Samantha Shannon dives head first into her debut to the world of High Fantasy, drawing us into a complex, dragon filled, cross-country saga carried by intricate, thoughtfully crafted, religious and political motivations which highlight Shannon's ability to craft not just the face of a world but the history and depth of one also.
From the blurb;
'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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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.'
The Priory of the Orange Tree is a tome of a book, at 804 pages long and featuring a cast of characters, glossary and timeline in the back portion, it is easy to be put off by it's size and apparent lengthily lists of information when browsing it off the store shelf. However quickly rising to become a best seller none of these facts put off eager readers, seeking dragons, adventure and romance, and now The Priory of the Orange Tree sits proudly as one the past few years most successful fantasy novels.
The reasons for it's success are various, with different notes sparking with different readers, a show of the complex world Shannon has so expertly created. The story is carried by a cast of five very different characters, split down the middle to put half on one side of this politically divided world and the rest on the other. Through switching perspectives throughout the novel Shannon uses her characters very different lives and experiences to paint a broad picture of the world, and to throw in kinks of knowledge, forcing the reader to filter and find the true history of the two continents.
As the story progresses and an old evil raises it's head we are thrown into the adventure of the tale, split and divided by our large character cast, we watch as chaos erupts across the lands, and various religious views begin to have a stronger effect on our characters reactions.
Unlike other high fantasy tales, The Priory of the Orange Tree focuses it's disputes in the realms of religious and national politics. A chose that allows Shannon to show off her depth of world building, and her impressive literary prowess, drawing on ancient histories that crafted religious thinking and how those religious notions affect each political system in turn.
That is not to say there is not fantasy style action throughout the novel. Several fighting scenes, mainly featuring one of our main characters, Ead, carry the weight of excitement throughout the book and give us the core action we crave.
In a true stroke of skill, between the action, politics and religious manoeuvring, Shannon also crafts a love story, drawing on romance between two core female characters, and using this love as the key between their very different lives and opinions. It is this love that secures the success of these characters ventures as without the other they would never have gained the perspective they so sorely needed.
Outside of the romantic turn though every character in the expansive cast is given their fair justice, even side characters are laced with history and motivation, with no character left to the wayside. This commitment to making each member of the novels large cast feel real and credible helps to make the story incredibly immersive, driving the slower points of the novel on as we cheer and cry for characters who quickly feel like friends.
The well crafted characters are heightened by the detailed rendering of the world in which they inhabit. Scattered with fantastical beasts alongside the dragons, touched with magic, and rendered down to the geographical landmarks in spellbinding detail Shannon proves herself as an incredible world builder.
Our only complaint is that there could have been more dragon action throughout this novel. The Priory of the Orange Tree will likely live on as a corner stone to accessible high fantasy in the years to come.
We give The Priory of the Orange Tree four stars.
ISBN - 978-1-4088-8335-8 Cover Price - £10.99 First published in Great Britain 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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