The Priory of The Orange Tree - A “Review”:
5 days since, 120 hours later, and I finally finished reading the masterpiece that is The Priory of the Orange Tree….
I always find it difficult to piece together my thoughts on what I think of X book because…well I’m not sure, I think I just don’t know how to articulate myself very well when it comes to finishing a book but I know that’s based on the fact that I’m a nonchalant hedonist and I tend to place more value on how a book makes me feel then The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’s.
Nevertheless, I do have a few things to say such as - and please believe me when I say I truly do love this book - NICLAYS ROOS WAS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.
I felt something akin to mild-then-rather-heated vexation whenever I turned a page and found myself stuck in his POV. I know, I know, it’s kinda tight but bro, I just didn’t give a flying fuck about his storyline. I think I just might not have grown to his character which is a shame because in the end, I did switch from ‘a perpetuity of loathing’ to ‘a perpetuity of begrudging acceptance’ with regard to Roos but…too many times I found myself exclaiming during my reading, “Ugh, not this guy!” or “IT’S ALWAYS HIM,” and I actually almost skipped his pages because I just couldn’t bring myself to read his POVs but…obviously I didn’t and masochist as I am, read every single word in this fantastic piece of fiction.
So now that I’ve got that out of the way, time to sing praises on the greatest character in the book, *points to my motherfucking g*, Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra
My favourite character, HANDS DOWN. From start to finish, I was invested, wholly entrenched in the journey and development of Eadaz’s character who btw has one of the most beautiful and brilliant names I’ve ever heard/read? I mean, my god…I’m in love with it. *shakes my head out of the love-laced clouds* Anyways, she was honestly fantastic in this - a really fleshed out and well written character that I could visualise so bloody well - *presses hat to my chest with obeisance to SS, another legend* - not to mention she’s just SO fucking COOL??? *gesticulates with far too much vigour*
Plus her romance with Sabran? God, Sabran! What a character as well, I thought she was fucking brilliant - as were many, many other characters like Tané, Loth, Meg and Estina Melaugo (narrator: oh yes, she most certainly had a, for lack of a more polite and appropriate word, thing for this character in particular) and so many more but-right-now-they-do-not-come-to-my-mind-so-hush.
Anyways, back to Sabran and Eadaz’s romance (and I also will spend a pretty paragraph or two on Sabran as well because because), I, of course, loved it from the minute I first noticed the embers of this pairs love story beginning. Hell even calling it a mere love story doesn’t really do them justice tbh - romance isn’t really a main feature of this story (but it is there so don’t fret!) but it’s so bloody well done and incorporated so naturally that it’s sort of something you aren’t really vying for 100% of the time, and I say this as a fervent closet romantic who adores a wlw storyline — I loved it all.
I loved the way they interacted from the stiff respectful manner in which Eadaz gave to Sabran at the beginning to the way Sabran in turn responded; their dynamic can’t be articulated in a way worthy of truly showcasing these twos relationship (narrator: she couldn’t articulate in a way worthy of truly showcasing the pairs relationship *corrective cough*) so honestly, *points at the obvious* - just read the book, and find out for yourself, my dude.
But yeah, um I’ve sort of run out of steam now and I don’t really know what to add - I said I would pay homage to Sabran but honestly I wouldn’t know what to say; she was superbly written and for a character who wasn’t a main one, I won’t be forgetting her story anytime soon. (But don’t hold to me that, I’m often acquainted with a somewhat frightful memory...)
For now, I think I’ll just end this - can I even call this a review? Feels a little messy, a tad chaotic, and more akin to *honest to god self inflicted exasperation* - whatever here with a handful of some sentences from The Priory that made me double take and/or gasp:
“I am seventeen years old, Mistress Duryan, and possessed of sufficient wit to dress myself”
Something about that last part made me grin so wide.
“Like Ead, she was of both Lasian and Ersyri descent, her skin like sand lapped by the sea. ”
Originally, I was going to put just the part in bold but then I realised without the whole sentence, that exquisite metaphor becomes crippled so herebeit; what a wonderfully creative description.
“He fed his descendants to the jaws of his lie.”
Noted with a “!” from yours truly - methinks I’ve said enough.
“The pillar of her throat and the little chalice at its base.”
*tries to stifle my impressed grin as I clap with so much effort*
“The light feathered in his eyes.”
Another well done descriptive sentence (I’m sure there’s a word for this type of thing but *hmm’s and aah’s* it escapes me) that I found just fucking cool which in comparison to the rest of my selection, appears somewhat “low-level” but if there’s anything I’ve learned from reading The Priory, it’s that grand words may be grand but simple sentences can be far grander when used right.
(However on the topic of grand words, oh my god this book was a smorgasbord of beautiful archaic language that made my head spin with enjoyment - in another life, I definitely would’ve taken to etymology as a career!)
tl;dr - niclays roos was my anathema and you should read the priory of the orange tree basically...today
