DRAGON RIDERS. MATRIARCHY. REPRESENTATION.

Or in other words, High Fantasy redefined. Yes, High Fantasy made feminist. Made diverse.

This beast of a book blew me away in more ways than one. And definitely, in more ways than I would have ever expected. The Priory of the Orange Tree should stand as a new genre, or at least that’s how it feels like.

Rich in prose and world building, what moves the story forward are threads and threads of layered characters weaved together. The powerful and female protagonists are one of the stars of the show. Sabran, a young queen that refuses to wed and bear a heir. Ead, a kickass foreigner secretly sworn to the queen’s protection. And Tane, who has been preparing her whole life for the dragon rider trials and who may have done something with great repercussions.

The East and the West, two seemingly independent worlds that are tethered by one creature: dragons. Where one society fears them, the other one worships them. Where one dreads their awakening, the other one knows no greater honour than to be chosen to dedicate their lives to them.

As you see, it has the right elements to make a difference and a statement.

And at the same time, even if incredibly compelling and attractive, this book is also very intimidating. Even once you've started reading. I'm not only talking about length (+800 pages), but also about complexity. The reader is thrown into a universe where there’s a false sense of familiarity. Yes, the Priory world includes a good share of known high fantasy elements. But it also defines them from a whole new perspective. In addition to that, there’s a merciless firefight of characters. Lots of them, with complicated names and titles that belong to a hierarchy characteristic of this genre that at the same time, belong to foreign realm to the reader.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. From the expert that I've read so far, I look forward to reading the rest of the book and seeing how the story progresses and how Ms. Shannon is able to weave all those different storylines together into one cohesive plot. The stirring of something momentous was happening and it was enough to keep me engaged, despite the jumping back and forth between characters storylines. I will be purchasing the full book when it is released and recommend to others.

Fantasy is one of those genres whereby i am choosy as to what i would read. Upon reading this excerpt, i know 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' is one of those fantasy book that i would enjoy. Loved the excerpt and cannot wait to read the whole book.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my excerpt.

Greatly looking forward to better explore the extensive characters and their journeys once The Priory of the Orange Tree releases. I loved the sweeping nature of this world and how the characters were all separate but equally connected in unrealized ways, and I cannot wait for what's to come.

The Priory of The Orange Tree looks to be a promising new book and I absolutely cannot wait to read the rest of this book when it releases! I was blown away just by the excerpt!

High fantasy seems to be at it's peak with this beautifully written book! Already I love the world building, the author does a fantastic job at describing everything too. I

This book will have everyone talking about it, the book of the year!

Read an ARC excerpt courtesy of the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

I can honestly say I was so excited when I read this excerpt, I really can’t wait until the main book is released so I can continue the story !

Characters are well fleshed out and the story has some interesting twists, definitely worth the read !

#theprioryoftheorangetree #netgalley

This excerpt makes the reader want to keep reading and sets up the world of Priory. I can't wait to read more next week when Priory of the Orange Tree releases. Based on this excerpt, it sets itself up to be one of my favorite fantasy novels!

An excerpt copy was provided by Bloomsbury via NetGalley. So far this book is so amazing! I can't wait for it to hit the shelves. This is going to be a "Must Read!!"

This is quite the enigma. I have picked this up and abruptly put it back down at least 9 or 10 times. I just can't get into it and that's confusing since the synopsis hit all the right notes. I was intrigued. I also saw all of those glowing reviews and I feel like I'm reading a different book. We're not vibing. Forget falling in love with it (like the other reviewers), I'm just trying to fall in tolerance with it... and I'm failing. I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and say it's probably a simple case of "it's not you, it's me". Maybe it's because I have been reading some REALLY good books lately, I think it has set the bar pretty high. Either way, it wasn't for me and I set my limit at 10 tries before I call it so here we are... I HATE to say it but... I QUIT!

This is quite possibly one of my most hyped books for 2019, and I greatly appreciate Samantha and Bloomsbury making the first 100 pages available! I can't wait to dive into this world of dragons and courts!

The Priory of the Orange Tree EXCERPT
A Novel
by Samantha Shannon
Bloomsbury USA
Bloomsbury
General Fiction (Adult) , Sci Fi & Fantasy

I only got a taste and a couple of Houses...this looks like very good book with a certain amount of complexity, court intrigue and a well thought out put together cast that includes dragons, pirates, assassins, anti assassins, magic, mysticism, maybe some romance and quite detailed different cultures. I would read it if given a chance. I giving a 4 instead of 5 because I only went through 100 pages but will try to rad it soon and probably change up

The world building shown so far for this story is amazing and incredibly intriguing. I am very excited to read more

You know when you start reading a book and you know you're going to love it? Well that's it!

I enjoyed the excerpt enough to preorder the book. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

This excerpt is so good that I pre-ordered the book after reading it ... The cover is magical and how Samantha Shannon is build up this book and helps the reader getting from up to now into the story is fantastic! Thank you so much for reading this excerpt. Will this book also be published and Germany and if yes, is it clearly by now, when ;-)? I love what I´m allowed to read by now very much ... Thank you!

Thank you so much for the preview I am so looking forward to getting my copy of this book I went out and pre order immediately. I love dragons!!! Cant wait to see where the adventures take me

When I first came across this book, I thought it sounded amazing. I mean, who doesn't love epic fantasies with dragons of all shapes and sizes? The opening quote from Revelations made this even more intriguing as I started reading the excerpt.

While this excerpt gives a chunky look into this massive novel, I'm not sure which way to go with it. It certainly reads like a well-written epic fantasy. But the up-play of the LGBT aspects of the book in several reviews I've read are making me second guess if I want to read it or not. I wish this was better indicated as not everybody wants to read books in this genre.

Well what a beginning to a story is it February yet I need the whole book!
A retelling of George and the Dragon, with a female point of view and from the small amount i read it is rich on details and the world building is immense.

Not sure how I feel about this book yet. I will definitely pick up the full text when it is released.

Such a tease!! While I'm very grateful to have been given the chance to read an excerpt of one of the most anticipated releases of 2019 by a beloved author, all it did was whet my appetite for even more!

While the world building itself was a little dry, (though understandable when reading a high fantasy), when I first saw the mention of Dragons from the East I was intrigued. When I saw them, I was hooked. The pieces soon fell into place, and I started to feel for the characters more. This was no longer a documentary style historical fiction, but a full blooded high fantasy fit for a Queen! (or a fantasy loving reader at best).

I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy when it releases in February, and bask in the brilliance that is Samantha Shannon.

Same as for Exclusive Early Excerpt:
I enjoyed this extract quite a bit, the writing was precise and easy to read, the characters were well developed and the exposition was integrated into the story so as not to be distracting while at the same time clearly indicating the depth of world building. By the end of the extract the various characters' plot intrigues and the story's sense of scale had built and combined to create the sense that this book is clearly going to an exceptionally if traditional epic fantasy.
The only draw back for readers may by the clear analogues between world history and the nations of this book's fantasy world. Already there are fantasy nations that are clearly inspired (both in culture and to some degree geographically) by Tudor England, Shogun Japan and the 17th century Dutch Republic. This probably won't be much of an issue but may undercut reader's desire for this fantasy world to have a real sense of distinctiveness.
It should be noted that the book does of very good job of creating a diverse fantasy world both in terms of gender and race without being heavy handed in it's approach.
It's clear that this is going to be a book on an epic scale and if purchased, as I intend to, readers should be prepared to make a big commitment for what should be a highly enjoyable reading experience.