The Priory of the Orange Tree

By: Samantha Shannon

Narrated by: Liyah Summers

Length: 25 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2017 Bloomsbury (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Disappointing

When I first started listening I thought I wouldn't be able to finish. So many characters and I felt if I was reading it I would keep them straight. I did finally get it all straightened out but I think listening made it take a tad longer to do so. Story was also slow at beginning but it picked up.

First, the narrator was awful. Lots of accents, most of them fine but the emperor with the bad southern drawl made me laugh. A few others made me grind my teeth. It was the bad and not so good guys who were hard to listen to. Their voices weren't real. No one really talks like that. They were cartoon voices and didn't fit in with the rest of the voices in the book.

The gay theme read more like a political statement, a queen can take a woman lover and still rule. The affair didn't add anything to the book, in fact it was more of a distraction. However the male relationship revealed in the book was actually a part of his story so it worked even if his voice was done through clinched teeth and very annoying..

I feel like there will be a second book that takes up the story, but I can also see how this can end here. Please find a new narrator if you go on.

Wow! What a Coincidence!

I was worried my misgivings with the book were because I wasn't the target demographic. And I am not interested in criticizing a book just because it wasn't written with me in mind.

But the aspects of this book that irked me also amused me. Not because the scene is funny because it started to feel almost to ridiculous to believe.

I really hope both the author and narrator keep working and improving. I'd give either another chance.

I'm not going to say anything about the narrator other than it was apparent she was inexperienced as a narrator. She has a lovely voice, only she doesn't always use it.

So with that said. Let's get into the ridiculousness.

SPOILERS.

To defeat the Nameless One we need to gather these ancient artifacts no one has seen for 1000 years. Good thing they are all found randomly and exactly the right time. And the people who find them coincidentally meet exactly the right person under the most implausible circumstances. All so the main characters can spawn camp the Nameless One, and kill him right as he breaks free of his prison.

I think even Han Solo would question the odds.

My only real complaint with the book is that the characters had no agency in their own stories. everything they accomplished was because of obscenely unlikely coincidences and not because they went on an adventure and overcame some obstacles and won.

If a postman showed up in the final act with a box filled with all the artifacts, it wouldn't have changed the story in any way.

But I guess sacrifices had to be made to fit 40 hours of story into a single 25 hour book.

Great book but narrator could have been better

I really liked the book but the actor reading was difficult to understand. Almost like she had a marble in her mouth.

Also, for what it is worth, those that do not want same sex relationship romance scenes may want to know this has 2 (girls and guys). Just a heads up if that bothers you.

story good, reader very bad

difficult to listen to due to the reader. took weeks to get through. there are very few performaners that I have difficulty listening to. this is one to avoid.

Great story slow burn

I think this was a me problem rather than the stories problem. I have ADHD and it was just really hard for me to keep focused.

Amazing narrator

Great story absolutely brought to live by this talented narrator, wish there were more books on Audible read by her!

Love this narrator & terrific story development

I am super impressed with this narrator! She did a wonderful job with all the characters. I was amazed by how many voices she came up with and kept straight. I really enjoyed the story as well. Great world-building!

The only thing that threw me, and maybe it wouldn't if I had realized this is a stand-alone book with no sequel to it, is that there's so much time spent building the story and different characters that with about 6 hours left to go I was sure this was just the first book of at least two. However it does all get wrapped up in this book and the end just felt really collapsed after how long the rest of the book was. That is the only criticism I have for this book. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to you!

High Fantasy!

This story was wonderful! The switching between East and West kept me in suspense. The performance made it even better!

Awesome Read

Loved this book. Great characters and plot. Enjoyed it. Wish there was more books for this world.

A promising start

It seems clear that Samantha Shannon's goal with "The Priory of the Orange Tree" was to address the ever looming shadow of the patriarchy under which the fantasy genre has been built. In my opinion, she succeeded with style. Few high fantasy stories feel so naturally and unapologetically feminist. The characters were beautifully written and the story was driven by exploring their inner struggles and interpersonal relationships in a way which felt refreshing.

However, this book was somewhat frustrating to me. Despite its beautiful themes, the plot lacked substance. While Shannon did present a compelling story, the pacing left much to be desired: she explored relationships in-depth, and then breeze over major plot points. A common method of such time traveling was through the employment of deus ex machina. Not infrequently, difficult problems resolved themselves for the characters in ways which felt dissatisfactory to me.

Does this book have issues? Yes. Would I recommend it to a fan of the fantasy genre, looking for a story focused on feminine sensibilities? Absolutely.