The Priory of the Orange Tree

Folks, I finally did it. It was my plan to read this book in the first half of ‘21. When I had set myself that guideline I more so had like January 15th in mind, but June is still the first half, so BOOM. This is definitely one of my all-time favorite covers, I had to have it immediately when I saw it. I wish I had read it immediately too!

What really could I say about this book that hasn't been said before? Regardless, I'll try in my own words I suppose... to me, this book is the most successful in its attempts to feel like medieval chivalric knights and court. It does start slow, and for the most part, it is entirely a slow burn anyway, but each section builds up and there is action or raised stakes to feel the pressure. This novel is also super successful in its attempt (and to me success) in being a full fledged standalone epic tale. Yes, from start to finish there are some things that you'd call unnecessary to the overall story, but this one tome is the characters' entire lives. And boy did I love these characters entirely. They are so fleshed out and each decision they made made sense even if it made me angry. Ead being both a lady of court and a secret badass assassin is a combination that worked really well for me, she ended up being my favorite. Sabran has probably the most traumatic life of a book character I've seen, and she still ends up staying strong. I actually wish we saw more book time of her being badass. And Loth is a great example of a virtuous man, perhaps the best in Virtudom, but at the same time, he's not so trapped in faith that he can't actually exhibit those virtues in the face of change. 

Another thing I really think hit as a huge success for me was the different continents and cultures and races shown here. Although a complete fantasy world, having things from the real world mirror onto theirs was a great way to lock in how absorbing the world is. Although there is hate and ethnocentric feelings towards each other, they all have to put those feelings aside to save the world together. Division isn't an option. 

To avoid spoilers I will just say that the ending did feel a little “Harry Potter,” aka a tad rushed. Especially when dealing with something of such a size and scale as this book. In HP we come to accept the endings because there was always more, this one however did leave me feeling just a little slighted, although it was good! I guess with such a slow burn, we could never really receive as long of an ending as the build up... 

And here is a quote I really liked and read several times before moving on, “Gone are the days of heroes...From North to South and West to East, your world will burn.” To me this felt Tolkien-esque in the sense that the scale was grand. I enjoyed it a lot. 

If you're afraid to jump into this book because of the size, I say just so it. You don't have to read it fast. Give it a shot.