I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Before I get into the review, I would like to recommend a reading order. While the author says that you can start with any book, I feel that the prequel reveals a lot of things right away that we learned only quite far into The Priory of the Orange Tree. For example, one POV already starts in the Priory. This book also seems to be written with previous knowledge in mind. While everything does get explained eventually, I had the feeling that it skims more over some lore. Also, starting with The Priory won't spoil a lot for this book as by then (500 years later) the events become half-forgotten legends. You do know more than the characters, but I felt that it didn't take away from the enjoyment as there was still plenty to uncover about the story.

Ultimately, I think picking up this book first would work too, but I would guess that the author wrote this one knowing most people that would pick it up already read The Priory and as such had to make sure to accommodate them.

Now let's get to the review.

In The Priory, the problem for me was that I loved one of the POVs, still enjoyed a lot of another, but the other two were very pushed in the background and pretty much there just to offer a way of seeing what the two main POVs couldn't. This book offers four full-fledged POVs that all have the same weight and I didn't feel like I wanted to skip any and get back to the important one. Although, I also felt that not any of them were as outstanding as the main one from The Priory.

All the characters were likable and original. They all had some strong personal story to deal with while being important parts of the overarching story of the whole world, and it made them very alive and relatable.

The worldbuilding was again outstanding. I love the variety of beliefs and religions and how they clash. It played a big part in the story. I enjoyed the magic system and how it is very tied to the world itself.

One thing that was a bit weaker was the way the storylines were tied together. It felt a bit forced and too unlikely in the way it played through. But that was mostly just one point in the book and it didn't bother me much.

I also felt that while I appreciated the slowness of The Priory and actually felt sad that the ending was a bit rushed, with the prequel I felt the other way. Those 880 pages took me forever to read, and I felt like some moments were redundant.

All in all, this was a very solid 4* all the way through. ( )

1/10/2024 First-read final thoughts: the big critique I've seen from many readers is that ADOFN is slow and not very action-packed until the final third. I think that is something that is totally down to taste and what each personal reader enjoys. For me, I adored how drawn-out scenes and arcs were, and that we got to linger and go along on each characters individual journey. The action is often an inwards struggle, a political situation, or a series of realizations rather than just a bunch of big battle scenes. This book is just like one HUGE bottle of wine that you sip bit by bit rather than chugging down like a sports drink: by the time you finish you're gonna totally be reeling and reveling in everything that was just experienced instead of just getting a single burst of flavor.
If I HAD to pick a favorite, I would say I think I favored "Priory" over this one, but they're both very different! It's tricky to chose, because they complement one another so well! This filled in the history that "Priory" referenced in a beautiful way.

All in all, I loved getting to read this. It's intricately woven, richly imagined, and every character has such a deeply moving story in their own way that, in the end, I found myself connected to each of them (even Wulf lol).

1/1/2024 I've been sitting on this book for 10 months because, once I finally had it, I realized I didn't want to read it and have it be over...finally diving in!

2/27/2023 This comes out tomorrow... ( )

Having loved Priory of the Orange Tree, I had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately it seemed to try to hard recreating the same story. Too much similarities without the same amount of heart. Ultimately it left me feeling "why are we here". The villian lacked reasoning for being a villian, and the POV characters lacked development.

THen there were the romances. Some came out of nowhere, and others were G/L for the sake of being G/L without actually having a connection I cared about. SO much potential and it fell flat. Worth reading...as many do love the story...but didn't meet my expectations. ( )

A slog, with some interesting bits, but overall it was hard to care about the characters or the plot
( )

This book was everything I hoped it might be, plus all the content/pace editing I wanted from Priory. I love that it leans even further into the queer normal and doesn't shy away from the gritty. I found I liked it even more than Priory, which I hadn't thought possible before. I can only hope that Shannon will return to the Roots of Chaos to give us future stand-alone snapshots into this vivid, important world she's created! ( )