I have recently discovered Samantha Shannon through the Mime Order books and have been eagerly awaiting her next work. This new world has sucked me in already.
It is populated with an array of intriguing and believable characters, in an intriguing and believable world. There is a lot to introduce and Shannon does this almost effortlessly. The world of pirates, queens, religon, magic and dragons is changing and the characters are aiming to find their way among these unknown turbulences and I want to see where they will go.
For me, the best thing about this is the plethora of female characters, each with their own agendas, needs and stories. Each woman is a living, breathing person, coming to life in the rich dialogue and honesty given to them through the author.

A bit tropey so far, but overall I liked it. Entertaining, imaginative and vivid. I need the full novel right away!

If you're looking for a complex, detailed world, a story with dragons and women who strategise, slay and rule, then this is the book for you. I was lucky enough to read an early extract and I can't wait for my copy to arrive in the new year!

I read this book because I've been hearing a lot of good rave about this book and I've been interested since I read the blurb saying that it includes battle between kingdoms, strong female leads, and dragons, and thanks to Samantha Shannon's birthday bash that I had the chance to take a peek at the first seven chapters of this epic.

Overall, I am amazed at how Samantha cleverly crafted the world of Priory. Though I had a hard time following the geography of places painted within Priory because I'm a lowkey fan of bookish maps and there's no map in this e-ARC (and I'm so excited to see one on the FC,) it did not affect the enjoyable ride I experienced during the first 96 pages of the book. Aside from world building, I also commend the number of unique characters Samantha thrown into this book. I mean, THE NAMES!!!! I love them all. They sound so unique and so classy; Niclays Roos, Tané, Ishari, and Ead are some of my early favorites. Ilet me also admit that I'm really not into high fantasy books but this one is an exception for I really felt how epic this book is going to be.

Before I officially run out of words to review for the Priory FC, let me end saying that if you are a fan of fantasy, dragons, and especially Game of Thrones, this book will surely appeal to you! Don't waste your time and pre-order this one! It won't disappoint, I promise!

Epic feminist fantasy with dragons!! I'm a huge fan of Samantha Shannon;s Bone Season series, but Priory of the Orange tree promises to be the best book of 2019. I've pre-ordered already & suggest you do the same!

This book is going to be absolutely incredible! This extract has me so excited to get the copy I've pre-ordered, I can't wait.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free sample to review.

This is amazing, I have to admit I have been really looking forward to this book and now after this sample I am even more hyped. From page one the story sucks you right in and hooks you. I mean it has dragons, strong females, writing that is beautiful and almost poetic. What more could I want (other than the full book in my hands now!) I think this will be one of my top reads of 2019 and it deserves all the praise I've been hearing

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who downloaded that however many page excerpt from NG. This is my wee review and or rambling thoughts of it.

All the hype has me so excited to read this book and with the preorder going live, I decided to dip my toe into the teaser. I wasn't blown away, that's for sure, but this was also only a tiny (though surprisingly long) bite of a much bigger pie. It was definitely picking up some steam (so many mixed metaphors..) by the end of the file but it didn't suck me in the way I hoped.

Definitely still curious. Definitely a bit cautious. And totally looking forward to seeing more reviews from trusted buddies in the coming months.

Hard to tell from one extract, but I have a strong feeling this is likely to be one of the best fantasy novels I read all year. Ead and Tane are both engaging characters, albeit strong in very different ways, and I can't wait to see how their struggles resolve themselves. Really, though, the real star here is the world-building. I love how Samantha Shannon seems to have been inspired by eastern history: Japan's history felt very present in a lot of the world building. The dragons are just as mysterious and terrifying as I could wish for. However for me, I couldn't help but be particularly enthralled by the environment of the court. Definitely moving this one to the top of my to-read pile!

The first five chapters of this book did nothing to dull my anticipation for the whole book. It's going to be a slow burner to get into - exquisite but very detailed world building, many characters, sweeping, multi layered plot - but from this I believe the pay off will be well worth it. Even from here I can see Shannon's etymology enthusiasm shining through and it gladdens my word nerd heart. This is not YA. Do not expect facile access or a linear plot. But if you're looking for what will be a huge epic fantasy tome, look no further.

Even just in this extract (which is pretty substantial), you can already tell that this fantasy has an epic, classic feel, but the main thing that stands out even over the quality of the writing is the sheer number and variety of female characters. It's the sort of fantasy I've always wanted and have struggled to find - plus, there are dragons!

I often find fantasy with multiple points of view to be difficult to balance, and I end up preferring one storyline to another, but here I was equally intrigued by all the different viewpoint characters, and I can't wait to see how the various plot lines entangle and entwine with each other.

I'm really, really excited for the release of this!