work to oppose the forces of the Nameless One. But that ancient evil is awakening after a thousand years and the disparate nations of the world must find common ground if they are to survive.
One of the irritating quotes printed on my copy of this book claims this to be a 'feminist Lord of the Rings' but I think that is a pretty disingenuous way of describing this book. For starters, it's almost nothing like Tolkien's work and its style is actually more in keeping with more modern fantasy writers like George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind and putting LotR comparisons on it could lead to unfair expectations (or stigmas). The argument for this being a feminist novel is somewhat stronger in that a number of its main characters are empowered women and one of the specific themes addressed is how an ancient legend was subverted by misogyny. However, I would simply prefer to think of this as an enlightened modern novel in which the attitudes towards women and people of other faiths, races and sexualities aren't bound by the phallocentric straight white expectations of years past.
But, is it any good? Well, yes, it is. This is a very well constructed, epic fantasy which tackles some interesting new concepts, of which I enjoyed its exploration of the different views of dragons taken in the East and West (much as in the real world) the most. The main characters are also deeply engaging and complex, where none is entirely 'good' nor entirely 'bad'. Even the outright villains of the story feel three-dimensional and justified in their behaviours, no matter how skewed their morality may be.
All that said, however, this book lacked a certain je ne sais quoi for me. It's very hard to quantify, but I never felt swept away into the story in the way truly great fantasy has done for me in the past. The book lacks a certain sense of wonder that I have found elsewhere. I suspect it stems largely from the fact that it never quite finds the right balance between complex political fantasy (a la Song of Ice and Fire or Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings) and traditional high fantasy with dragons, ancient evils and vast armies (a la Lord of the Rings).
Definitely worth a read though.
4 out of 5
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