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Ead Duryan, a mage of the Priory, is assigned to protect Sabran from the Nameless One, who seeks to destroy her and her house. While she longs to return to her duties to Cleolind, the founder of the Priory, she is determined to uncover the twisted secrets of the court of Inys. She has to sacrifice her destiny for the good of the world, but she never bats an eye. I am asking myself why, oh why, I have thought that reading “The Priory of the Orange Tree” was a good idea at all. Having critically scrutinised my motivations I have come to this conclusion: The Priory of the Orange Tree is a 2019 fantasy novel by writer Samantha Shannon. [1] The novel was published on 26 February 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing. Shannon describes the novel as a "feminist retelling of Saint George and the Dragon." It was the stuff of legend, a tale destined to be enshrined in song”. and a song that needed to be sung. And so from the realm of the Orange Tree we travel east and west, to reveal how the lives of Ead, Tane, Niclays, Loth and Sabran become so dependent on each other as they face an evil buried for a thousand-years. A world on the brink of destruction. A world divided for many years.
Custom & Tradition: Undeniably, these are two integral parts of human society that shape the world, and Shannon’s apt craftsmanship attentively discusses their implications, origins, and influence. Plus, there is the occasional amusing moment when characters question our traditions, such as “ Who in the world wears white on their wedding day?” The two romantic sub-plots are not heterosexual and so I either yawned or skimmed, and most often did both at once. It’s this kind of diversity that stops being diverse anymore. Shannon is simply a master of the genre' C. S. PACAT , New York Times-bestselling author of DARK RISEOne character is looking down at their lover, who has a wound on their face that has been stitched up. Another character enters, hugs character one, and then says "It's over. He's dead." Now, this is not in reference to the character lying prone, wounded in the face. It's about another character. Why would you use a pronoun here? It's very easy to just use a name. The pronoun, given the context of the scene, invites confusion. There is an INCREDIBLY easy fix for this!!!!
As part of my work with UN Women, I have started reading as many books and essays about equality as I can get my hands on. There is so much amazing stuff out there! Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode… I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts too. Wow! I have no words. I am blown away, spellbound, enraptured in this incredibly beautiful and complex world. I thoroughly enjoyed Samantha Shannon's The Bone Season series, but this was something else entirely! A desirable and engrossing fantasy that is intense, dangerous, fascinating but compelling and also extraordinary.Whilst I love the feminist story, not so much at the expense of weak men, because that is not the world we live in, and it makes the story too one dimensional. Had we enjoyed the company of some strong men (not love stories) then I feel this would have appealed more to a wider audience and set this up there as one of the best Fantasy stories ever written. The book was well structured and divided into parts that could easily be read as separate books without feeling the need to finish in one go. The writing style was perfect for the genre, and although some of the names like ‘the nameless one’ could have been more imaginative, this book overall was an explosion of imagination. To ensure an heir, the Dukes Spiritual must paint a certain picture of the Inysh court and its eligible queen. They needed you gone, so they...painted you out.”
I'm just so disappointed with this one, it was so hyped and I was so excited and it has such a gorgeous cover.A Day of Fallen Night is a standalone prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree. It’s set just shy of five centuries before Priory and covers the period known as the Great Sorrow, or Grief of Ages. The intricate world building mainly from the east to west was so impressive. This was such an ambitious tale that expanded the story into spherical regions with their own traditions, political landscape, religions and practices, myths as well as cultures. The story itself switches between five main narrators who are mostly divided by whether they are in the East or the West. The narrative jumps between people within chapters, but at least it’s all told in third person. The biggest disappointment, for me, was that almost every climatic moment--almost every big twist, every big emotional scene--was sloppy. I think this book falls for the idea that a completely suprising plot twist is the same as a good one. That's a common misconception. A good plot twist is one that doesn't feel contrived, and still either surprises or delights the reader--to a degree. I would prefer a well set-up plot twist that I guessed earlier in the book than one that feels contrived. Shannon introduces us to an entirely new cast of characters in A Day of Fallen Night, which takes place about 500 years before the events of Priory. As in Priory, Shannon excels at creating a strong cast of female characters with excellent queer representation.
On top of everything, and this really drove me bonkers, even though she knows that a whole lot of things depends on her getting married and getting laid pregnant, she is as obstinate when it comes to this issue as a four-year-old eating her greens. Pining after immortality and jealous of her baby to be - can one fall any lower? As these are the evil Queen-mother staples, you’d think THIS is an antagonist perhaps? Wrong. This is the significant other. This brings me to the second problem. Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.As a start, why all the authors try to sabotage my eye health by writing books could be only carried by heavyweight champions. Lately I read Imaginary Friend and Institution, I even took them to my training sessions and my torturer trainer made me lift them like heaviest dumbbells (I lifted them at least 500 times and they start to call me Dwayna –Dwayne Johnson’s little sister-) The outstanding quality of this book, however, came from the world building. You could see the cultural differences between the East and West and the countries the author took inspiration from. Although most of the story took place in the West, the action in the other parts of this magical world was equally captivating and by no means played down. Glorian's story is the story of A Day of Fallen Night for me. As important and entertaining as all the others are, Glorian's story is indomitable. The world is large, but is it fleshed out? Again, no. There were a lot of instances where characters had to travel and I thought "Oh wow, finally I'll see what the world looks like". Nah, silly me. These parts were mostly skipped either by telling the reader that the character has already traveled all the way or by magical beings scooping up characters and running/flying real fast. Sis, that's not how we build a world. I understand that the travelling parts can be tedious to write, but you kind of have to flesh them out at least for the sake of the world. To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.
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