The Priory of the Orange Tree

This is the first book from Samantha Shannon I have read, and I have really liked it. The overall story is very good, the characters are very interesting and the worldbuilding has many layers (as it should).

I like how each chapter starts by having a geographical distinction, which helps situate the different characters in the map. It also cements the differences between each region and the lore.

Another important topic of the book is the rupture with other fantasy novels in the importance of the women in the plot (which is good) and the prominence of queer characters in it (which is also good).

I am looking forward to more works from the same author and I imagine that I will be reading them as soon as I know that they are released.

Honestly, you don't know what you're missing in fantasy until you read this book. An author who genuinely succeeds in not recreating patriarchy in a fictional world, and then it's a fantastic, gripping story to boot.

Sags tiresomely when it doesn’t race through suddenly ancillary quests for plot coupons: an Anthropologie®-curated fantasy with a girlboss gloss that insists I see a dragon without doing the work to show me anything like a goddamn dragon. www.longstoryshortpier.com/2022/11/26/matter-awfully-stern