Just finished reading an excerpt of this book and it gave me CHILLS. The Priory of the Orange Tree promises to be a sweeping high fantasy, especially since it's almost 900 pages! I cannot wait to read the entire book; I can already tell that I'm going to be completely sucked into this world. The author's note at the beginning of the book tells us that she is inspired by cultures and events in our world, which thrills me to pieces. Dragons? Strong female characters? Yes yes YES. I cannot WAIT to read this book!

BONUS: If you pre-order the book, you can get an exclusive signed poster! Simply submit your receipt at this link. The cover is just GORGEOUS. You definitely want that poster!

Whoa. This is a masterpiece. Samantha Shannon is the definition of talent. I cannot wait to read more!

Oh my word! I can’t wait for the book to be released! This teaser isn’t enough, I want more!
This has been highly anticipated by many and for good reasons!

This book, from what I read, is such an amazing read. The world building is out of this world, the characters are beautifully portrayed, and the overall premise of where this book is looking to go is enchanting. I didn't want to put The Priory of the Orange Tree down.

The opening chapter of this story pulls you in instantly and you immediately want to know what's going to happen next. You kind of go back and forth to different places but it's easy to stay with the plot and Shannon writes it in a way you can vividly see what's going on.

I can't wait to get my hands on the actual book! I'm really excited for this release.

I do read epic fantasy like this fairly often, so I wasn't too put off by the length of the book, and ultimately I have to say that it is completely warranted. At worst there are a few pages in the final section that are a bit repetitive, but I don't think I would have noticed if I was not reading at such a rapid pace. The pacing and the plotting demands a book of this length to create one cohesive story. I don't think it would have been possible to separate it into multiple books, and I am very happy it was presented this way. It's a wonderful standalone piece.

Let's talk characters! Over the course of the 800+ pages, you get to know a few characters very well, though there were some I would have liked to spend more time with. Samantha Shannon dug deeply into character motivations in this book. We don't just have a queen, we have a queen afraid of her court's expectations, with depression, who is also a brilliant strategist. Not only is Ead a highly skilled wyrm killer, she is also suffering from abandonment issues. The mental and social motivators for characters are always at the forefront, which isn't something I see enough in my epic fantasy and I loved it. Also, a lot of the characters are LGBTQIA+.

Of course the other major set of characters everyone wants to know more about are the dragons. There are a lot of dragons, however, you don't see a whole lot of them. Fear not! I felt I knew all I needed to about their role in the end, and if they had been more present it would have been difficult to maintain a sense of real peril and conflict. Dragons are notoriously over-powered, and I think Priory found a way to solve that problem well. I personally fell in love with a new fantasy creature I had never heard of before, and I'm so excited for more people to meet the Ichneumon!

The plotting and pacing overall were very good, I would give them alone 4 stars. The opening section of the book is so fantastic. Things just keep happening, rapid fire, and you are really pulled into the action. The subsequent sections slow down a bit and you are able to get more comfortable with the characters. I will say that the travel sequences absolutely flew by, and I am usually very bored with traveling. The basis of the story feels very familiar (people with dragon must save the world), and somehow simultaneously unique and new. There are several elements from popular mythology that made surprise appearances and kept me going.

Unsurprisingly, Samantha Shannon doesn't back down from using this book to take on some pertinent social issues. She deftly villainizes toxic masculinity, normalizes queer relationships, questions organized religion, and encourages globalization. None of this felt forced, or distracting to the story. They were simply issues that also existed in her fantasy world, and I really enjoyed seeing how her characters dealt with them.

I know a lot of this has been quite vague, but I really do think it's important to approach this with an air of the unknown. I think any epic fantasy reader will find characters to relate to and enjoy within this tome. February needs to hurry up and get here so I can talk to more people about my new favorite characters!

This was so good! I can't wait for the full book! It's so long though, I'm not sure I'm ready! Thanks for the extract.

I can't wait to read this book in full. I love Shannon's writing anyway, and the premise attracts me totally. A lady in waiting at court, who's going to be a dragon rider is a great lead.
The book is long, so it's a confusing start, I guess it iwll take time to grasp it. But, I enjoy it anyway.
Great start.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC excerpt.

We start off with quite a few characters, mainly Tané, who is going to be a dragon rider and Ead a lady-in-waiting at court.
It was a bit hard at first to follow what's going on and how and who.
This would explain why the novel is quite a chunk of a book ith 900+ pages.

The writing is excellent and after reading the excerpt I'm looking forward to picking up a copy of this at the end of February next year.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC excerpt.

I'm glad I received the chance to read an excerpt before buying the novel. The cover looked awesome and I heard a lot about this book but the writing just isn't for me and I probably won't buy the novel when it comes out.

An interesting read. It's well written and entertaining. Cannot wait to read the entire book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Tense fiction leads us into a world that stokes the imagination. Samantha Shannon has a talent for bringing horror and literary elements together. An interesting read I would be glad to visit in full.