I loved loved loved reading this book and being immersed in the world of The Priory of the Orange Tree.

The characters were well-developed, flawed and well-rounded. They felt like real people - they didn’t always make the right decisions and they weren’t always sure or happy in their decisions, which I really enjoyed. Even the characters I didn’t like had their purpose and I could see their necessity in the story. I loved the focus on strong women and their unapologetic nature in being who they are.

The multiple POVs made for good pacing in the story, and allowed us to see different parts of the story and the world. Even the one POV character I didn’t like shed some interesting light and perspective on the story.

The setting and world was, arguably, the best part of this whole novel. There was so much effort and detail put into this and it really paid off. Everything was so vibrant and real, and I felt like I could vividly picture being in these places.

The plot wasn’t overly complex, which allowed for the world building to really shine, but it was still intriguing and not super predictable. From the reviews I had seen, I had honestly expected to spend a long time relatively confused as to who was who and about the lore, but I’d narrowed down the basics by 100 pages which, for an 800 page book, was quicker than I expected. There were some things that were convenient but I think that the reason as to why they were so was explained well and helped to keep the story on track. Despite being 800 pages, I didn’t feel like the plot line dragged out in the middle and I felt like most of the plot was important to the overall story.

Speaking of the lore, it was so well built and intricate. I liked how it was sprinkled through the story and not given as a huge chunk all at once, it helped to make the book easier to digest whilst providing enough information such that I was not confused as a reader.

I also really enjoyed the love story and how naturally it blossomed. It was great to see a wlw couple in a high fantasy without any fanfare about the fact that it was a wlw couple. 

I just really wanted more pages. This is not to say that the story wasn’t adequately wrapped up by the end but it was just that I wanted to stay in this world and be immersed for longer. I procrastinated reading the last part because I really didn’t want it to end.

One thing I will say is the end felt a tad rushed, but everything was wrapped up by the end so this didn't impact my enjoyment much at all 

I absolutely loved reading this, as shown by the fact that it took me 2.5 weeks to read as opposed to a month or more that it usually takes me to read long epic fantasies. I’m definitely going to pick up the prequel in February too and will be looking forward to diving back into this wonderful world in the meantime.