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suspiciousbluejay · 6 months

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Random theories, head cannons and predictions for Roots of Chaos books

I have been rereading both "Priory of the Orange Tree" and "A day of Fallen Night" and have been noticing new things and creating my own theories and head cannons. I'm listing these theories from the ones I consider most likely to the lest likely/ones that have the least evidence.

1.) The Earl of Honeybrook (Kits dad) or one of his ancestors was a practitioner of sterren. Samantha Shannon has confirmed that Kabala's last words "beware the sweet water" refers to Kits family. At the beginning of the book its revealed that "The Earl of Honeybrook stood with the other members of the Virtues Council. He did not look troubled by the absence of his son, who he resembled in every way but the mouth, which never smiled.". We know that the use of Sterren affects offspring by making them look identical to the parent. I believe that at some point after A Day of Fallen Night when Kabala regained her strength she decided that she wanted a child to train but instead of taking another child from the priory she chose and Inysh child and taught them how to use sterren.

2.) There is a 4th Siden tree. In A day of Fallen Night, Wulf mentions rumours that there is a valley in the north beyond Hróth where the eversnow melts (I can't find the exact quote -sorry). I believe that this is because there is another siden tree located in this valley and the fire from the siden causes the snow to melt. Apart from this rumour this theory doesn't not have much proof in the book but I believe it because one of the major themes is balance and having 4 trees, one in each main location (North - Hroth, South - Lasia, West - Inys/Nurtha, East - Komoridu) makes sense from a narrative perspective. Also Samantha Shannon has hinted that later books will explore the Hurin in more detail and as we know that there are Hurin in the north beyond Hroth.

3.) The lacustrine legend of "The little shadow girl" will appear as a narrator character/a character in a future book and tells us that the balance of the universe has been disrupted before. The legend of the little shadow girl tells the story of a little girl who "‘In the time before the Great Sorrow, a fire-breather flew to the Empire of the Twelve Lakes and ripped the pearl from the throat of the Spring Dragon". We do not know how much before the great sorrow this legend takes place but as it features a wyrm it means that this wyrm is either the Nameless one (which is not likely as we know when the nameless one first appeared he stayed in the South) or a new wrym which we have never met. We also know that "As the Spring Dragon mourned for her pearl, a most unnatural winter fell over the land". This makes me think that in the very ancient times when the balance was disrupted a diffrent wyrm was created (possibly from one of the eastern volcano's instead of the Dreadmount) stole the pearl which either caused a "unnatural winter" or coincided with the times that sterren was in power (which caused the "unnatural winter"). I think that this legend will play a large role in a future book (possibly the very ancient book with Siati the Dreamer).

4.) The "Melancholy King" for who the "desert of unquiet dream" is named, was affected by sterren not a desert mirage. The king first sees the mirage when he is in his palace which is in the middle of a city. In real life mirages only tend to happen when you are in the middle of a desert not when you are in a city environment. Because of this and the Kings steadfast belief that he is in fact in a dream makes me believe that he was seeing an illusion created by someone using sterren. I don't know who or why someone would do this though.

#the roots of chaos #roots of chaos #the priory of the orange tree 2019 #the priory of the orange tree #a day of fallen night #Samantha Shannon #theorys

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spacepearl · 11 months

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minä vs oiva toikan haamu: heitän yhden 700 e lasilinnun lattiaan ja oiva toikan haamu heittää sulaa lasia silmiini

#i'm stupid #suomi #vittu #perkele #paska

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lesser-known-composers · 2 months

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youtube

Niccolò Jommelli (1714-1774) - Didone abbandonata, cantata for soprano, strings and basso continuo

Soprano : Hasnaa Bennani

Les Muffatti - Brussels Baroque Orchestra Direction : Peter Van Heyghen

Violins I : François Fernandez, Marie Haag, Catherine Meeùs, Marrie Mooij Violins II : Marcin Lasia, Benedicte Verbeek, Laurent Hulsbosch Violas : Wendy Ruymen, Julie Vermeulen Violoncellos : Marian Minnen, Corentin Dellicour Double Bass : Benoît Vanden Bemden Harpsichord : Kris Verhelst

#Niccolò Jommelli #cantata #classical music #Youtube

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sshannonauthor · 2 years

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i was reading the character list in the back of priory of the orange tree, and i noticed that Nairuj and Mita have the same surname. Is Mita her mother, or are the munguna given that name specifically?

The founders of the Priory were Cleolind Onjenyu and her nine handmaidens. Some of those handmaidens had children, and those children became the first warriors sworn to defend Lasia from wyrms.

Mita and Nairuj are both of the Yedanya bloodline, claiming descent from the handmaiden with that surname.

#sshannonauthor world asks #the priory of the orange tree

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roblosraw · 6 months

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INTRODUCTION

It is the year 1986, and the world is still amidst a decades long cold war between the Federation of Noobera and the Guestonnian Socialists Union.

After the Liberator Victor in the First Robloxian War in 1949, the world was plunged in a rising sea of tension between these two nuclear powers. Guestonnia controlled the eastern portion of Atnas, initiating puppet states in the region that follows Guestonnia’s way of rule. The Outer Bloc was established, encompassing most of Lasia and “outer” areas of Robloxia, including northern Annan.

The Inner Bloc, encompassing Noobera and most of West Atnas, some portions of Lasia, and the southern portion of Annan, looked on with terror. If Guestonnia established world domination, the world would be plunged under a communist, totalitarian rule. Freedom had to fight back. The Inner Bloc established the agenda of “Counter-spread” to gain more control in the world for democracy and capitalism. This decision in 1950 was the beginning of the Cold War in Robloxia. The Outer Bloc, made out of Guestonnia, Dummlon, and other Robloxian countries, distrusted their capitalist counter-parts from the very beginning. They knew they had to expand, or the Inner Bloc would try and crush them next. But they had just announced their policy of counter-spread, and they got mad.

40 years later, to continue readiness incase of a surprise Guestonnian invasion of Atnas, Operation Red Takeover was launched, a combat exercise involving all members of TOWER to test their readiness of such an invasion. However, failure to communicate with Guestonnia about the exercise made the Guestonnians believe that TOWER was going to invade the Outer Bloc, and they were getting ready for it. Guestonnia started to amass troops along the borders.

What started as a training exercise would evolve into the Second Robloxian War, over a miscommunication.

#introduction post #roblox #worldbuilding #roblox worldbuilding #rawroblox

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vulturandes · 2 years

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🌿"Hay un lugar al fin del mundo, en dónde la luz no ha perturbado el silencio en más de 500 años, y la vida, se desarrolla en abundancia."🍃 Esto no es un cómic 😆, solo no sabía qué dibujar y quería hacer varias cosas :’) Y como siempre, nombres en latín✨: 🪰Lasia nigritarsis 🐒Dromiciops gloroides 🐦🔨Campephilus magellanicus 🌳Nothofagus dombeyi 🌿Tillandsia usneoides

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joseandrestabarnia · 4 months

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MILAGRO DE JORGE SOBRE EL GRAGÓN FINALES DEL SIGLO XV - PRINCIPIOS DEL XVI Tamaño - 110,5 x 79 Material - madera, yeso Técnica: témpera Número de inventario - Inv.15258 Recibido del Museo Histórico del Estado. 1930

“El milagro de Jorge sobre el dragón” es uno de los temas más populares de la pintura rusa antigua. En la hagiografía bizantina se incluía en el círculo de los milagros de la vida del gran mártir, mientras que en las ediciones eslavas se solía clasificar como un milagro póstumo. La historia de este milagro se conoce en varias ediciones, que se diferencian entre sí en pequeños detalles. Todos cuentan la historia de cómo el santo salvó a los habitantes de cierta ciudad de una serpiente-dragón que devoraba a hombres y mujeres jóvenes, en el mismo momento en que ya se disponían a sacrificar a la hija del gobernante al monstruo. La ciudad en sí tiene varios nombres en las fuentes: Lasia, Laosia, Ebal, etc. y, en consecuencia, su ubicación se indica de diferentes maneras: cerca de Laodicea siria o cerca de Berit (Beirut).

El icono publicado pertenece a una breve versión iconográfica, a la que sólo se le añade un detalle adicional: un ángel que coloca una corona de mártir en la cabeza del guerrero (este motivo tradicional de la coronación de los mártires se vuelve especialmente popular en el arte ruso del siglo XVI. y alcanza su culminación en el famoso icono “Bendito el ejército del Rey Celestial"). George sostiene las riendas del caballo blanco con su mano izquierda y con su derecha mata a la serpiente que sale del lago. La majestuosa figura del santo está llena de poder y fuerza. Su postura tranquila y helada parece más adecuada para la oración que para la batalla (el único detalle dinámico de la composición es el ondeante manto rojo del santo). El pintor de iconos parecía representar al gran mártir en el momento de su conversión a Cristo, a la que seguiría la derrota decisiva del dragón.

El diseño exquisito, la forma suave y fluida de la pintura personal, así como el color del icono, que combina el rojo brillante con sutiles tonos de azul y verde, son típicos de la pintura de iconos de Moscú de la primera mitad del siglo XVI.

Información e imagen de la web de la Galería Tretyakov.

#art #pintura

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alstanfordart · 1 year

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The Witch Of The Screaming Mountain

Lasia (from the artwork The Embrace) as the witch of the forest at the base of a mountain, living amongst the monstrous Denoan as their disciple. Just something I did in between other things.

#original character #original species #dark fantasy #fantasy art #scifi art

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385bookreviews · 8 months

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1.126.1 A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

SPOILERS

Pages: 846

Read Time: 21 hours and 7 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Storyline: ★★★★★ Dialogue: ★★★★★ Characters: ★★★★★

Genre: High Fantasy

TWs for the book: Death, war, violence, pregnancy, death of a parent, fire/fire injury, blood, grief, child death, animal death, pandemic/epidemic, injury/injury detail, gore, murder, s*xual content, religious bigotry, adult/minor relationship, abandonment, cursing, infidelity, su*c*de, kidnapping, medical content, emotional abuse, mental illness, misogyny, body horror, cancer, child abuse/neglect, xenophobia, vomit, classism

POV: Third person perspective of Glorian Berethnet, Tunuva Melim, Wulfert Glenn, and Noziken pa Dumai; also very briefly Queen Sabran Berethnet and Kuposa pa Nikeya.

Time Period/Location: 509-512 CE; in the lands of Lasia, Carmentum, the Ersyr, Yscalin, Hróth, Inys, Sepul, Seiiki, and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes.

First Line: Her name was Dumai, from an ancient word for a dream that ends too soon.

The story follows four main people, Princess Glorian Berethnet of Inys, the heir to Virtudom, Tunuva Melim, a sorceress of the Priory of the Orange Tree, Wulfert Glenn, housecarl to King Bardholt of Hróth, and Dumai, a godsinger living on Mount Ipeda.

Glorian lives in the shadow of her mother. She is going to become queen one day, and has a big name to live up to. She confides a lot in her father, the King of Hróth who can only visit on occasion as he is the first king of his land and must keep peace and order. Dumai is a godsinger in the East, living on Mount Ipeda and praying for the gods return from their slumber. Her life turns upside down when her father, the Emperor of Seiiki, comes to the mountain to tell her she must become his heir in order to protect the Noziken line from the scheming Kuposa family.

Wulf is a housecarl to the King of Hróth, and travels with the king to Inys, where he reconnects with Glorian as they were childhood friends. This doesn't keep the whispers of him being a witchling away however, as his fathers found him on the edge of the woods accompanied by a wolf before taking him in.

Tunuva is a sorceress of the Priory of the Orange Tree, vowed to keep watch over the tree and prepare for the day that the Nameless One, a fire wyrm from deep in the earth, will return. Her and her partner Esbar struggle to contain Esbar's wild birthdaughter Siyu, who escapes the Priory with her friend and a boy who she has become pregnant by. When Tunuva and Esbar go after Siyu to bring her back to the Priory and keep its existence a secret, the Dreadmount (the mountain between Mentendon and Yscalin that birthed the Nameless One) erupts, bringing forth new wyrms that are bent on bringing disease and destruction to the world.

In the East, Dumai struggles at court and is constantly taunted by the daughter of the river lord Kuposa pa Nikeya. All of that changes after the eruption of the Dreadmount across the sea and Nikeya, Dumai, and her best friend Kanifa are summoned by Furtia Stormcaller, a sea dragon and one of the gods worshipped by the Easterners, to discover what creatures have come from the Dreadmount and to awaken the rest of the gods.

Wulf discovers sickness and plague in a town in the north of Hróth, and is forced to kill one of his friends when she becomes infected. He, however, is immune to the sickness, and the rumors of him being a witch child spread further.

In the Priory, a different kind of mage than those who eat of the Orange Tree requests refuge. Her name is Canthe and she comes from Inys, no longer possessing much magic as the Hawthorn Tree she ate from died. When Siyu runs away again with her baby after finding her lover killed, Canthe and Tunuva go after her, and form a close bond along the way.

In Inys, Queen Sabran and King Bardholt leave for a wedding in Mentendon, but are attacked by a wyrm named Fyredel along the way, and are burned to death. Wulf is aboard the boat and nearly dies himself, but braves the freezing sea and washes up on the shores of Hróth. He rushes back to Inys to comfort Glorian, who is too young to be queen but old enough to be wed. Her regent and advisors are pushing her for an heir as they believe the continuation of the Berethnet bloodline is the only thing keeping the Nameless One from rising again. Her only option is to wed a 70 year old prince of Yscalin, and Wulf, who pities her and loves her dearly as a friend, offers to get her pregnant instead, so she doesn't have to sleep with the prince. They succeed, and as Fyredel attacks the capital of Inys and her regent is discovered to be a heathen who worships the Witch of the Woods, she takes control of her people and leads them into hiding in the caves of Inys.

Canthe tells Tunuva of Wulf, and says that he may be her long lost baby she thought died in the woods. They travel to Inys to find him in the midst of the war.

Dumai and Nikeya travel through the Queendom of Sepul and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes and then back to Seiiki, waking the gods and warning their neighbors of the looming danger and sickness. Her and Glorian both have dreams and speak to each other through them, and Glorian asks her to meet her in Hróth so they might use two powerful magic stones, one of which Dumai possesses, to defeat the wyrms. Wulf is commanded to go to a town on the outskirts of Hróth to gather forces to defeat the wyrms, and Tunuva and Canthe follow closely on his heels. Everyone ends up meeting on the ice, where it's revealed that Canthe had infiltrated Dumai's dreams and pretended to be Glorian to draw Dumai there and steal the stone for herself. Wulf and his partner Thrit are alarmed to see Furtia Stormcaller and think she is a wyrm and attack. Seeing Wulf in danger and what she also believes is a wyrm, Tunuva attacks Furtia, Dumai, and Nikeya. They barely make it away, and Tunuva and Wulf reunite. Canthe and Tunuva return back to the Priory with Wulf to teach him about his people and to meet his family.

Wulf stays for awhile, but eventually must leave to return to Inys. After he leaves, Canthe uses magic to trick Tunuva into unlocking the tomb of Cleolind, their foremother, and finds the other half of Dumai's magic stone. Esbar and another mage catch her in the act, and they presumably kill her, but not before she confesses that she is the one who stole Tunuva's son so long ago and left him in the woods of Inys. Tunuva is distraught at the betrayal, but must leave to defend a southern city from a wyrm attack.

Nikeya and Dumai arrive home to Seiiki to discover her father dead at the hands of the River Lord, and her younger sister Suzu, who is half Kuposa, on the throne, and the River Lord as her regent. Dumai leaves Nikeya and the rest of the court to form her own shadow court on the other side of the island focused solely on fighting the wyrms and saving her people. Nikeya finds Dumai and confesses her love for her, and they are married. It is then revealed that the River Lord has been put under mind control by a wyrm, and that he plans to sacrifice Suzu to the wyrms and permanently end the Noziken line. Dumai rushes there with Nikeya, but is too late, as all of her relatives and her sister are slaughtered.

In Inys, Glorian gives birth to her daughter who she names Sabran. Wulf arrives just in time to see her emerge from the cave with the baby, who she immediately passes off to him to keep safe before riding into battle against the wyrms and Fyredel. Fyredel then offers Glorian a deal; her life for her peoples'. She is about to take the deal when a comet called the Long Haired Star, the thing that gives dragons their magic and weakens wyrms, passes overhead. Fyredel and the rest of the wyrms flee.

The Long Haired Star passes over the South and Tunuva and Esbar use the stone discovered by Canthe in the tomb to defeat the wyrms and they run away or fall into a deep sleep. In the East, the dragons give their lives to defeat the River Lord and the wyrms. Dumai is offered a second chance at life by one of the dragons, but she declines and passes away.

At the end of the story, Glorian is queen, Wulf is knighted and places Siyu in the court to protect his daughter, Nikeya becomes the new Warlord of Seiiki, and Tunuva and Esbar continue their life in the Priory with Esbar as Prioress.

Queen Glorian Berethnet (Glorian Shieldheart): If you read Priory of the Orange Tree first, this character will be somewhat familiar. She is talked about as a legend, the queen who faced the wyrms head on and road into battle immediately after giving birth. But, as this story takes place over the span of four years, you view her as she was when all of this happened: a child. Her story is tragic, as she feels shackled to the throne and to the child she must bear her whole life, and her first "free" act after giving birth and doing her duty is to ride as a warrior in defense of her people. You see her struggle with the guilt of subjecting her daughter to the same fate as herself, and grapple with her faith as she realizes just how barbaric their beliefs really are. Her difficult relationship with her mother was heart wrenching and reflects how daughters view their mothers as children and then again as adults.

Wulfert Glenn (Armul; the Child of the Woods): Wulf's most defining characteristic was his loyalty (besides his raving bisexuality). He was loyal to his lover Regny when she died on the ship with the King and Queen, holding onto her body all the way back to the shores of Hróth, he was loyal to Glorian, risking death to sire her child, and he was loyal to Tunuva upon finding out she was his mother by following her to the Priory and accepting his faith and heritage. He was an immensely likable character (and in my opinion, autistic coded) which made him all the better to me.

Noziken pa Dumai: Dumai was not meant to be Empress of Seiiki. She was meant to be a godsinger and no matter how much the role of empresses was forced upon her, she stuck to who she was, even in death. She didn't allow herself or her beliefs to waver or be changed, even for Nikeya or her father. While it was gut wrenching that she left Nikeya widowed and that she never got to meet Glorian in person, I was happy that Samantha Shannon wasn't afraid to let her die for what she believed in, and die maintaining her magic ability. She didn't have to sacrifice her power. There was some hints that she might have survived and was just living off the grid, but I prefer to think that she died at peace and having fought for her faith and her people. She was also a foil character to Glorian, hence their dream connection. Glorian was forced to live a life that didn't reflect who she was for the sake of duty, and struggled to be herself outside of that, while Dumai kept to the duty of her people and her gods, but on her own terms and in her own way.

Storyline: I was once again absolutely blown away by the sheer immensity of the worldbuilding in this story. It was done flawlessly and the queernorm world she built was beautiful and something I really appreciated. There was no need for explanation for the queer characters, as it all fit well into the story. The magic system was unique and beautiful. The uniqueness of each of the cultures and religions was insanely creative, and the diversity of characters made sense and wasn't just an afterthought. The only thing that I struggle with with this series is remembering everything as there is a lot of names, history, and information thrown at you at once. Thank gods for the beautiful maps in this book or I would not have had any clue what was going on.

Representation: The amount of representation in this books was insane. Glorian is aroace, Tunuva and Esbar are lesbians, Dumai and Nikeya are lesbians, Wulf is bisexual. There are two FtM transgender characters, a brother of the Priory who is a consistent background character, and an alchemist in the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. There are two nonbinary characters, Lade Edith, a council member in Inys (Lade instead of Lord or Lady) and a doctor in Inys, Mastress Bourn, (Mastress instead of Master or Mistress). Canthe and Tunuva also discuss what would happen in the gender roll based Priory if someone was nonbinary, and she talks about how they would find a solution for it when it happened. Pronouns are never questioned. The Empress of the Empire of the Twelve Lakes is married to a woman. The countries and kingdoms of the south are based off of (to my knowledge) African cultures, the Eastern countries based off of Asian culture, the Northern country of Hróth based off of Nordic culture, and the Western countries based off of more British culture. I could be completely incorrect about this but while reading I was under the assumption that Yscalin was based off of Hispanic culture, but again, I could be wrong as Yscalin is not shown very much and its been awhile since I read Priory of the Orange Tree.

Summary: It's a long read and it's best to have a good memory for it but it is definitely worth the ride for the sheer worldbuilding alone. On top of it Samantha Shannon writes wonderfully complex, detailed, and flawed characters that feel very real. She maintained all of the beauty of the story into this second book, and expands upon a long history and a detailed and complex world.

Quotes: "'I will be a good queen.' Her mother stopped. 'You think me weak.' Glorian said, willing her voice not to quake. 'You always have - but I know whose bone and blood I am. I am the chosen of the Saint, the fruit of his unending vine, the iron of the eversnow. I am the daughter of Sabran the Ambitious and the Hammer of the North, and I will rule this realm without fear. My reign will be remembered for centuries to come.' She let the words soak through the silence, then said, 'I am enough.'" (pg. 339) "'What is the world,' Dumai asked her, 'but a fleeting dream, from which we will all one day wake?'"-Noziken pa Dumai (pg. 553) "Mama, I forgive you. I forgive you all of it. I love you as the rain loves the earth. As the mountain loves the sky. I will love you when the star returns, and when the black waters swallow the world."-Noziken pa Dumai (pg. 802)

#gay #lgbtq #lgbt #transgender #asexual #aromantic #lesbian #nonbinary #book reviews #book review #books #book blog #booklr #a day of fallen night #samantha shannon #bisexual #pansexual

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beneaththebrim · 2 years

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Thoughts on Priory of the Orange Tree (no big spoilers)

(so backstory is my friend is a huge SFF buff and recommended/gifted this book to me a year and a half ago (it’s gay! you like gay things!) but I’d only gotten around to reading physical books again recently, and finally dove into this one. And, when I mentioned I was reading it, a few fandom friends asked me to tell them what I thought about it. So. Here ya go.)

Over all, it's a very solid high fantasy novel and I enjoyed reading it. The story follows four protagonists as they weave paths around the known world while a humanity-threatening crisis (giant fire-breathing dragons) looms on the horizon.

Warning: I have a tendency to be like ‘I love this novel! Here are all the things wrong with it...’ so I will point out some of my gripes along with what I liked.

Worldbuilding

The worldbuilding is pretty strong, in that the author knew to highlight the portions of history she already knew well, while also doing a sufficient amount of research on areas she didn't, and moreover choosing points of view that wouldn't get into the nitty gritty in those latter cases.

It is a bit funny, though, how one of the opening pages says (direct quote), 'The fictional lands of The Priory of the Orange Tree are inspired by events and legends from various parts of the world. None is intended as a faithful representation of any one country or culture at any point in history,' and then, within three pages of the first chapter, being like 'ah yes, Edo Japan' xD

(Key going forward: Inys=England, Hróth=Scandinavia, Yscalin=Spain Mentendon=Netherlands, Lasia=Kongo (this was one I didn’t automatically know but saw while browsing the author’s tumblr), Ersyr=Persia, Seiiki=Japan, Empire of Twelve Lakes=China)

As for the magical system, I have to admit, it's a bit simplistic at core, and doesn't get delved into in a great amount of philosophical detail. It's basically just, there's earth magic (fire) and star magic (water/air), boom, that's it. What's infinitely more interesting is how the novel depicts different cultures in the world not fully understanding the entirety of the magical system and passing down myths and tales based on the fraction of it they experience, and moreover rejecting the entirety of the magical system's truth due to dogma built up over time. That's the real juicy aspect of the worldbuilding.

At core, the novel is about rejecting tribalism and breaking down such dogmas in order to work toward the survival and betterment of humanity. Imo the most interesting aspects of the novel involve characters with entrenched beliefs intersecting with characters possessing incompatible beliefs, or having their beliefs otherwise challenged.

Feminism & queer content

The feminist message in the novel is a classic sort of feminism ('a woman is more than a womb to be seeded')—all the more relevant nowadays with the current global reactionary trends regarding women's rights eh—and the setting is full of a wide variety of well rounded women in various different roles. Among them there are tenacious warriors, as well as delicate—yet equally tenacious—courtiers. Among them there are heroes, villains, and various shades in between. Women make up the prime movers and shakers of the narrative, but the narrative doesn't fall into the trap of imagining that the world would be a utopia if run by women. There is also a very nice nuanced understanding that the signifiers of liberation differ according to culture and status.

Unfortunately, there are no (visible) trans characters.

There are a couple main queer relationships in the text. The world is one in which homophobia is nonexistent, however many queer themes are still explored through the rigidity of the class structure and pressure for the nobility to bear children, causing certain relationships (including straight ones) to be forbidden. The main relationship is between a queen and her bodyguard, so, very much getting into that ‘forbidden relationship’ territory (oddly not super flavorful here tho, imo)

As someone coming from danmei/baihe fandom, I would not recommend reading this novel for the romance, because it really is quite scant, and although there are some (non explicit) sex scenes, they generally follow that adage of 'sex scenes must justify themselves by advancing the narrative'. Sometimes I felt like the writing was afraid of losing dignity if the romance portions were written with too much passion—it often felt a bit clinical. In the first sex scene I found myself focusing more on the significance of the star imagery than being titillated. But that's fine, after all it's not a romance novel, I’m just used to reading BL/GL novels.

(For those who've read priest, I would also contrast the romance here to what people often talk about in priest's works—in priest's works the plot is very heavy, but because her works are character-based, the focus always comes back to the intertwining of the plot with the main characters' relationship—there's a certain interiority to it. In Priory, we're more zoomed out, and the plot is the main focus.)

Characters & plot

My personal gripe about the romance probably comes from this (perfectly fine, honestly just a difference in style and genre) plot-over-characters design itself. The characters are generally pretty well-rounded, but they often feel more like heroes/pawns/symbols than humans. The novel is very tight, and we don't get much downtime with them, other than maybe a flashback carefully placed in an attempt to make a loss more devastating (I say 'attempt' because all in all the novel never made me cry). This is actually a novel I could see being adapted well to a live action, where the actors might add a bit more of a human touch to the characters (granted, that would be in a perfect world where live adaptations aren't beholden to generic corporate tastes haha).

On the other hand, the thing that does really make the story for me is actually the 'pawn' aspect of the characters. Although I'm not made to feel sad for the characters, I am often invested in their arcs—there are a lot of moments where the tension is slowly, slowly ramped up, and you know something bad is going to happen to them, and you're dreading it a little, but at the same time you know that this loss they're experiencing is going to take them, physically and mentally, to the place the plot will need them to be. It's those movements of the characters about the board that are truly expertly fine-tuned, and kept me wanting to read on. The plot was truly well-crafted.

Is it time to talk about individual characters? It's time to talk about individual characters. Okay, so there are four main narrators:

Ead, a Lasian-Ersyri spy sent by a secret organization of (fire)dragonslayers/mages to protect Queen Sabran of Inys. 26-yo WOC, WLW. She gets the most screen time, and she is very driven and loyal, with a broad-mindedness deepened by her experience working to blend into the Inysh court. She’s pretty OP (in a good way).

Tané, a promising Seiikinese warrior training to become a (water)dragon rider. 19-yo WOC (though given that she's a fantasy!Japanese person in fantasy!Japan, calling her a WOC could be considered projecting a western mindset on race elsewhere in the world), unknown sexuality. She is incredibly ambitious and set in her ways, partially due to having to strive to prove herself all her life, having come from a dirt-poor peasant background. She is also pretty OP (also in a good way).

Loth, an Inysh courtier plotted against to go on a suicide mission to Yscalin, which has recently been taken over by recently-awakened (fire)dragons. 30-yo MOC (in that he's described with dark skin, however he’s essentially written in a colorblind way, he's basically a fantasy!English dude whose noble family goes way back to the founding of fantasy!England, who happens to have dark skin, fwiw), unknown sexuality, but I think probably demi-heteroromantic asexual. Loth is also set in his ways in the beginning, but he is extraordinarily kind, courageous, and noble, which allows him to face new circumstances with aplomb.

Niclays, a Mentish anatomist and alchemist exiled in Seiiki. 64-yo white man, MLM. Niclays begins in a significantly different place from the other characters—he's not young or full of ambition (beyond his fruitless search for an elixir of life). He's been mourning the death of his lover and drowning in drink for many years now, and many of his decisions are clouded in a fog of misery, simply informed by what is there in front of him, if not behind—everything he does is in some way informed by the memory of his dead lover.

—Just a taste of whose eyes we get to see through. In the beginning they're strewn across the known world, but as they begin to intersect more later on in the novel, that's when we really start cooking with gas.

Some other highlights:

Inysh court politics. Look I love me some court politics where you have to keep flipping to the character guide while getting acclimated and by the end you're in it. Also I was proud of myself for being able to predict a couple things correctly (cupbearer, [redacted] ancestry). I was a little surprised that by the time the characters got to the court of the Empire of Twelve Lakes they weren't plunged into a whole other backstabby world, but I guess maybe the court politics there were all happening in the background hehe.

KALYBA. Look. Okay. We all love our milves. Our evil milves. Our evil wicked witch milves who are the terrible root of all our [redacted] trauma and turned into [redacted] because the haters wouldn't give her any oranges. Just #girlboss things right? I wanted more of her. I wanted more from her. I can't say more because spoilers. I love her.

SAMANTHA SHANNON HOW DARE YOU PUT SEQUEL BAIT AT THE END AND NO SEQUEL AGHHHHHHH anyway I hope if there is a sequel and/or prequel there will be more Kalyba/Kalyba flashbacks. And Neporo and the butterflies?? What's up with that??? Tané???? Sweet water?????

(Okay I do know that sweet water was something the pirates picked up at port, so it's not some secret thing. Must have to do with Neporo somehow, or Kalyba's backstory with Neporo) (I assume this is way too vague to count as spoilers)

Okay one spoiler, don’t look if you haven’t read the novel:

I was so sure Kalyba was planning to cozy up to the Nameless One, specifically so she could slay him with Ascalon and supplant him as the dominant dragon and become the ultimate Big Bad. I was so sure of it! I really wanted that for her!! Kalyba you deserved better!!!

#priory of the orange tree #review #samantha shannon if you see this plz know I am but a mere danmei main to whom you need not pay heed; plz don't read my silly little thoughts

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