Depending on where I was in the book, I oscillated between 3 and 4 stars. Parts of it were really strong but the weakest parts let it down.

3.75 stars

So ends the hefty tome that is Priory. I have mixed but overall positive feelings. I'm glad to have read it but I realise that this could have down with another pass of editing or even another volume.

That's right, even with the high page count there are a lot of ideas not given enough breathing room to flourish. I liked some of the ideas—of tolerance, learning to trust, dismissing outdated notions that a woman's worth is childbirth, even the ghost of class—but Shannon does not spend the appropriate amount of time exploring them. I have a sense that she really wanted this to be a single volume, everything else be damned. Shannon is in the middle of another big series and perhaps does not want to spend too much time out of it, which is understandable. But that's speculation. What I can say, due to the complexity of the world and religions, a second book would have given her the chance to put some flesh on the bones of these ideas genuinely great ideas.

Her brilliance in sentence structure and word choice is great, very lovingly built. Her brilliance shines through in setting scenes and descriptions, for the most part. Kalyba, for instance, is a fantastic addition. A lot of her scenes were some of my favourites in the book. Creepy and fascinating in equal stead.

I also see Shannon's intention in not wanting waste my time but unlike Jen Williams or Joe Abercrombie who are more adept at it, I don't think Priory found that balance, instead tipping into breathless.

The Unending Emperor, for example, was a cool 3rd act addition that could have been improved from some time with. It was fine overall, but the sense of scope was downplayed by how few chapters spend in one place. That does add to the sense of characters zipping around the map and while I don't think that's actually the case: Shannon does a decent enough job telling us an appropriate amount of time has passed between places, because they do so in a matter of sentences at points, it does make it seem like things are a bit instantaneous when they are not*. An example of teleportation is present though. I'll put that in the spoiler section.

That's all I need to say on the overall structure.

My other major criticisms lie in the plotting. Overall, the story is good, if stock. That's not my actual criticism because there is a lot to be done for a simple story. Tropes are not a bad thing; good writing is the thing that makes the difference. My issue with the plotting is threefold: how the information is conveyed. I can't count how many times I read "As you know" when there is exposition. The stories and myths across the book are actually interesting but the exposition in general was heavy-handed. This is part of what I meant when I said it could have done with another pass at editing, where you could pare back those instances and have exposition feel more naturalistic.

The second side is that some revelations come fresh out of nowhere, with not the appropriate setup. If there is a twist, there should be supporting evidence ahead of time, otherwise it feels like an asspull. No lie when I say that an important object appears in one of the strangest and unlikeliest twists. In a bad way, unfortunately. More in the spoiler section.**

The third is how everything is resolved fairly neatly, perhaps too much so. A happy ending isn't the problem but never in my mind in the last third did I feel like things would not turn out well. It's difficult to describe but rarely was I worried about any of the cast.

My final criticism lies with the characters. The main characters were good but there are a lot of the side characters I could not tell apart or have a robust sense of their personality. It's a shame because from the glossary you can see Shannon put a lot of thought into everything but I could not place the Inys court in my head properly which meant that some of the political twists were not as strong as they could have been***.

It's not all bad. I'm conscious that it looks like I'm dunking on it. It was a good book. Very good in places. More enjoyable than not. I think it's because I see the book/series it could have been I'm raising all these points. I want to assert the book more than earns the 4 stars rounded up in my opinion. Its tautness in it scenes when done right actually works and keeps things moving. The descriptions are lush and never overstated. Few things overstay their welcome. The characters are good for the most part. While I thought Tané seemed more like a secondary character in the first half of the book, her arc on the seas was some of my favourite stuff. In fact, the same goes for Niclays. Of the four, I think not all were created equal. Ead is by far the most fleshed out character, Tané's my favourite, and Niclays is the most interesting. Loth, unfortunately is the weakest, but he does end up meeting some of the more interesting side characters like the Donmata Marosa and the Unceasing Emperor. ****

The prose was interesting, impressionistic and poetic in some turns, if reliant on the passive voice a bit. Still, Shannon has a incisive mind and is very good at setting a scene with fewer words. Genuine joy to see her descriptions of people's appearances. Even my aphantasiac head could see things in my mind.

The magic is cool, especially siden. The fruit tree and the group of mages. The whole mythos around the religions was fascinating, what with the differences of the story dependant on where people were in the world. Speaking of world, I like that the cast is so diverse: from queer to people of colour. Very casually and without reducing them to their respective identities. That's one thing that was constantly fantastic. It made the world feel like one, with the different cultures and religions vividly portrayed and absent of tiresome racism and misogyny for the sake of them being in it.

Oh and I'd be remiss if I didn't say again how cool I found Kalyba. Great character, especially how she connects to the main cast.

So yes, an ambitious and pretty good effort, if it misses the mark a little bit. I'd be intrigued to see what she does next. I think Shannon has some fantastic books in her future.

Below is my spoilerific thoughts. Click at your own peril.

Spoiler

*When the leaders of the world go to Inys to band together, they suddenly all appeared and in enough time? Some are quite far across the map and so realistically would need to sail for months. With their tight deadline at the beginning of spring, it does little to prevent suspension of disbelief. Though, it was unclear what season everyone learned of the Nameless One's return. Again, adding to my criticism of it being a bit rushed. Might just be a clarity problem.

**No joke, Tané legit pulls out one of the plot jewels from her side. She just pulls the
McGuffin jewel out of her body. A plot revealed in the history of the world like a chapter later. It would have felt less cheap if we had this in our heads earlier. Like Neporo's descendants put the jewels in their side, but her bloodline is dead and then we have Tané's reveal later. But it felt like it came out of nowhere. The one-of-a-kind jewel just so happens to be with the relevant person. Too, too convenient. Oh well.

*** The Tryude twist was actually really cool. I thought her reasons for staging an attack that went terribly wrong, resulting in the death of Aubrecht made a lot of sense and was this bittersweet tragedy considering her concerns were well-founded, but she was taken advantage of. Fantastic stuff.

Oh right and the fact the main romance was between Eadaz & Sabran. I understand Sabran if I don't especially like her characterisation, but there were some really tender moments that were some of the strengths of the book.

**** On that point, it's a shame we didn't see more of Marosa. She was legitimately so interesting. The sections there were very atmospheric and tense.