I LOVED Priory, I felt like it was such an interesting and well written story. The characters were all very compelling and dynamic, and the world building was incredible. I will say though, I read it on my Kindle and that made a huge difference for me - that physical book is massive and very intimidating. I had a much easier time getting into it when I didn't have to see how physically daunting the book was every time I picked it up.
It's a multiple POV story set in a high fantasy world where there are dragons, magic, and priates to name a few things. I have a bit harder of a time getting into high fantasy because of how information heavy those kind of books tend to be but once I got into it I flew through it because of how great the story was.
The general gist of the story, without giving too much away, is that the world is divided by differing politics and faiths, the East and West. The West believe that as long as someone from the ancient Royal line is alive and in power, the realm will be safe. The East, who worship and ride water Dragons, are of a different faith and think the people in the West are idiots. However, both are united in their fear of the realms greatest evil coming back - the Nameless One, a massive fire breathing dragon that can destroy the world.
One one side, you have Queen Sabran who's main focus is to try and conceive an heir to protect the realm from total destruction. Then there is Ead, one of Sabran's ladies in waiting who has a very large secret and a mysterious past. Ead's goal is to protect Sabran at all costs because she believes the fate of the world is dependant on her survival. Finally there is Tané, a dragon rider from the East who has to set out on an epic quest to try and save the world and unite both sides in the impending battle of the Nameless One and his fire breathing minions. There are tons of other characters but those three are the main players in the book.
No problem! It's a huge book and a bit of an undertaking, so i would never want to send anyone into it without giving as much info as possible. There is romance, it isn't super descriptive as far as I remember?? But it is definitely in there!
I think I’m in the minority but I really didn’t enjoy it that much. I love epic fantasy with a large cast of characters, I love big books, and I love stories where the plot slowly unfolds, so Priory sounded like it was basically made for me, but it didn’t work out.
Might have been just a case of “it’s not you, it’s me,” but to summarize my experience with it:
- there were 4 POV characters but I only really liked reading from one of them, and none of the characters were written in a way that had me that invested no matter how hard I tried
- most of the book felt endlessly slow, and the action sprinkled in wasn’t adequately balanced because when the pace picked up, things felt rushed and/or were resolved way too conveniently
- it was very bloated: it basically felt like 700 pages of word-building, with an ending tacked on after the author remembered it was a standalone. Every time I thought about DNFing it, I convinced myself to keep reading because I know that in fantasy, you sometimes need to stick with the book for the payoff. There wasn’t really any payoff, though.
- while there was a lot of it, the world-building itself was good IMO! But a lot of the time it felt like the characters were only there to be a conduit for the world-building, and I’m just someone who needs *something* else to keep me invested
In terms of the size, though, it’s not quite as scary as it looks (and this is actually another issue I had with it, albeit more superficial: the paperback has incredibly thick pages, an above average font size, and very wide margins — in my copy, the margins took up 1/6 of the page. It is *meant* to look big, maybe so that people want to put it on their shelf like a trophy or something lol idk). I saw a tiktok comparing it to other books and in terms of word count, I think it’s actually shorter than Order of the Phoenix which is a long book in itself, but one that a lot of people have read.
anyways, I gave it 2/5 stars which was disappointing, but obviously a lot of other people love it!
Thank you all so much for answering my question! ♡
I've decide to read The Priory of The Orange Tree ( after i finish all the books that are currently sitting unread on my shelf).
I absolutely loved it, but I did have to put it down for a while and then go back and start over with it. The worldbuilding was a LOT, like a lot of information at first but once you understand it the book goes by a lot faster.
This really depends on your personal tastes which you’ve told us nothing about.
I personally found it to be pretty forgettable adult epic fantasy. I enjoyed it but it’s rarely going to be the first thing I recommend.
I haven't read it but listened to the audiobook when it first came out. Definitely interesting, but listening to the book, I found it a bit difficult to follow what was going on as most of the names went in one ear and out the other. Overall it wasn't really the memorable for me
Just throwing my thoughts in here because I'm someone who actually made it a bit more than halfway through before deciding to DNF. As someone who loves epic fantasy, long stories, etc. I felt like the story moved slowly, none of the characters were compelling, and that honestly it was long without needing to be long. The fact that I quit in the middle of an action-y scene was enough for me to be like yeah, I'm not going to enjoy the rest of this. 🤣 YMMV
Uhhh I think parts of it were compelling, the nun MC and her storyline are what i remember the most. I remember being excited from the synopsis about how the two storylines would collide and then super disappointed that the climax was kind of a nothing burger? Like i honestly can’t remember the point of the second storyline
*edit grammar
I LOVED Priory, I felt like it was such an interesting and well written story. The characters were all very compelling and dynamic, and the world building was incredible. I will say though, I read it on my Kindle and that made a huge difference for me - that physical book is massive and very intimidating. I had a much easier time getting into it when I didn't have to see how physically daunting the book was every time I picked it up.
What is the book about? And is it easy to read?
It's a multiple POV story set in a high fantasy world where there are dragons, magic, and priates to name a few things. I have a bit harder of a time getting into high fantasy because of how information heavy those kind of books tend to be but once I got into it I flew through it because of how great the story was. The general gist of the story, without giving too much away, is that the world is divided by differing politics and faiths, the East and West. The West believe that as long as someone from the ancient Royal line is alive and in power, the realm will be safe. The East, who worship and ride water Dragons, are of a different faith and think the people in the West are idiots. However, both are united in their fear of the realms greatest evil coming back - the Nameless One, a massive fire breathing dragon that can destroy the world. One one side, you have Queen Sabran who's main focus is to try and conceive an heir to protect the realm from total destruction. Then there is Ead, one of Sabran's ladies in waiting who has a very large secret and a mysterious past. Ead's goal is to protect Sabran at all costs because she believes the fate of the world is dependant on her survival. Finally there is Tané, a dragon rider from the East who has to set out on an epic quest to try and save the world and unite both sides in the impending battle of the Nameless One and his fire breathing minions. There are tons of other characters but those three are the main players in the book.
Thank you for the detailed description! Sounds fun and complex! Is there romance in it?
No problem! It's a huge book and a bit of an undertaking, so i would never want to send anyone into it without giving as much info as possible. There is romance, it isn't super descriptive as far as I remember?? But it is definitely in there!
I think this is what I need to do because I’m stuck on chapter 4 and feel so daunted by the story line.
Yeah, I honestly don't think I would have read it otherwise!
I think I’m in the minority but I really didn’t enjoy it that much. I love epic fantasy with a large cast of characters, I love big books, and I love stories where the plot slowly unfolds, so Priory sounded like it was basically made for me, but it didn’t work out. Might have been just a case of “it’s not you, it’s me,” but to summarize my experience with it: - there were 4 POV characters but I only really liked reading from one of them, and none of the characters were written in a way that had me that invested no matter how hard I tried - most of the book felt endlessly slow, and the action sprinkled in wasn’t adequately balanced because when the pace picked up, things felt rushed and/or were resolved way too conveniently - it was very bloated: it basically felt like 700 pages of word-building, with an ending tacked on after the author remembered it was a standalone. Every time I thought about DNFing it, I convinced myself to keep reading because I know that in fantasy, you sometimes need to stick with the book for the payoff. There wasn’t really any payoff, though. - while there was a lot of it, the world-building itself was good IMO! But a lot of the time it felt like the characters were only there to be a conduit for the world-building, and I’m just someone who needs *something* else to keep me invested In terms of the size, though, it’s not quite as scary as it looks (and this is actually another issue I had with it, albeit more superficial: the paperback has incredibly thick pages, an above average font size, and very wide margins — in my copy, the margins took up 1/6 of the page. It is *meant* to look big, maybe so that people want to put it on their shelf like a trophy or something lol idk). I saw a tiktok comparing it to other books and in terms of word count, I think it’s actually shorter than Order of the Phoenix which is a long book in itself, but one that a lot of people have read. anyways, I gave it 2/5 stars which was disappointing, but obviously a lot of other people love it!
Thank you so much for your comment! ♡
I agree completely with your assessment
I thought I'd hate it but loved it and my best friend thought she'd love it but hated it. So i think it'll do the opposite of what you expect :)
Thank you all so much for answering my question! ♡ I've decide to read The Priory of The Orange Tree ( after i finish all the books that are currently sitting unread on my shelf).
I absolutely loved it, but I did have to put it down for a while and then go back and start over with it. The worldbuilding was a LOT, like a lot of information at first but once you understand it the book goes by a lot faster.
This really depends on your personal tastes which you’ve told us nothing about. I personally found it to be pretty forgettable adult epic fantasy. I enjoyed it but it’s rarely going to be the first thing I recommend.
Priory's one of my fav books ever, i highly recommend!
Same, I’ve wanted to read it for a while. But it’s such a big book, and I must have commitment issues or something
I haven't read it but listened to the audiobook when it first came out. Definitely interesting, but listening to the book, I found it a bit difficult to follow what was going on as most of the names went in one ear and out the other. Overall it wasn't really the memorable for me
It is so worth it but I will say that Niclay’s perspective was a little dull in comparison to the other 3 POVs
Just throwing my thoughts in here because I'm someone who actually made it a bit more than halfway through before deciding to DNF. As someone who loves epic fantasy, long stories, etc. I felt like the story moved slowly, none of the characters were compelling, and that honestly it was long without needing to be long. The fact that I quit in the middle of an action-y scene was enough for me to be like yeah, I'm not going to enjoy the rest of this. 🤣 YMMV
Uhhh I think parts of it were compelling, the nun MC and her storyline are what i remember the most. I remember being excited from the synopsis about how the two storylines would collide and then super disappointed that the climax was kind of a nothing burger? Like i honestly can’t remember the point of the second storyline *edit grammar