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!