Sorry it took so long to review this extract, I decided to wait until I'd finished the entire book to give feedback.

I really enjoyed this book, the world Samantha Shannon has created is so detailed and expansive. I would love to read more set in this world be it short stories, a sequel or a prequel. I know Samantha has said on twitter she's working on a priory related thing - I don't know if you've made a deal about it yet but I'd really like to have more stories set in this world.

The writing, as always, was beautiful and the characters and plot were complex in the best way.

Thanks for giving me the chance to read the early extract!

Samantha Shannon is a badass writer and this book is going to be no different. I can't wait to read this!

The Priory of the Orange Tree is a fantasy based book. In each direction of the land, something mysterious is happening. As we read Ead Duryan collects secrets of the court while hiding one herself.

Ead works for Queen Saban who is under pressure not just to produce a female hair but also to stay alive.

Tané meanwhile is trying to pass into the sea guard but will what she wants destroy her life?

In the background political climate is not at ease. If the East and West can not join together then the question is if fire rains who will survive?

With intrigue and danger from the opening pages, this is definitely not a slow burner. Within pages, I went from loving each female characters to hating them and back.

About time we had a fantasy book with a majority of female protagonists.

As I only read the extract I can only give 4 stars out of 5. I feel I would need to know the ending before deciding on the last star. Definitely going to have to read the whole book.

This was an amazing book. It being 800 pages was a bit intimidating at first but it was so worth it. It was easy to get into the story. I flowed well with very strong women staying true to themselves and strong through out the book. It has lots of dragons and a little romance thrown in. It is well worth the time.

This was only an early extract, but I was immediately SOLD. The book is brilliantly written, the characters and plot grabbed my attention immediately. I am not ashamed to say I ran out to buy the finished copy for myself AND my students the day it was released. Shannon has done it again, this will be huge. 5/5 stars!

I was hooked within minutes!

Note: This is a review of an excerpt of this novel received from Netgalley.

First - The cover for this book is gorgeous. I applaud whomever designed it. No matter where I was seeing the cover or how many additional book covers were on the screen this beautiful cover always drew my attention to it in the best possible ways.

As I only have a small portion of the book I cannot give a complete review. However, from what I have read I am excited to be holding even this amount of text in my hands. There is a richness in the words that draws you in and a depth to the world building that is not easily found.

I will be getting the book in its entirety and now I just wonder how fast I can read 800 pages.

I can not wait to read this book in it's entirety! This excerpt was a tease.. especially since the book is massive to begin with.

I bought a copy based on this extract, There will be a full review once I have finished the book, but as this was only an extract I can't comment further.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this!!!!

I had to own the book after this. I am now 175 pages into the book that I went to barnes and noble and paid $22 for, only because I am a Barnes and Noble member. Other than that, the book would have cost $32 but at this point still worth it.....

The world is so complex and we are following 4 different perspectives at this point in my reading. It can be very slow but the author is giving you the world building. I am loving this book. It will be the biggest book I have ever read but I am taking it at a slow pace so it may take me a month to read in between other books as well, but I will be so proud of myself when I get this book completed. I can not wait to see where this world is going.

I received an extract of this book via NetGalley and if made me do something I have never done before. I paid over $15 for a kindle book. This book was so good that I broke my cardinal rule of not paying over $5 for an ebook.

This was over 800 pages of awesome fantasy fiction. I really loved that this book was a complete epic fantasy saga. I'm an impatient person, so waiting for the next book in a series to be released is excruciating (looking at you, Scott Lynch). Being able to read this complete, wonderful, story was so delightful.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

The version that I got was simply an extract from the book but already i can tell for one its very well written and two the world building in this story is incredible.

The fact that the author fit it all into a stand alone fantasy book amazes me and I can't wait to purchase a physical copy and dive right into this story.

IN A NUTSHELL: The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of the BEST fantasy novels I’ve read in a while, especially in terms of world-building. The religions, the kingdoms and the politics usually don’t intrigue me as much as the characters do, but Priory was a perfect blend of it all. I was as invested in the fate of the kingdom and the people as I was in the characters narrating the story. I loved the magic, the dragons, the lore, the romance, the friendship and the political intrigue.

In a nutshell, that ended up being no so nutshell-y, The Priory of the Orange Tree was everything I expected it to be AND MORE.


THINGS I LOVED:

1. EAD AND SABRAN. These two were my FAVOURITE characters and I loved them and their story.

2. In this world, both same and different sex partners and were the norm, except for royalty because of the whole line of succession reason, but companionship was based on love, not society-based gender constructs and it was wonderful

3. THE WATER DRAGONS WERE BRILLIANT and I LOVED Tane and her dragon’s story.

4. THE WORLD, THE RELIGIONS AND THE PALACES were all brilliant. I cannot describe how much I became a part of this world while reading this 800-page beauty, but I did. It was probably the most “I’m a part of this world now” experience I’ve ever had.


THINGS I DIDN’T LOVE AS MUCH:

1. Niclays Roos and his storyline seemed like filler at best. I enjoyed it FOR A WHILE, but by the time I reached the 300s, I was ready to skip past his story.

2. The ending was slightly… unrealistic. After all the build-up, I expected something MORE or at least more REAL but this wasn’t.


If you’ve seen this book around, you’re probably thinking – this book is HUGE, this cover is beautiful but will I be able to conquer it?

Trust me, even though it took me 100 or so pages to get familiar with the world and the characters, The Priory of the Orange Tree is an all-engrossing, queer, #girlpower filled fantasy that you NEED TO READ. Welcome to the Queendom and the obsession.

Read the preview and was totally into it I think Im going to enjoy this one quite a lot. . I already own the book and is in my TBR for first half 2019

Ahhhh this makes me want the rest of it! Such a well done beginning. honestly a really solid start. Can't wait to continue!

So thankful that we got an extract to read while waiting for the books release! I enjoyed this so much, I loved learning a little bit about the characters I would grow to love.
I really like dragons, so I was very excited to see a story from my favorite author about dragons.
Samantha has set up such an incredible backstory that you find yourself easily lost in the world and the people who inhabit it!

This was just an excerpt of Samantha Shannon's stand alone fantasy book.m provided to me by netgalley.

What a way to grab at readers! The priory of the Orange tree elegantly prepares the reader for an intricate world with full world building and what seems to be unforgetable chatacters.

This is an epic fantasy with all the complications of the former! Beware readers this is a stand alone so all the information will be thrown at you full force!

I got my hands on an extract of The Priory of the Orange Tree, and was really pleased I did! It's a fantasy with dragon's, wyrms (a different type of dragon, but one that doesn't like humans), kingdoms that don't understand each other, and an assassin from The Priory of the Orange Tree, looking after the Queen.



The whole book is 848 pages long in total, but the bit I read was really engaging, and I wanted to know more about the characters, and who gets to be a dragon rider!



The Priory of the Orange Tree was published on 26th February this year, and is available on Amazon and Waterstones to pre-order, and everywhere else you can find books!



I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Bloomsbury Publishing (the publishers) for this book.



Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

WOW -what a wonderful extract this certainly sounds an amazing book. Definitely one to be added to my tbr pile (to be read pile)
Thank you to both NetGalley and Bloomsbury for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Even though this was only 100 pages of a massive book I absolutely adored it. I love Samantha Shannon's writing and I'm so excited to get into the full book and fall in love even further with this world

I absolutely loved this extract and I MUST go out and buy the full book! I've heard a lot of good things about this book, and it definitely didn't disappoint! The cover is gorgeous as well!