The Priory of the Orange Tree

probably more like 4.5 “Veins turning to gold. As quickly as it quenched one fire, it sparked another, a fire that torched through her whole being. And the heat cracked her open, like the clay she was, and made her body cry out to the world. All around her, the world answered.”this book wat such a breath of fresh air. it's been literal years since i last read a proper high fantasy epic and getting back into it with this book was both a great and a horribly stupid decision, because while i absolutely loved it, it's also set the bar way too high for what's to come. first of all, the world building is just so cool. i love the world, it's so vast and huge and strange. it unfolds over the course of the story but it always feels like there is more to explore and more to see. i really liked the dragons, the idea of there being different types of them and how those different types were also regarded in various ways by people across the world, and how those views become more nuanced as the story progresses. kind of in line with that, the red thread of belief and ideology, the way that one origin story being able to sprout multiple different religions or beliefs was explicated. i'm all here for characters forcing themselves to look past the boundaries their society has put up for them. second of all, it has to be said: there's women everywhere in this book, and it's almost stupid that that had to be such a revelation (i say almost because actually, it's not stupid at all, it's a very reasonable surprise that follows from personal experience with reading epic fantasy in the past). the thing with this book, though, is not just that there are a multitude of great, complex, fascinating women driving the story, it's that there are so many women around them as well, and the multitude of women around also gives way to so many different women. at no point do any of them feel like token characters and that's just really fucking great. kind of as an extension to that as well - i loved the relationships between characters. i loved that there were so many friendships. there are so many great, valuable friendships between women, bonds that actually carry a lot of weight and importance. and there are also a lot of great friendships between men and women that (gasp) do not secretly rely on them wanting to get it on. loth's friendship with both ead and sabran, as well as some great sibling banter he had with meg was everything to me, i love him so much. also, tan??'s relationship with her dragon was the best, i love the focus on the equality of their bond, how much it was based on mutual respect and care for each other and the world around them. how tan?? had to do away with seeing her dragon only as a god, and seeing herself as inherently unworthy. then ead and sabran... the slow burn was HARROWING but in the best possible way, i gasped whenever hands grazed, whenever eyes met for the first like. 500 pages??? ridiculous. they had me whipped. i loved the way we got to see their relationship develop (bit of good lowkey enemies to lovers never hurt anyone). i loved getting to see ead's view of sabran change over time, slowly but steadily. i loved that theirs was the main romance and it was important to them, their development and relationship, but also helped to really give more insight into both their distinct personalities. the reason this isn't a five star read is mostly because of the kind of rough start - it's fair but there are a lot of characters introduced & there's a lot of world building happening in the first 100 or so pages. it's quite overwhelming and took me quite a while to really get a good grip on the world and its politics. also, in line with some of the other reviews i've seen here: the final battle was a little... underwhelming? maybe underwhelming isn't even the right word, i don't think i was even annoyed about it, mostly i was surprised by how quickly it was over. but i'm not gonna lie, it didn't keep me up at night: there was so much about this story and these characters that i loved that even the fact that it didn't 100% stick the landing didn't bother me that much.