Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

This thread is open to discuss The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.



Synopsis
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Reading Plan

Below is a guide to which parts we will be reading when. Please use spoilers if you are reading ahead of this schedule.

Week 1 - Part I - Stories of Old: pages 1-250 (Chapters 1-22)

Week 2 - Part II - Declare I Dare Not: pages 251 - 404 (Chapters 23-37)

Week 3 - Part III & IV - A Witch to Live & Thine is the Queendom: pages 405 - 620 (Chapters 38-57)

Week 4 - Part V & VI - Here Be Dragons & The Keys to the Abyss: pages 621 - 804 (Chapters 58-76)

r

Posting early so I remember its here!

Same! I am excited for this!

Very excited as well!

And Feb 1st sounds good :-)

I've had this book out on load for about 2-3 months from my library. I think a buddy read is the perfect way to get me to actually read it

I have this book too in my TBR so I am in for the buddy read!

ღ Tina ❣ wrote: "I've had this book out on load for about 2-3 months from my library. I think a buddy read is the perfect way to get me to actually read it"

oooh! me too! buddy reading massive ones is doubleplus good for me! :)

This is great! We have a great group :) February 1st is coming up this Saturday. Shall we make a plan? I've never done a buddy read before. I'm wondering - do we set a timeline? Would the month of February be too long or too short?

I think making at least a loose plan/schedule would be great!

Using maths, and assuming we read it over 1 month, that's ~30p/day
Does anyone have a hard copy to see how that matches to chapters?
ETA: just used Look Inside, there are 76 chapters across 6 parts, but the page numbers aren't linked, so I can't see how even they are.

I'll have a look as soon as I'm home tonight. I've got the hardcover edition (soooooo pretty!!)

Eta: in about 2 hours - I need to run an errand on the way home.

This is how the book is set up:

Part I - Stories of Old
pages 1-250 (Chapters 1-22)

Part II - Declare I Dare Not
pages 251 - 404 (Chapters 23-37)

Part III - A Witch to Live
pages 405 - 504 (Chapters 38-48)

Part IV - Thine is the Queendom
pages 505 - 620 (Chapters 49-57)

Part V - Here Be Dragons
pages 621 - 714 (Chapters 58-65)

Part VI - The Keys to the Abyss
pages 715 - 804 (Chapters 66-76)


Followed by Persons of the Tale, Glossary and Timeline.

Easiest thing would be to say:
Week 1 - Part I
Week 2 - Parts II & III
Week 3 - Part IV & V
Week 4 - Part VI

????

I'd rather go for

Week 1 - Part I
Week 2 - Part II
Week 3 - Part III & IV
Week 4 - Part V & VI

Part I and Part II are somewhat longer than the others, so I'd keep those separate. Combining the others comes approximately down to the same number of pages as each of those parts.

that makes more sense than my suggestion E! Shall we pencil that in as a guideline then? :)

Perfect!

Awesome :-)

Can't wait to start!

I will join you for this ...I picked it up on kindle when it was 2.99....I am looking forward to this one....

I have been wanting to read this book since it came out but I’ve been intimidated by its length. I’m really excited to participate!

Joining :) !!!

rbabyblue wrote: "I have been wanting to read this book since it came out but I’ve been intimidated by its length. I’m really excited to participate!"

The size of it scares me! So I ended up getting it on kindle...

I’m gonna try to participate! I’ve had this book since it came out and I’m so excited for it but intimidated!

Rosina wrote: "The size of it scares me! So I ended up getting it on kindle..."

ha! yes! your wrists will thank you!

Kindle has spoiled me so much. I love the search and notation features too.

I remembered to charge my Nook today so I can start tomorrow! I had the hardcover originally but the thing was just so huge. I was a little annoyed to be out the money I spent on it, but ah well.

Cat wrote: "Rosina wrote: "The size of it scares me! So I ended up getting it on kindle..."

ha! yes! your wrists will thank you!"

Yes...lol...

Awesome! Like other people said, I’ve had this for a bit, but have put off starting it due to the size. I have heard that it’s worth the time though, so I’m excited that I found this group!

33 pages in and I'm about to find out if there's a dramatis personae in here somewhere.

There’s a character list beginning on page 805.

So, I'm a few chapters in now and enjoying it. The first chapter I was SUPER confused about what was going on, but the ending (view spoiler)[with the dragon gliding past (hide spoiler)] had me totally hooked.
I'm liking the switches between East & West cultures and how Shannon is mixing in the real world inspirations to create her world (Japan before the East Indies Company(s) opened up the market & Elizabethan-era court intrigues, with the different types of dragon from the different cultures - Chinese dragons never had wings, Western dragons do)

I also just started. I like the different clans and loyalties. I’m glad for the characters list! I’m wondering if I should create a huge clan tree like I had to for Game of Thrones.

Ah yes, dragons vs wyrms :-)

Shannon posted a few interesting tidbits about this book on her Instagram over the course of the last year.

I'm finally going to sit down and start this today after I've been out of the house most of last weekend and then buried my nose in a different book instead - typical *rolls eyes at self* ;-)

right now I've got an absolutely ridiculous amount of books on the go!
This one plus the BOM (Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts) which I am reading slowly, plus a mil-sci-fi on audio and a quick reread book too. oh, and Les Mis looming behind them all.
The plus side: it keeps me reading to the group pace.
The down side: my currently-reading list is out of control!

(don't worry, the books are all sufficiently different that I've got no problems telling them apart)

All of which is to day - I totally understand you being distracted by a different book!

Hehe, yeah, my currently-reading list has grown to epic proportions for me. I'm trying to reduce that but it's a slow progress, especially because at the moment, I'm not quite sure what I'm in the mood of so I just pick up everything.

Alright, 100 pages in and I haven't been convinced to care about anyone or anything, so I'm bailing. I think I may have burnt out on big doorstopper fantasy years ago if it doesn't bring something else to the table, though, so I hope you guys like it!

I’m only on page 65 but I’m finding it all interesting so far. I definitely prefer the POVs in the West at the moment.

I'm about 125 pages in. I agree that the POVs in the West are more developed so far. I am really liking how the majority of the characters in power are women. I am continually pleasantly surprised with a new character, and I think, wait, that's a woman, that's awesome. I did not know about the different terms for dragons before this book, so I am also enjoying that.

I just finished Part I and I’m really curious who you all trust and believe so far?

Edited (thanks to Emerson):
There’s one character in particular (view spoiler)[Marosa Vetalda, the Donmata of Yscalin (hide spoiler)] that I keep especially wondering about.

Rosina wrote: "rbabyblue wrote: "I have been wanting to read this book since it came out but I’ve been intimidated by its length. I’m really excited to participate!"

The size of it scares me! So I ended up getti..."

I have it on kindle too! But it's still long hahah

I haven't finished part I yet :( I'm halfway through but I'm kind of in a slump and it's frustrating me a lot! I'll try to finish the rest tomorrow

I confess that I considered getting it on Kindle, but the cover was too gorgeous to pass up the physical copy. I keep finding myself getting distracted by admiring it though. lol

Nicol wrote: "I just finished Part I and I’m really curious who you all trust and believe so far?
This is my first time doing a buddy read and I don’t know if/when it’s ok to post things that might be spoilers,..."


Still learning myself

You could hide the spoilers using the spoiler tags. See some html is ok.

It's hard to explain how to use it.
Here in NBRC is a great thread Goodvreads 101

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

How to do spoilers
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Cat wrote: "So, I'm a few chapters in now and enjoying it. The first chapter I was SUPER confused about what was going on, but the ending [spoilers removed] had me totally hooked.
I'm liking the switches betwe..."

I like the same things you do.
I'm also enjoying the fact that this epic fantasy isn't all white male, like so many are. I like all the charafters so far, with Ead as my favorite. I love all the different cultures. I'm still not very far in yet.

I keep comparing and contrasting it to my other read Grey Sister . Both have strong female characters, non-white major chracters, and political machinations but are very different in style, tone, and plot.

I just finished Part 1 (and added Grey Sister to my TBR list - thanks for the recommendation!). I enjoyed the world building, and really like the diversity of the characters. (view spoiler)[ As for who to trust, I can be pretty naive. I wonder about Ead's loyalties. During the wedding ceremony, she looked at Chassar when they called the Mother a heretic. I'm not sure whether to trust the whole Sabran society or the Priory.
I am curious about Sabran / Ead's budding romance (?) - is that okay in the 6 virtues? Having all those ladies of the bedchamber seems like relationships would inevitably blossom.
As for other characters - I really don't know about Marosa. It seems sketch what she's asking Loth to do - and what's up with the earthquake.... hmmm.... it seems like she could have escaped if she wanted to, but maybe I'm wrong. She seemed sincere.
I am looking forward to diving into Part 2. (hide spoiler)]

Thank you, Emerson! I've been using the app on my phone and it just says [spoilers removed] when I get to where someone used that tag, so I couldn't see what they had written and didn't know how that worked. Anyway, I got out my laptop and now it makes a lot more sense!

Melissa wrote: "I just finished Part 1 (and added Grey Sister to my TBR list - thanks for the recommendation!). "

Pssssst, start with Red Sister ;-) Grey Sister is a #2 in series.

I've had a slow reading week overall, much to my annoyance, so I'm going to finish up one of my smaller reads and then I'll dive into this hopefully later in the day to finally properly get into the story. Unless something comes up again...

I like the way the story is set up so far though as well as the characters I've met so far. It leaves a lot to the imagination and keeps the reader on their toes.

I just finished part I. I'm going to put my thoughts under a spoiler tag
(view spoiler)[ First of all I'm loving the diversity!
I was very confused at first about who is who and who is where, but I'm following better now, although I'm still lost as to what everyone looks like (except for like 3 or 4 characters lol), the physical descriptions got all tangled up in my head.
I'm loving Ead and Tané, and I'm worried about the latter if Sulyard exposes her, I would feel really bad if she lost everything she worked for! Sabran kind of annoyed me at first but I'm slowly warming up to her. I'm also sad about Kit, he was one of my favorites. (He kinda reminded me of Jaskier from The Witcher)
I don't know who to trust either but my gut is weirdly pointing to one character in particular as someone to mistrust, and it's Aubrecht Lievelyn. We'll see about him.
Also, I'm loving the blossoming attraction between Ead and Sabran! (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I could definitely see Aubrecht as being someone to mistrust, too! His character is still so hazy and unknown.

Does it seem like Loth is too gullible and the quake had awfully convenient timing, given that the tunnel had been there for a very long time, if someone was trying to get rid of them and make it look like an accident? It was mentioned that the awakening dragons were causing quakes, so maybe that explains why it happened right then after all this time, but just seemed like Marosa Vetalda avoided fully answering several of Loth's questions and the whole situation with her father may be as she said, but couldn't she also be the one working with Fyredel and controlling her father with whatever was in that drink? I'm not convinced either way yet, so I'll just have to keep reading and find out! (hide spoiler)]