A review by revolverreads
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

To read or not to read, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the lack of plot or character development, or to take arms against everyone who called this the feminist Lord of the Rings. If the bells haven't rung yet, we split the mammoth "Priory of the Orange Tree" by Samantha Shannon to be read over the course of two months, and never have we been so badly catfished (not even by our Hinge dates).

The standalone novel is intended to be considered high fantasy, but this description is highly misleading. For a book with dragons, you barely get them. For a book with LGBTQ representation, you barely get it. For a book that's meant to have epic battles, you barely get them. This book has the potential to be great; the core ideas are strong. However, any scene that approaches being interesting fades to black.

One of the problems with this book is that it follows multiple perspectives. This isn't inherently an issue, as other series successfully use multiple viewpoints to drive the narrative forward. However, in this case, we get no time to become attached enough to care about what happens. It's that attachment to the stakes and the impact on the characters that leaves you feeling happy, devastated, or shocked, and Priory of the Orange Tree provides none of that. This book would have benefitted from being a series, allowing the audience to see the character development and actually care about what happens. 


There are so many different characters and locations that it's almost jarring, especially because some are meant to be crucial to the plot, like bringing down a big, bad evil, yet we barely get a page about them. But the greatest crime of all is naming your villain "the Dark One" and not taking a moment to give them an actual name beyond this generic code name. Throughout the novel, it's repeatedly emphasized that you need to fear the Dark One, but no actual history is provided. If he's just going to blow fire and singe someone's laundry, he's not the greatest evil ever—he's basically a medieval dryer at that point.

Frustratingly, it promised so much, but good plot ideas are useless if they aren’t expanded on. If you would like to commiserate along with us, check us out at Revolver Reads: A Bookclub Russian Roulette on your podcast platform of choice, or simply @revolverreads on Instagram and let us know what you think. If you’d like to email us any future book suggestions for our roulette wheel, feel free to send them to [email protected].

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