Buddy Read: The Priory of the Orange Tree

[Andrea]

Starting soon!!!!

[Andrea]

So guys. When do you want to start? I don't have any plans this week, so I don't care when :D
Also, how do you want to do this? Should we set ourselves a limit of how many chapters a day or each just read at our own pace? Thoughts?

[Paula W]

I have a few books to read before I start but I should be able to start next week. I am a really quick reader, though, so I can do whatever. I would prefer for long books like this to read five chapters or so and then discuss. That way, even if one of us falls behind, we know not to read comments past a certain point for spoilers but can still contribute when we get to that point.

[Andrea]

Sounds good to me. Just let us know when you're finished with your other books :)

[Gio]

Paula W wrote: "I have a few books to read before I start but I should be able to start next week. I am a really quick reader, though, so I can do whatever. I would prefer for long books like this to read five cha..."

Yup, that sounds like a good plan.

[Andrea]

So, I finished the first 5 chapters. I like it, I think. There's a bit too much going on that I don't get yet, but I hope that will change soon. The one thing I don't like about fantasy (except in very rare cases) is when there are too many names, and I already started a list of who's who. I'm trying to find out where this all is going, to be honest.
But I like the writing, I think I'm going to enjoy this one :)

[Gio]

Andrea wrote: "So, I finished the first 5 chapters. I like it, I think. There's a bit too much going on that I don't get yet, but I hope that will change soon. The one thing I don't like about fantasy (except in ..."

I will start today!

[Paula W]

I enjoyed those first 5 chapters very much. From what I gather, it’s a bit like ASOIAF in that there is a land in the East and a land in the West separated by a body of water. The East is basically ruled by dragons and there will be some sort of competition to determine which of the new apprentice folks will get to be a dragon rider. Meanwhile, the West has (I think) several different kingdoms but the one being focused on is ruled by a queen and someone is sending assassins frequently to get rid of her. There is a person at court who seems to be intent on protecting the queen but she is not who she appears to be.

The names are gonna be a struggle for me, but I think I will get them eventually. I don’t know why authors don’t simply name people Jim and Tina.

[Gio]

I Finished the first 5. The names are complicated. Plus, there is a new character in every chapter. The writing is good. The tone has a mystic feel which I love. The dragons are going to be epic.

Samantha posted a pronunciation guide for the character names on Twitter.

[Andrea]

I agree, the Dragons are going to be the best :)

I'm having trouble with the politics, though. there's just so much of it. So many alliances, kingdoms, heirs... I hope it gets easier in a bit.

At this point, I like the chapters from the West more. I feel more connected and interested in Ead and everyone than with the Dragonriders in the East somehow. I feel like the West feels more thought-through? I certainly feel like I know more about them and their customs than those of the East so far

[Gio]

I am struggling with this as well. It is coming at me too fast. I feel like the characters are being overshadowed by the heirs and the beliefs.

[Paula W]

I’m getting it. It is a modern day Lord of the Rings and A Game of Thrones at the same time. Dozens of characters, a good story, keep up if you dare. I’m up for the challenge!

[Gio]

I am no longer interested putting it on hold. Have fun and good luck everyone.

[Paula W]

You’re putting it on hold after 5 chapters (8%) of a huge book? Yikes.

[Gio]

This book needs to focus on a story rather than giving a resuscitation of heirs, religions and political disputs. I get interested in a storyline then it starts a new one. The only Characters I am remotely interested in are the Dragon riders. The rest are boring. I do not care about Sabran or her kingdom.

[Andrea]

Shame :( But if it bothers you this much, I think it's better to quit. There's no need to force yourself to continue for another 800 pages if you're not interested...

[Andrea]

Paula W wrote: "I’m getting it. It is a modern day Lord of the Rings and A Game of Thrones at the same time. Dozens of characters, a good story, keep up if you dare. I’m up for the challenge!"

Ha. Better than GoT. At least we don't have to spend ten pages in one person's head only to have that person disappear for the next 200 pages :D

[Andrea]

I finished the next five chapters, and I still feel like there's too much going on. But oh well. I hope it will all come together soon.
I wonder why the whole book is named after the priory btw. If it's the center of the whole story... oh well. We will see.
How do you feel about the dragonriders? I feel like I still don't know enough about them to know what their purpose is. Or did I miss that?

[Gio]

Andrea wrote: "Shame :( But if it bothers you this much, I think it's better to quit. There's no need to force yourself to continue for another 800 pages if you're not interested..."

Exactly. It started to feel like homework. Happy reading!!

[Paula W]

I am through chapter 10 and really liking it. I trust that we will eventually get the answers to all the questions, but for now the story is interesting to me.

[Andrea]

Oops. Sorry, I read through chapter 20. I'll wait until you caught up :D

[Paula W]

Andrea wrote: "Oops. Sorry, I read through chapter 20. I'll wait until you caught up :D"

I plan to get some more reading done today. Things have been wild here 😳

[Andrea]

Why, what's going on?

[Paula W]

Anxiety, and stress, and a pending test result. It’s all good. I have set apart some time to read tomorrow and will catch up soon!

[Andrea]

Hey you. I hope you're doing ok! Getting a bit worried...

[Paula W]

Andrea wrote: "Hey you. I hope you're doing ok! Getting a bit worried..."

I’m good! I finished Chapter 20 this morning. I’m planning to read some more later today. I am really starting to get into the story!

[Andrea]

Oh good :) I finished chapter 25 today. I still don't get it, really, but I'll hang in there.

[Paula W]

I have finished chapter 30, and oh boy things are happening fast and furious now. A few deaths, a few secret missions, no one is who they seem to be... I am liking it very much. How are you doing with it?

[Andrea]

Also finished chapter 30. I'm still not completely wowed, but you're right, things are finally happening! I'm still not sure how I feel about it on the whole. I don't really feel a connection with any of the characters. My only hope is Ead at this moment. I would like to know more about her. But the rest of them I feel are coming a bit too short? For example, the dragon rider. I thought that was an opening for epic training scenes and intrigue and DRAGONS!!!!, but it just fell about short for me. Or the two boys on their quest to find... Do I want to say the queen's father? (speaking of, why is he even missing? I don't remember :(((). I thought this would be SO much more.
I think my expectations were much too high, which is why I waited this long to begin with.

[Paula W]

Well, the two boys are now just one boy. And he isn’t off to find the queen’s father anymore because he now knows the father is dead. He is off to deliver a box taken years earlier by the person who was Ead’s mentor. And to deliver it to the man from the Priory who brought Ead to court. Something is in that box but we don’t know what.

I’m interested in the dragon rider because it now seems like the dragon itself is about to get caught up in some shady stuff, and seems completely fine with breaking laws and protecting her rider at all costs.

I cant say it isn’t what I expected. It is exactly as I expected. Fantasy books of this length follow the same formula. It takes a while to learn all the pertinent backstory and set people up where they need to be. Then stuff starts going down. I hope you hang in there!

[Andrea]

Huh. I might have missed that bit. I mean, I read the part where… Kit dies. And the part where the other one is running and meets that creature. Wow, that's not much. That's not good…

Don't worry, I'm not going to give up now! :D

[Andrea]

I finished chapter 36 today. I'm still not completely invested, but (view spoiler)[with whatever the name of Kit's friend is, being at the Priory, (hide spoiler)] maybe things will get interesting for me now. I still have hope :D
How about you? Are you enjoying the new twists?

[Paula W]

I haven't had a whole lot of time to read over the past few days but I plan to get some done today. I will get to chapter 40 at least and will check back in!

[Andrea]

No worries. I had nothing BUT reading time this week.

[Paula W]

Now I see why you said you got through chapter 37. The end of Part 2, and the halfway point of the book. It looks like Part 3 is chapters 38-48 so that works out well for us.

I’m enjoying it. That part definitely had some unexpected twists. I felt like the Loth plot and the Tane plot were a bit neglected and are way behind, so I’m looking forward to seeing how those two will fit into the second half.

[Andrea]

I have hope that now the introductions are all over, things pick up again. With Ead on the way to the Priory (at least I'm guessing that's where she's running), we'll have two people in the same spot, so maybe she teams up with Loth (I don't know why I can never remember his name btw...) to solve the riddle of the box? And something has to happen with the Queen now. What the dragonrider will get up to in exile, who knows….

[Andrea]

So I finished chapter 44 (sorry if I'm reading too fast for you, but at this point, I want to finish it before I lose interest…) and. Sigh. (view spoiler)[I don't really get why the Priory people are keeping Loth alive. Why not just kill him? Is it really necessary to have him reduced to a vegetable so he can't blab about the Priory? Also, not a fan of yet a new quest for Ead. Yes, I get it, they want to get rid of her before she goes off to save the Queen (is it me, or do you also have the feeling she won't be Queen much longer?), but I'm not sure how I feel about yet another new location…
That's basically my biggest problem, that the plot seems to meander a bit, and the structure is just a bit strange for me. There are so many threads, none of them are developed enough to keep me happy and invested, and it's just. Dragging for me. And I love The Name of the Wind, so I have no problem with meandering plot and all. I'd just like it more if I knew where things were going. Like, in the name of the wind, Kvothe has a clear goal, get to University and find the name of the wind. But I can't say the same for this one. Except maybe, half the country wants the dragons back, while the other wants to make sure they don't? Oh well. I knew the hype was too good to be true for me :D The more people praise something as The New Book To Read, I should know to stay far far away :D (hide spoiler)] But don't worry. I'm still not giving up. I'll power through!

[Paula W]

Not too fast for me! I had a day of cooking today so I will be free to read the next 10 chapters or so tomorrow.

[Andrea]

Ok :) Have fun! I feel like baking for some reason (ok, the reason is I started cleaning like crazy and thought it best to distract myself), so less reading time for me today :D

[Andrea]

Hey you. Hope you're doing ok...

I'm really sorry, but I had to read some more before I forget everything. I read all the way to chapter 62. I still don't like it, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry if I'm ruining your fun and dragging you down :( I will stick it out until the end, but at this point mostly because I need to vent and complain some :D (view spoiler)[Ok, so the structure is still strange to me. I honestly don't know why it's divided into parts, I'm still not able to see a story arch other than "find sword. kill dragon" maybe? I think that seems to be the plot on the one side, while the other wants the dragons to come back? The fact that I have to put this in question marks is just sad. (hide spoiler)] But I'm honestly just not invested in the characters at all. It's the same with Game of Thrones, by the time I find myself somewhat interested in a character, they disappear, I get bored again, and forget what happened before. So. I think it's safe to say that it's me, and not the book ^^

[Paula W]

I’m not far behind you. I am up to chapter 57. I am enjoying it a lot more than you do, but then again I LOVE the Lord of the Rings and the A Song of Ice and Fire series. They are very different from a “here’s a goal, let’s get to that goal” sort of book. Books like this are more character driven than plot driven and I am used to these types of big sweeping fantasy books with dozens of characters and subplots that often don’t go anywhere but are intended to develop the character a bit more.
Please, don’t feel like you need to keep reading for my sake! I will totally understand if you DNF. I will definitely finish it. It isn’t the best book I’ve read, but it isn’t bad either. For me it is sitting at about 3.5 stars right now.

[Andrea]

No, no. I will finish this. And as a reward, I will dive straight into Mark Lawrence's new book coming out on the 21st so I can have the tightly plotted fantasy book I love :D:D:D
After all, I still want to know why it's called The Priory :D I think it'll end up a 2 star book for me

[Andrea]

So. I finished it. I'm seriously underwhelmed. But, it was ok, I mean, I finished it more or less after all. But still. I expected more, especially from (view spoiler)[the big bad dragon who showed up and was promptly and easily killed off. (hide spoiler)] That was a bit anticlimactic for me....

So what did you think?

[Paula W]

I finished it, too, and I really liked it!! That’s so funny. It was a really good trial at a modern epic fantasy. I’m so sorry you didn’t like it.

[Andrea]

Oh, that's ok. I was expecting not to like it :D But really, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) What was it that made you like it?

[Sasha ★]

Am I the only one who HATES Ead? I'm enjoying the rest of the book, I'm about halfway through, but she makes me want to scream in frustration. Is it just me?

[Andrea]

I honestly didn't care enough about her to hate her :D