priory of the orange tree

The last book I read, was also by Samantha Shannon, and I read it because I wasn't sure if The Priory of the Orange Tree was a follow up to her earlier works. That last book I read, The Bone Season, was the first in a series, but not this series. The Priory is actual the first in a new series, The Roots of Chaos Series, and I don't know how many volumes it will have. At least two; the second book in that series is what I'm reading now.

Shannon is still working in the fantasy realm here, but she created a whole new world to set this series in, and based on this first book, she's done a pretty good job. It seems clear from The Bone Season and now this book, that for Shannon, inclusivity and equality are fundamental. Its a good place to be, but how she's done it in this book is to bake it right into the world she's created. Its just normal, and anyone who feels differently is the outsider. Its an effective tool and reminds me a little of Ursula K. Le Guin.

You can tell by the cover art that there be dragons here, but Shannon has them with a different take. In the front matter, the book jacket, somewhere there is a note that the fictional lands of The Priory were inspired by legends from various parts of the world. or something like that Shannon has taken a kit of parts provided by various myths and legends around the world and reformed them into a massive crossover that forms the basis of her world building cultures, economies, magic, and religions. Its because they are familiar, that she can lean on them to help infill the backstory. The same technique is used for place names and personal names, which are similar to those cultures that inspire them, but different enough to set them apart. Western Dragons, with the wings and fire, are set against the Eastern Dragons, which slither through the air and and more water based.

This book is a beast at nearly 850 pages, and traverses the globe Shannon has created, following the stories of people from several different countries, who eventually learn that they probably need to work together to defeat an insurmountable common foe. I didn't love this book, but I did like it. Enough to go to the library and get the next installment, A Day of Fallen Night, which, so far at least (its another big one) is a prequel to The Priory.

bone season

The Bone Season is a novel by British writer Samantha Shannon, and it may be her first. I'm not sure. It is certainly the first in a series. According to Book Series in Order, its the first of 6 books in the series, and this one was published 10 years ago. I picked up my version at my local library after hear something about Samantha Shannon's current book, The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I'm reading now. it may be a while, that book is a monster

I don't have this book on hand to double check some of these things, as I've returned it to the library, but I'm under the impression that this is Shannon's first book because of the writing. It wasn't bad, there were just a few unresolved items that I think Shannon may have known the answers to but just didn't share with us. Perhaps these are loose ends that we be wrapped up in a later book in the series, but one in particular concerning a dead flower in a jar, is mentioned numerous times, and then we're left to wonder. I could guess. After all we're in this together, the author and me as a reader, but that seems like a heavy lift. not my job, man

I got about one third of the way through this book before I wondered (not for the last time) if this was going to be a vampire story and/or if this was going to be a Stockholm syndrome-type vampire love story. I'm happy to report that wasn't the case, and I hope that remains true in the rest of the series. I guess we'll see how the Priory book goes before I decide to dig further into Samantha Shannon's catalog of books.

There is some interesting world building here, which takes place in an alternate version of Earth, which shares a history with our own, albeit modified enough to allow for a dystopian future where Scion rules over the London of 30 years from now, and anyone found with any connection to the aether,* a condition better known as 'unnaturalness' is under threat of immediate arrest, presumably to protect the public.

Paige Mahoney, our hero, has a fair case of this unnaturalness, and rather than hide, as many in her position do, she joins a criminal underground, where she uses her connection to the aether and fight against the oppression of Scion. Mahoney ends up finding some interesting allies, and the story takes some weird turns when she is captured by Scion. Arresting folks with a connection to the aether IS in order to separate them from the public, but not because they're dangerous. The real reason they are separated is much worse.

 

* There are a number of old timey terms which have made there way back into the lexicon of this story. I guess because of the unnaturalness, and the need to have terms to describe its various facets. These old timey words are supplemented by a number of invented words for the same reason. Shannon has included a glossary in the back matter to clarify many of these terms.