The Priory of the Orange Tree: THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION (The Roots of Chaos)

For a pretty big book, paper and cover hold up pretty well. Cover picture itself is beautiful, and so is the side of it.

Excellent

Best fantasy book I've read in a long time. It features intriguing characters with flaws, an interesting and complex world building that actually makes sense and a story that makes you want to never put the book down. The author also has a beautiful style of writing and the wealth of characters and backstories set the stage for heartaching romance, loss, fearless fights and everything in between. It's something to obsess over and reread, would definitely recommend.

das buch an sich ist super, kam nur ein bisschen kaputt an leider. wäre aber auch nicht das erste mal das die bücher die ich bei amazon bestellt have abgeknickt oder dreckig sind…

Great storytelling deep characters and a classic but well told intrigue all you need from a high fantasy novel.Plus i am very grateful for the lgbt storyline.

This was an incredible book! While a big book that might look intimidating, this was one hell of a story! the plot was stunning, the characters interesting, and the writing style magical!

Bücher sind leicht fleckig an den Seitenrändern

Let’s start by telling that the book came damaged AND someone had cracked the spine before sending it. That was annoying!i just finished it and i feel empty now. Like i need to start it again, i still have questions, it had this artistic ending where I’m not sure if i understand what it means or if i missed something from the beginning. It was such a beautiful story! I can’t believe I’m saying it but it was way too short😁

Wenn ich mir überlege, dass das Buch auf deutsch in 2 Teile geteilt wird und der erste Band über die ersten zwei Teile im Buch geht, dann kann ich mir gut vorstellen, dass man dieses Buch nicht leiden kann. band 1 und zwei sind wirklich, wirklich langsam im Aufbau, es ist viel Worldbuilding und ich musste mich ein wenig durchkämpfen. Ab Teil 3 ging es dann besser und Teil 5 und 6 waren wirklich, wirklich gut.Für Fans von Tolkien sicher sehr empfehlenswert. Man braucht einfach etwas Geduld

Honestly, I am quite cautious when it comes to Fantasy Books. I have been disappointed so many times. Either the storyline was lacking any plausibility/tension, or the characters were not likeable or interesting.But this book has it all. At the beginning it is difficult to remember all the names and places, but I got the hang of it.There is romance in it, heartwarming, believable romance. Not too much, which is good.The story is not new, villain has come to destroy the world once more after 1000 years of slumber, we have heard it often. Still, it was riveting. I enjoyed it. The characters were interesting, their development as well. The picture painted by the author of the world the story takes place is fantastic. Well done. I look forward to the next books from Samantha.

I totally recommend this book, the book in fact is really pretty and the cover is really cool, and i really liked that it has a timeline, a map, a character list and a glossary so you can understand the book

*chef's kiss* Sublime! Magnifique (oiu, I speak French)!First, let me say that it took me a while to get the hang of all the characters and places, and by "a while," I mean at least 100 pages. But, once I DID, oh, what a marvelous book to behold.All the feelings, ALL THE FELLINGS! I wanted to finish this book so badly, almost as badly as I didn't want it to end. It's been a few weeks since The Priory, and I, parted ways and, I still lovingly glance at it on my bookshelf, and from time to time, I stroke its spine. *wink, wink*I don't even know where or how to begin to explain this book to you, but I will give it my best. Well, I will give it a try.The Priory of the Orange Tree follows a large group of characters, just like GOT or The Wheel of Time, so if you read those, this one should be OK too. In this world, the West and the East have no contact and, the characters are divided by religion, station, and geography.In the West, they fear dragons and believe that all should be annihilated, whereas, in the East, they see Dragons as gods.These protagonists, separated by wildly different cultures and religions, find themselves entwined in a turn of events no one could have anticipated.Among all the characters, my favorite is Tané. Hands down my favorite POV! Tané is an aspiring dragon rider who makes an error of judgment, changing her future forever. Banished from her homeland, Tané discovers a force within herself that could destroy the world. I bow down to her character development, actually, the character development of all characters is freaking masterful and genius.It's hard for me to explain this book to you without spoiling it, so I'm not going to dwell on it. Just know that it's fantastic, it has QUEER QUEENS, DRAGONS, AND MAGIC! *MIC DROP*I cannot recommend this book enough. Please, don't be alarmed by how intimidating it might look; this book is fantastic, the writing is effortless and superb. I could be here all day proclaiming my undying love; I got nothing better to do unless, of course, Alexander Skarsgård decides to knock on my door, so until then, feel free to DM me if you wanna talk about it, or if you need any more convincing.

ARC Provided by Bloomsbury via NetGalley. Thank you so much to the publisher for the chance to read this early.Brilliant. Fabulous. All immersive. Devastating. AmazingEverything I hoped and thought it would be and so much more.Was what I said when I read this back in November 2018 and I stand by those comments. Since The Priory of the Orange Tree comes out next month, I think I'm now allowed to give a full review. So here goes.Priory is not a perfect book but it was absolutely the perfect book for me. If that sounds contradictory bear in mind that from an objective point of view, I could see minor flaws. The wrap up is very sudden for instance. The pacing is a little off in places. Some threads could have done with longer conclusions - it's an 800+ page book and I would have happily read even more so just how much of a flaw these things are is up for question. This is not one of those huge books that is mostly filler. This is a tome that deserves to be a huge book because every bit of that plot was needed (and I still wish it was longer!).The book opens on Tane, who yearns to be a dragon rider, making a fatal error the night before her dragon rider trials. Her actions set off a chain of events that send subtle ripples across the world. In the East, dragons are beautiful, wise, graceful and serpentine - creatures of air, water and intellect. Far from the Eastern reaches of the world, there are other kinds of dragons on the move - creatures of fire and greed and violence. A great evil is stirring in its sleep, ready to wake once more.In the West, the queens of Inys have ruled for a thousand years. The current ruler is Sabran the ninth, a young woman who is reluctant to wed and bear the heir the kingdom is waiting for. Each queen of Inys bears only a single child, a daughter to rule after her. And then there's Ead, a foreigner who has climbed the ranks to become first a lady in waiting, then a lady of the royal bedchamber and trusted confidant. But Ead's loyalty is long since given to an ancient and mystical order, and her defence of the queen is secret, employing the use of forbidden powers. The young queen must face off against the fire breathing monsters her forebears defended the realm against before her, as well as the lesser draconic creatures - wyverns, cockatrices etc.And under the surface calm, political turmoil and intrigue foment. Some believe that the great evil can only be defeated with draconic intervention from the East. Some believe the young queen who will not provide an heir should no longer rule. And the prejudice between East and West over their beliefs surrounding dragons makes any attempt at an alliance both unlikely and deadly.This book has so much going for it, I almost don't know where to start. The world building was fantastic. Fully realised with multiple cultures, religious beliefs and practices unique to various countries, diverse characters - and dragons. The dragons cannot be forgotten because they are fully realised characters in their own right. When they actually do speak, they are dragons not just humans in dragon masks and it's perfect. The characterisation is strong full stop. This is a huge cast of female characters in starring roles with good male supporting cast. It never feels forced or like it's making any other statement than 'these are the best characters for telling this story.' While we're on the subject of characterisation, there are plenty of LGBTQAIP+ characters. The two main romantic sub plots are LGBT, with a third minor romantic sub plot being non-LGBT but mostly happening off page and reduced to longing looks and presumed touches etc. A complete reversal on the normal order of LGBT versus non-LGBT relationships in fantasy and fiction, and beautifully done.Sabran, the young queen, is not always likeable but she's always engaging. It would be hard not to relate and sympathise with her situation. While she has flashes of temper and arrogance, it's easy to see they're rooted in self doubt and a privileged upbringing that at the same time divided her from close friendships which might have taught her better. Her manifestations of depression and anxiety are very real and poignant when they occur, and realistically frustrating for the reader.Ead is a brilliant character. Her greatest qualities are her competence, intelligence and compassion, which is leavened by a spark of true ruthlessness and a single-minded desire to do what she believes to be right. She makes mistakes but not out of stupidity or over confidence - they're the sort of wrong calls anyone might make. Best of all, she has her own prejudices but logic and honestly force her to confront them again and again in order for her to complete her mission.Tane is a harder character to get to know and her screw ups are harder to forgive or understand, at least until you really see things from her viewpoint with all the cultural conditioning she has be subject to. There's at least one truly awful moment when I wanted to flinch away from the page because of her facing the consequences of what she did. However, she is also honourable, courageous and steadfast. Her relationship with her dragon is lovely - a representation of love that goes beyond friendship and the physical.All in all it's a huge story with lots of action, twists, political intrigue and character development. So much happens that I got to the end feeling I'd read an entire series, rather than one book. It does work as a standalone but I would happily read a sequel. I might have mentioned that I want more once or twice somewhere in this review?The Priory of the Orange Tree is my most anticipated book of 2019. The fact that I mainlined it in three days in Nov 2018 has not changed that fact. I can't wait for my shiny new hardback version because it was one of those books where I could have turned the final page and then just gone straight back to the beginning and started the book again. Some books fully immerse you in a world. Some books give you no choice, you're just dragged in. And some books, like Priory, leave you homesick for the world they whisked you away to when you finally return to reality. This might well be my book of the year. Highly recommend.