Is it as good as 'The Bone Season'?
Part 1
If you've read my post about the best books of 2025 which you can find here, you propably know how much do I love 'The Bone Season' series, the best dystopian series of the last year and one of the best books I've ever read. What captivate me the most in 'The Bone Season' is definitely the world building which is simply mind-blowing. However, when I wanted to read 'The Priory of the Orange Tree', another book of Samantha Shannon, for the first time in last June, I just couldn't have finished it. I got stucked about 1/4 of the book and couldn't have moved on with reading. But Marta, my friend who I've mentioned many times here, wanted to read 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' and I decided to give 'The Roots of Chaos' series a second chance. Turns out, it was a great decision and Samantha Shannon once again proved that she is an excellent writer.
A key for realising Samantha's idea?
I've realised that it's characteristic for Samantha Shannon's writing style to start every new series vaguely and not explaining a world depicted to a reader in any way. In 'The Bone Season' series it's the same, I also has difficulties to understand the world building during the first two volumes of the series and not until the third part had I a pleasure of reading. Since the third volume, I have been having the best time with 'The Bone Season' books but before it had been a hard time reading. 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' starts in the same way but this time the new series by Shannon hasn't been that hard to begin reading. After scraping through the first half, it was a sheer enjoyment to explore the world of the book.
The plot review
The plot of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' is as complicated as in every Samantha Shannon's book, with the world of warring lands, courtly intrigues, complex mythology and private dramas of characters'. And extra points for stunning dragons! But I can't deny, in spite of the narrative being the binary type, the action in Queendom of Inys was much more compelling for me than the one in Seiiki. I just couldn't have created a bond with Tané and her story and, on the other hand, reading about the peripety of Ead was so naturally entertaining for me!
Oh, and the romance between Sabran and Ead is so cute! It's so good slowburn. I love how a transition between the girls being only a queen and a waiting maid and than lovers is so smooth. Ead almost unnoticable falls in love with the queen and Shannon made me question my love-radar whether I was right that there's some chemistry between the girls or I just was having phantasmas... This love thread may be better than the one from 'The Bone Season' (Paige Mahoney and Arcturus). I wasn't engaged the most in the romance from 'The Bone Season' but I actually feel a need for Ead and Sabran to have a happy ending in the second part of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree'.
The world building review
As I said, I believe that the romance is way better in 'The Priory of the Orange Tree', but the world building is for me lean comparing with 'The Bone Season' whose one is one of the best ever. I find the world of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' too repeated, it was similar to many fantasy books with its vibe. However, I must admit that the idea of the secret order isn't that popular and I really liked it. Nevertheless, I definitly prefer the world building of 'The Bone Season', so complex in so many ways and so original.
Cover image © Bloomsbury Publishing House. Used with permission.
[…] Make sure to read the part 1 before this one, to experience the full review […]