Mimi, have you any thoughts on the priory of the orange tree by Samantha Shannon(?) Whether it is worth reading at all?
It was one of my first read sapphic books. I really devoured it at the time, because of my then obsession with the queen and lionheart trope. I still respect it for the medieval worldbuilding, queer characters and ~somewhat~ respectful depiction of varied cultures (though it veers towards fantasy that is like Here is Western Diversity in Several Nations Inspired by Europe And Here is One Homogenous Country Representing Asia that Worships The Mighty Dragon).
But the book is very long and extremely slow with no real sense of urgency, like you would get in otherwise long series like A Song of Ice and Fire, or even in The Grishaverse. The writing of the main sapphic characters is wafer-thin; I struggle to remember their personalities, likes, dislikes etc outside of what the immediate plot demands. This is one of those books that keeps being shoved into your face as "BADASS LESBIANS WITH SWORDS AND DRAGONS!!" and that's about it. There is a lesbian, and people have swords, and there are dragons. But none of it feels lived in as Westeros, or Middle Earth, or Ravka or Ketterdam.
Much of the side characters were far more compelling, but it's clear the author had her favourites and focused on them. Was not a fan of the second half at all. Still, I don't hate it completely. If you can believe me :3