The Priory of the Orange Tree

How it reads

The Priory of the Orange Tree is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are power and politics, love and war. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 848 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.