I think I have officially been converted to fantasy. I still can’t believe I made it through this massive book and enjoyed every minute of it.

The Priory of the Orange Tree follows various characters in a world that is separated by beliefs and experiences. But all fear the return of the Nameless One, a dragon who can destroy everything.

I want to start my review by highlighting that this book is quite complex. There are a lot of character names and places that take a while to get used to. Even at the end I found myself wracking my brains to place a particular character. I found the map at the beginning of the book was really helpful for me to get used to the places, and it really helped me visualize the world Samantha has created. Despite the complexity, the world is so incredibly vivid that my heart sank when I realised it was all over. I genuinely do not want to let these characters and this book go.

The characters have so many layers to their personalities which I loved. From the beginning I adored Ead. She has a beautiful strength, kindness and power to her character that I loved. I also loved that it was the women in this story that made history and were the main strength in the wars. I also loved the LGBT representation! I loved the spin on the usual idea of dragons, and who doesn’t love dragons anyway?! I found myself googling the different mythological creatures that were mentioned and I officially want an ichneumon (Aralaq being my favourite character after Ead). I feel lost now that I’ve finished this book, but I will definitely be exploring more of Samantha’s books now.

I would recommend this book to fantasy fans, as long as you don’t mind a bit of a struggle initially!