The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon | Book Review

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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samanthan Shannon
Series: The Roots of Chaos #1
Published by Swoon Reads on September 1, 2020
Genres: Epic Fantasy, LGBT
Pages: 848
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased

Content Warnings: Murder, Death, Depression, Grief, Miscarriage, Plague, Suicide, Torture, War, Parental Death, Racism, Classism
Rating:

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.

The Priory of the Orange Tree was one of the best books I read in 2025. Usually, I find Booktok and Bookstagram suggestions to be slightly over hyped, but that was not the case here. In fact, I am kicking myself for waiting so long to pick this one up! It ended up being one of the book club picks on Fable, and that finally gave me the nudge to pick it up.

First and foremost, I absolutely adored Shannon's prose. Her ability to weave world-building with character development and plot rivals that of the greats, leaving me begging for more. This, coupled with multiple points of view, had me so immersed in the story that I forgot I was reading a book; everything else ceased to matter once it was opened. We as readers are introduced to elaborate, fully realized characters with cultural and religious differences that are so detailed it's as if they exist right alongside the reader. At no point did a world full of dragons and magic and alchemy feel unrealistic or fantastical. In fact, it felt quite the opposite!

“We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs.”

Apart from an absolutely engaging story and characters, Shannon also holds up a mirror to her readers, asking us who we are when the world demands change. We are faced with a series of characters all seeking to survive the end times. Some bury their heads, demanding the world remain as it was, while others, full of hope and eagerness, forge a path forward through the dark. Others still attempt to change the world within the confines of current political systems and cultural norms, making slow, yet substantial changes for the better. We are reminded that burying our heads or trying to force change too quickly ultimately results in the same thing: loss. Shannon makes it clear that the best path forward is often slow, but it's steady. Eventually, these incremental changes add up, and by the end of the book, the world is saved (duh!), but there is still a shattered world begging to be fixed, to be rewritten into something better.

“Just because something has always been done does not mean that it ought to be done.”

The political and cultural tension in The Priory of the Orange Tree is a beautiful reflection of the world we are currently living in. The rise of fascism and isolationism did not occur overnight, as some people seem strongly to believe. Instead, it was the result of decades of small changes that eroded the very fabric of our governments, not just here in the United States but across the world. Fixing this is going to take the same strength and devotion to maintain small, steady changes as our main characters took to save the world from an impending devourer of worlds. This is not a fight we win overnight, nor a fight a single president will suddenly fix. Sure, the big bad is defeated in the end, but the world must still undergo drastic changes to sustain the ideals our main characters fought so hard for.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is, without a doubt, a 5-star read. I would even go so far as to say it is one of the few 6-star reads I have read in my life, and I cannot wait to see whatever Shannon has to offer. If her other books are anything like Priory, I know I am going to be in for such a treat!