Loved this extract and cannot wait to read the full book! The characters are very intriguing and the world is interesting!

I’m not normally a massive fan of fantasy, especially epic fantasies, but I’ve heard so much about this one I wanted to give it a try. I love the female heavy cast and the easy to follow writing style and I pretty much immediately went to preorder it straight away

"The stranger came out of the sea like a water ghost, barefoot and wearing the scars of his journey."

This book starts with such a beautiful opening line that it immediately drew me in. And we are quickly introduced to this world full of Draconian laws that is told through several different perspectives.

Due to the formatting issues with this extract, I was only able to read a few chapters, but I am looking forward to getting a physical copy of this book so I can continue on, as I am excited to see where this leads!

I have been waiting this book for some time and when I saw this sample I was very happy. The book looks amazing. The writing is great, the worldbuilding fantastic and I liked the characters. To be honest, in the beginning I was a little confused because there are a lot of names for both characters and nations, but I was still hooked. I have high hopes that this is going to be one of my favourite books of the year and I am looking forward to read the rest of the book.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the free sample.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. From the expert that I've read so far, I look forward to reading the rest of the book and seeing how the story progresses and how Ms. Shannon is able to weave all those different storylines together into one cohesive plot. The stirring of something momentous was happening and it was enough to keep me engaged, despite the jumping back and forth between characters storylines. I will be purchasing the full book when it is released and recommend to others.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publising for an early extract of The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. I've read and reviewed this copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Count me in! From the very first page you're sucked into this incredible world, which has dragons by the way, and are immediately hooked. The characters are very interesting and written with dept. So many strong and fascinating female characters especially. There is intrigue, mystery and *very important* dragons. This promises to be an epic tale and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy once it's released.

Wow. This may be just an excerpt but I’m stunned! Out of the small slice I was granted, I’m in love with this world and it’s dynamics. The bit of relationships I got— Ead is my favorite by far, what a bad*** lady in waiting. 10/10 would make her my best friend. Anyway- world dynamics! The whole east versus west thing is really cool, and how both sides seemingly draw from different cultures- I can’t wait for this book to come out, for it will definitely be mine.

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 all her life to be a dragonrider, 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.


I only received a sneak peek of this book, but I can't wait to get my hands on the full version. I have loved every bit of the story so far. I was hesitant to get the book because of the size, but I easily made my way through what I have. I will update my review once I've had a chance to read the whole book.

This preview needed to come with a preorder button.

Short and sweet but I think I said everything I needed to. I can't wait for this to be one of my top reads of the year.

Counting down the days to release!

This was great for the Bloomsbury to give us a free extract. I loved what I read but it was also very hard to read, this was not a very clean file to read on a kindle. I found the spacing and the random 1s &0s to distract me, but, truly, the book seems great.

I received an exclusive early extract of this title in exchange for an honest review, and I have to say I am very intrigued by what I've read so far! I will definitely be purchasing this title upon it's release, thankfully there's not long to wait.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. ~

I could not read the book de To it’s difficult format and I would rather read this in hardback or paperback. But from the little that I did read, it was addicting. I would recommend trying to read this book because it is very interesting and as much as I hated putting it down I will pick it up again when I get it in hardback format. I think the author did a really good job writing it and the cover art is beautiful. It is a longer book but I believe it will be worth it. Keep in mind my rating for this book is for what I have read not the whole book.

Oh my god! I can not wait to read this full book! The extract shows just how amazing The Priory of the Orange Tree truly is going to be. This book is definitely going to be all anyone will talk about for years to come.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of the biggest fantasy releases this year, also one of my most anticipated releases. Some struck of luck got me and I managed to get a hold of an early finished copy. (Note: Don’t buy author’s books before release date). I just made an exception (and I had another copy preordered).

The world in this book is amazing, it is so believable and great. I’m not getting into too much of the plot, mostly because I actually did a full length video review of the book and will link it down below! Therefore I’m going to keep my thoughts here brief. I really loved the world, the magic, dragons and characters. I just had minor issues with the plot, and found it a bit lacking for me to completely fall in love with this book. I still loved so many parts of it, and recommend the book with all my heart. Do not miss out on this book if you love fantasy or have been looking forward to it! It is reallllyyyyy good! 4.25-5 out of 5 stars!

Although this is an extract of this hefty novel, it makes this the first novel of the year that I cannot wait to receive! I have it pre-ordered and am waiting desperately for 2/26/19!

How can you go wrong with a chunky, epic-fantasy with a strong female lead and dragons? I am eagerly anticipating this one!

Thanks #NetGalley #PrioryOfTheOrangeTree

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

I loved this extract and I cannot wait until the book actually comes out. There has been so much hype regarding this book and as much as I enjoyed this extract I hope that I will continue to enjoy the rest of the story.

*ARC extract has been provided by Netgalley and its publishers*

Such a great preview! This book sounds so amazing and I can't wait till the end of February to be able to read the rest! Thank you for this preview,

I should start by saying that I really like Samantha Shannon's writing and her earlier Bone Season series. However, I found this book really difficult to get into. This perhaps wasn't helped by the fact that I was reading an extract rather than the full novel. Obviously in any epic fantasy, or high fantasy or whichever sub-genre of fantasy this may fit into, there is a requirement for a certain amount of world building and there will be a host of new ideas and terms, new language and customs, but I found it all a bit confusing and too much to take in. It made it fairly hard going to get into and it has quite a slow start so I felt like I was taking in all this information but not really knwing where it was going. This disappointed me really because I really wanted to like a book with talking dragons and strong women and queer characters. Perhaps this is not the fantasy book for me or perhaps the full novel brings everything together later in the book but this extract mainly left me confused.

This was a great taste of what's to come! I did find it a little slow but considering the actual length of the novel, it's totally understandable! I'm so excited to get my hands on the rest of the book and especially to read more about the DRAGONS!!!!

"All the world is a cage in a young girl's eyes."

I have been anxiously waiting for the publication of Priory of the Orange Tree since it was first announced, and I am super excited to have gotten an opportunity to read the early exclusive extract (which is the first 7 chapters of the book)! I love adult fantasy, and once I learned that this was a standalone with dragons, I knew it was a book that I needed to read! While this was not the effortless fantasy read that I was hoping for, I am still really interested in the full book.

It is important to note that I read the early exclusive extract, and my copy had some significant formatting issues that will be fixed before final publication. That being said, these issues really exacerbated my reading comprehension for the plot in general and I struggled for most of the first 50% or so to understand what was going on.

Looking through my notes reflects this as well; I definitely found the opening chapters to be lyrically written and instantly engaging. It was largely plot driven with the anxiety and fear of the unknown outsider's appearance, and the worldbuilding trickled in slowly. But after the first chapter I started getting increasingly more confused as more characters and perspectives were introduced. It took me quite some time to even realize there was a perspective and country shift, and it took me until about 50% or so to settle into the narrative style and really understand what was going on. This is definitely a "me issue" because I often struggle with multiple POVs, and unfortunately for me the eARC formatting really exacerbated my confusion for this one.

"Reading is a dangerous pastime [...] there is great power in stories."

Once I settled into the narrative style and understood how Shannon is revealing the story and intricacies, I was really intrigued by the story as it unfolded. By the time that I got to chapter 7 (the last in the extract), I was hungry for more and the action was really about to begin. I feel like as a reader I was thrown into the deep end straight away, which is never my favorite when it comes to being introduced into fantasy worlds.

Priory of the Orange Tree, based on what I read, is a difficult book to get into but I think that patience will be rewarded with this one! It is obvious that Shannon spent a lot of time crafting an intricate world with hundreds of years of history, politics, and religious clashes, so there is a lot to take in. I am definitely a lot more invested in the Niclays and Sulyard perspective and learning more about what will unfold there. I can tell that this book will be feminist and I am really excited to read the full book upon release!

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an eARC for review. Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon publication.