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

Save your credit

This book started ok, but the story hinged on too many fateful rescues and coincidences.

Well preformed, but snoring story

I love dragons. However, even my love of dragons could not save this story. It's trite. The plot was simplistic and the wording had my eyes glazing. It made me sad because the ideas were truly wonderful, just poorly executed. I blame the editor.

Great from beginning to end!

This book is great from beginning to end. Once that thread is pulled and everything starts to come together *chef's kiss*.

Phenomenal

It took me a few times to get into it but was SO worth it. Wonderful narration and such a great stand alone fantasy novel.

Compelling & Unique

For all that I thought the narrator was mis-cast, her accent was difficult to understand in places (I slowed the playback speed to 90), and her mistakes in pronunciation, the worst was when she gave a regal Emperor of a great and secret country (reminded me of long ago China) a TEXAS Drawl! Oh I thought I was not going to get through that! Overall though, she did a good job.

The story itself is unique and interesting, very fast paced. I felt like I'd picked up the 2nd book in a trilogy, where the world building, magic system, character development etc., had been done and now I was in the fun part of the trilogy! But this isn't a trilogy, so I was halfway through this book before I had even half a grasp of who was who, their names and political leaders, gods, histories and legends. Having said that, I found it impossible to put down, literally!

I wish there were a next book in this series that isn't a series! I think the author could have developed the story itself and the diverse players and fleshed them out so much more than she did here. the story itself is compelling in a way that...well it drew me in and wouldn't let go! I loved it!

I plan on listening to it again - right after I submit this review because now I'm familiar with everything and everyone so I won't spend the first half of this really great story feeling as if I just walked into the middle of a movie I haven't seen and need to catch up fast!

I'm picky about narrators and things like pronouncing 'ache' (my hand aches) she pronounced it 'H' just the letter H instead of ake with the hard K, thinks like that drove me nuts, but she did a really nice job overall.

This book is worth your credit, especially if you like long listens, which I do! Hang in there and slow the speed of narration til you find your sweet spot. The story will grab you with both hands and pull you into this wonderful new fantasy world!

*Not for kids. That's my opinion based on the sex scenes. There's nothing wrong with the scenes it's just not appropriate for kids. Older teens should be fine.

Stop listening to me babble and go buy this book!

Great story, narrator gets more understandable

I loved the story but really struggled with the narrator, at least for the first several chapters. I found myself rewinding a lot to understand what was being said. She has potential, but needed to enunciate better in her narrator voice and in a couple other voices. Some of the voices were a little odd, and seemed to communicate emotions that did not fit the dialogue. I say she has potential because some of the voices were very clear and appropriate. After several hours of listening, you do get used to the narrator's pronunciations so I encourage you to keep going; it is a really enjoyable story.

I didn't want to get out of the car!

Engaging and epic - I don't want to give any spoilers but "watching" these characters grow and change to face their ordeals in this wonderful story made it truly hard to get out of the car. I didn't even mind the couple 60+ minutes commutes I had due to traffic as it meant I had more time to spend with these character so masterfully wrought by Shannon. I just wish it hadn't ended!

Astounding

This is an amazing novel. It’s so nice to see a stand-alone like this. It has high adventure and romance. Worth the credit.

It was just okay

For a dragon novel with fire-breathing dragon battles, it was really slow. There was so much time spent on set-up that when the finale finally came, it felt rushed and a bit too easy.
The f/f romance was lovely. So was the feminist aspect of it. Thus my three stars instead of two. That said, there are some logic gaps in the political structures.
The only character I really cared about was Tane, and it's not really clear how things turn out for her. I can't really recommend it except as an easy (if a bit dull) read with a nice f/f love story and the occasional dragon.

great characters - well crafted

It takes a minute to get into but once you do it's well worth the effort. The characters and their relationships are well developed. The strong females are especially refreshing.