Shannon frequents well-loved fantasy concepts but rarely leaves a familiar trope untampered with. But it ultimately derives most of its heft from the crossed motivations of its range of characters, from Sabran’s old friend Loth, caught in a deadly quest of his own, to Tané, an ambitious and obsessive would-be dragon-rider from the Eastern end of the world, which revers the creatures that the West fears. Ead is no friend of Sabran, but she has taken it upon herself to protect the queen at all costs.įor enthusiasts of the high fantasy epic, The Priory of the Orange Tree is the real deal, a book large enough to draw its own gravity, with maps in the front and a glossary at the back. Into the closed-off recesses of her court drifts Ead Duryan, an enigmatic figure with forbidden magic up her sleeves. With the Nameless One’s followers prophesying his return, she cannot waste a moment in finding a husband to conceive an heir. Sabran’s status among her people is goddess-like, but it comes at a price. According to the local faith, Sabran the Ninth-the latest in a long line of queens descended from a heroic figure called “The Saint”-is by her mere existence preventing a being called the Nameless One from reemerging. In the kingdom of Virtudom, one of many territories featured in Samantha Shannon’s new high fantasy novel The Priory of the Orange Tree, a monarchy is necessary to keep evil at bay.
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