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books read in 2019: Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

“No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough.”

I’ve re-read The Prioy of The Orange Tree and I think now that it’s implied - if there’s supposed to be any implication - the Unceasing Emperor’s former lover might be Ghonra, the Golden Empress’s adopted daughter and heir.

I’ve been asked before if the lover might’ve been the Golden Empress herself, likely because of the remarks about the lover as a “sea maiden” who’s going to “build her own empire” in chapter 68, pp. 741. Yet the Golden Empress claims to be have been going to sea for 30 years (p. 431, chapter 40) and I find it unlikely the Emperor would’ve met an infamous outlaw in his own palace; not impossible she washed up there for some time about ten years before the start of Priory, but unlikely.

But Ghonra would’ve joined the Golden Empress’s crew at any time, including after an affair with the emperor some ten years ago. Ghonra is described as beautiful and violent by Laya/Niclays in chapter 42 while the lover is described as beautiful and with “a shadow in [her] that no one could control” (p. 742), which would be unleashed by power. However, my biggest hint is Ghonra’s “love” tattoo on her brow (p. 446). The rest of the pirate crew has eventual crimes/convictions tattooed there; what could the crime of love be? I believe Samantha Shannon stated once it has nothing to do with queerness yet the answer might be in the chapter 68 about the Emperor’s lover directly: when hearing the story about the Emperor’s failed relationship, “Loth thought of how the Virtues council had exiled Ead. All for the crime of love” (p. 742); the crime of love being love despite class/rank differences.

bombing

the multiple failed assassination attempts made against me have helped build both character and self esteem

incorrect-priory-quotes

#Sabran

klaraisdrawing

I partake in a Priory Of The Orange Tree readalong. We read 50 pages a week and I decided to pick a scene to sketch out. It’s messy but so am I.

orangepriory

This is great ;.;

sshannonauthor

What are you working on that is based on the 11th century?

It’s a Priory-related project.

orangepriory

YES!!!

persephoneofhades

BEAUTIFUL fanart of Tane Miduchi and her dragon Nayimathun from @sshannonauthor‘s The Priory of the Orange Tree, commissioned from @ace-artemis-fanartist.

Thanks so much, Ace, this is INCREDIBLE!

sshannonauthor

I love this so much.

orangepriory

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS, thanks for sharing it (;.;).

I gotta cosplay as Tané now.

#Tané miduchi #theprioryoftheorangetree #artwork #beautiful #warrior

folieassdeux

niclays finally having hope he can leave exile and move back to mentendon and be a grandfather to trudye... i might genuinely die myself when he finds out she was executed... first jannart and then jannart's granddaughter i cant deal with this please let the gays be happy....

orangepriory

This may be out of context but your post made me think about one thing.

I honestly think that Truyde’s execution is one of the most overlooked tragedies of the book. Because everyone wants to cry when Susa tells Tané to look away. Everyone loves Nayimathum and internally screams when something happens to her. Almost everyone mourns Kitston Glade and the Prince.

But Truyde? That stupid brat that almost kills Sabran and Ead? I hoped she would get punished for her plans, but it kind of shocked me when her corpse appeared in the book. I mean, she was just a young, innocent, curious and sweet girl who single handedly cracked the code of hOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS (????). She was happy and in love with a peasant, and she loved reading and understanding things, which is indeed a dangerous pastime. However naive she may have been, she was not less ferocious than Ead or Tané and she was never afraid of anything (even before her death she defied Ead). AND let’s admit it: she was right. Sorry, but it’s true.

So, summarizing it: 1 - She actually meant no harm. In fact, she was trying to save the kingdom. 2 - Her plan to unite the world against everyone’s enemy worked after being endorsed by Ead and Sabran. 3 - She was young enough to overlook the apparent stupidity of her actions (planning to go with Sulyard to the East). 4 - She was arguably a genius because she was smart enough to figure things out in chapter 0 that the rest of the characters take 600 pages to discover and understand. 5 - She was framed.

And imo Truyde was actually quite likable in the first chapters, before totally opposing Ead. I thought she was quite funny, cute and definitely a bookworm.

So I should have felt way worse when Truyde, the visionary young girl who had a real plan to save the world based on her superb knowledge, was executed.

#truyde #theprioryoftheorangetree #sabran #ead

folieassdeux

ead being raised from birth to serve the priory and slay the wyverns and high westerns and sabran being raised from birth to rule inysca until she spawns a child to sustain the bloodline and tané being raised from birth to become a dragonrider at the cost of all her morals, and all three of them being on the verge of losing everything they’ve ever known…this is fine

daughter-of-siyati

EXCELLENT parallels. Painful but excellent

orangepriory

You are totally right. I think that they were on the verge of losing everything… and, at some level, they did lost everything they loved.

Ead was called a traitor by her sisters. She had to flee her home and she was almost killed by what we could almost consider a friend. She was rejected by the people who raised her. Sabran lost the ability to bear a child and she almost loses the throne too due to you know who being a self righteous bitch. Tané lost her dragon, her status and her best friend. She is now an outcast.

However, I believe there’s a reason why they survived. They found something far more important than (well, at least as important as) what they lost.

Ead found true love (look at my ship) and she matured when she understood that being recognised by her peers wasn’t nearly as important as actually saving everyone’s lives (even if that meant never coming back home or/and being hated by the people she used to love and admire). After her trauma, Sabran found Ead (the truth about her) and that helped her develop an open mind that ultimately would make her an excellent ruler. Finally, our beloved Tané had to cast aside her broken dream (the one that she had been fighting for all her life), acknowledge her mistakes, atone for her sins and save Nayimathum. She learned that being a dragonrider is not about prestige, it is about friendship, love and the courage to put your life on the line to save others. As oposed to being selfish and kinda sacrificing Susa and Sulyard at the beginning of the book. She had chosen to endanger her friend and everyone in the island to secure her dream, now she risks her life to save her friend.

This is a mess, but the point is that they didn’t almost lose everything, they suffered that loss and moved on because they were able to find some other reasons to live. Which seems more meaningful to me than a mere “fright” and then going back to normal without a lesson learned.

sabraneadaz

loving all this but also important to remember that ead’s life was spared because the daughter who shot her (dont have the book with me and cant remember her name) deliberately shot to injure and not kill even though those were her orders. so she wasnt entirely rejected even if the other daughters didnt know what the hell she was up to…

(folieassdeux is my main)

orangepriory

That’s a very good AND IMPORTANT point. Totally true. Cleolinda bless Nairuj.

However, I think that can be interpreted more as a personal decision because Nairuj (I had to look it up XD) had had her life spared too before. If I remember correctly (and I might not), Nairuj was the one that Ead could have shot when Loth and her were fleeing (riding Aralaq). After the wyrms start wreaking havoc and hurt the ichneumon of Nairuj, Ead can shoot either the wyrm that is about to kill Nairuj or Nairuj herself, and she kills the wyrm without batting an eye. Maybe Nairuj just wants to repay her, maybe she is fond of her, maybe she even trusts her enough to not kill her. The fact is that while she helps her (a little bit) (thanks, Nairuj), I don’t think that reflects all of priory’s sisters thoughts.

Nevertheless, your point is still totally valid and relevant, thanks for adding that :).

P.S: Already following your main, you have good stuff there.

#theprioryoftheorangetree #Nairuj #Ead #Sabran

folieassdeux

ead being raised from birth to serve the priory and slay the wyverns and high westerns and sabran being raised from birth to rule inysca until she spawns a child to sustain the bloodline and tané being raised from birth to become a dragonrider at the cost of all her morals, and all three of them being on the verge of losing everything they've ever known...this is fine

daughter-of-siyati

EXCELLENT parallels. Painful but excellent

orangepriory

You are totally right. I think that they were on the verge of losing everything... and, at some level, they did lost everything they loved.

Ead was called a traitor by her sisters. She had to flee her home and she was almost killed by what we could almost consider a friend. She was rejected by the people who raised her. Sabran lost the ability to bear a child and she almost loses the throne too due to you know who being a self righteous bitch. Tané lost her dragon, her status and her best friend. She is now an outcast.

However, I believe there's a reason why they survived. They found something far more important than (well, at least as important as) what they lost.

Ead found true love (look at my ship) and she matured when she understood that being recognised by her peers wasn't nearly as important as actually saving everyone's lives (even if that meant never coming back home or/and being hated by the people she used to love and admire). After her trauma, Sabran found Ead (the truth about her) and that helped her develop an open mind that ultimately would make her an excellent ruler. Finally, our beloved Tané had to cast aside her broken dream (the one that she had been fighting for all her life), acknowledge her mistakes, atone for her sins and save Nayimathum. She learned that being a dragonrider is not about prestige, it is about friendship, love and the courage to put your life on the line to save others. As oposed to being selfish and kinda sacrificing Susa and Sulyard at the beginning of the book. She had chosen to endanger her friend and everyone in the island to secure her dream, now she risks her life to save her friend.

This is a mess, but the point is that they didn't almost lose everything, they suffered that loss and moved on because they were able to find some other reasons to live. Which seems more meaningful to me than a mere "fright" and then going back to normal without a lesson learned.

#theprioryoftheorangetree #tané #ead #sabran #tpotot #the priory of the orange tree

sshannonauthor

What are your thoughts on characters saying "I love you" in books? (like as a confession of romantic love) To me it's always felt inadequate/anticlimactic.

Ha, reminds me of this tweet: [x]

I usually prefer for them to show their love in other ways, which is a reflection of personal taste. I’m not keen on a lot of ‘traditional’ romantic gestures – I’d hate to have a big wedding proposal or an expensive engagement ring, a lot of things that are sold on Valentine’s Day are lost on me, etc.

In my books I prefer characters to make more personal, intimate gestures, which I find more romantic than the classic ones. I think Ead saying ‘No more a fool than I, to love you as I do’ is as close as they get to saying ‘I love you.’ But they say it in many other ways.

orangepriory

Now that makes mewonder if Loth fell in love with the Donmata Marosa and all his thought about her are out of this subtextual romance. OR it could be because of a simple friendship and he is just really concerned about a victim of circumstances who he had to abandon.

Does anyone else think of a teapot when they read TPOTOT?

Like, and orange TPOT.

#tpotot #the priory of the orange tree #teapots

(kinda) Objective reasons why The Priory of the Orange Tree is great

- Incredible worldbuilding with a lot of different countries. Each one has different laws, culture (myths, foods, moral values, religion), monarchy and physical features.

- Dragons. Like, big bad fire dragons and cool sleek water dragons that have an intellect and can talk. If you don’t like that, it can’t be helped. Go rot in the Abyss.

- Women in all types of roles. As soldiers, queens, witches/sorcerers, dragon riders, musicians (ouch), intellectual rebellious brats... Women as badass warriors. If you don’t like that, get the hell out of Tumblr.

- Friendships that don’t need to become romances.

- Romances that are not the stereotypical ones.

- Sassy fluffy beast friend.

- Complex magic system: explained.

- An Nice Guy who is actually nice, friendly and really brave.

- Morally gray characters.

- Freaking pirates.

- It’s a looooooong book so you can kill the time while in Quarantine.

#the priory of the orange tree

folieassdeux

ead: havent i always given you truth?

sabran: sometimes too much

the readers:

emilybeemartin

Hi hello yes I'm reading The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and am here to bring you all to the light. It has f/f queens and mighty dragons and belovéd himbos.

sabraneadaz

say 'sabran berethnet" three times in the mirror and watch me weep

orangepriory

Scream "Aubretch Lievelyn" in Ascalon once and hear Sabran weeping.

Okay, that was just cruel, sorry XD.

sabraneadaz

sabran: can someone love me for something other than my ability to bear a child...

ead: you're a dumbass and im morosexual *rips off dress*

orangepriory

Did you also see stuff coming when they slept together for the first time?

Btw, I loved how Sabran never stopped giving Ead orders and Ead kept saying that she was not HER queen.

She treated her as a real queen, though. Slaying wyrms, risking her life to see her, disobeying direct orders and stuff for bae.

#sabran berethnet #ead #the priory of the orange tree

Some thoughts about Turosa

I like how he is introduced as a jerk that makes fun of Tané because of her roots, loses to her in a fight after having boasted a lot, bows really hard, and we never hear anything about him again.

One thing I loved is that a typical YA book would have make him the love interest of our beloved heroine. But this book made Turosa show respect. And it made Tané a person (kinda) obsessed with her honor and atoning for her sins, not a stupid teenager who wants to impress bratty jerks.

Also, I would love to see the face of Turosa if he ever discovered that Tané is the descendant of Neporo.

Finally, I must say that however stupid and classist he may be, he never used the "women are weak and can't be warriors" card, so if you ever say that, you are worse than him. Shame on you.

#the priory of the orange tree #tané #turosa

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