The Priory of the Orange Tree

“My heart knows your song, as yours knows mine. And I will always come back to you.”

rating- 3/5

SO. I FINALLY finished reading this. Took me almost a month (yes) and since i can't read more than a book at a time, it put me into a maaajor slump. But well, it is what it is. You'd think that after spending THAT long reading it, it would atleast be a 4 star read, but here we are.
To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement.

WRITING
First off, the world building is commendable. The author definitely put in a lot of work into research and character building. However, it somehow didn't work for me.
I knew going into a standalone fantasy; there were going to be lots of names, characters and places, but didn't anticipate the slow pace. I think that was definitely the book's setback. While a lot seemed to be happening event-wise, the writing was slow and prolonged. In contrast, the ending the book leads up to, is rushed and very averagely done.
The writing during the battle scenes was also not the best and I had trouble picturing it, due to lack of significant details (and abundance of insignificant ones- for example, i don't want to know how the sides of the ship look like, but would very much like to know how exactly they're positioned relative to the other ships, since characters seem to be swimming from one ship to another? and there's also a huge draconic beast in the water??)
I also had a really hard time trying to figure out the religion of the six virtues in Inys. Dukes? Duchesses? Knights?? of different virtues?? and places??
For like the first 200 something pages I was constantly referring to the characters and glossary section in the back (i was reading the ebook, which made it so much harder) trying to remember who Duchess of Justice was, and who in the world was Duke of Edinburg.
Honestly, still don't think I've figured it out.
Don't get me wrong, i love well thought out complex worlds but somehow i was lukewarm about this one.

CHARACTERS
The Priory of the Orange tree is definitely more character-driven, which is usually not the case in the fantasy genre.
In this case, character-driven =
-the plot is practically non existent/not done well
-the characters pretty much CARRY the book. so if you don't like them, then it is very likely that you WILL hate the book.

Lucky for the author, I did like the characters. (well, most of them). The Characters and their relationships are extremely well done.
◆ Ead's pov is refreshing. Her character, backstory and personality makes for a good protagonist. I loved reading her chapters and the way the book starts with her pov as an outsider in the castle really sets up the story.
◆ In contrast, i did not like Tane's character in the beginning but warmed up to her eventually.
◆ I had mixed feelings about Loth's character, there was a little inconsistent characterisation but it was minor and didn't divert from the plot.
◆ Niclays Roos, was a brilliantly done character. His flaws were laid out for everyone to see. He's selfish and grief stricken and thinks only and only for himself. His decisons were so terrible that I absolutely despised him and his pov from the get-go, and i think that makes his character well written.

THINGS I LIKED
Despite the few things I've mentioned above, there's a lot to like in The Priory of the Orange tree:
-I loved the consistent theme of duality: the east and west; wyrms and dragons; siden and sterren; water and fire. It stands out to the reader and is conventional yet refreshing.
-The characters in a female-female relationship. Absolutely love them.
-Dragons
-Diversity and the rep.
-The gender equality (women also in positions of power)

It's worth noting that it took me SUPER long to read this book and I was mostly relieved to be done. The pacing was a major issue for me and I debated giving it two stars. However, when I did start listing the things I liked, I realised there's plenty for the average fantasy-reader: Dragons, queer relationships, talking birds, mythical creatures, (did i mention dragons?).
You should definitely pick this up if you've been meaning to read a standalone epic fantasy, it's easy to follow and doesn't have very complex writing.