The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Reading this book is a commitment and its 825 pages is a bit daunting but one that is well worth your time and effort. The creation of this new world needs that many pages and Samantha Shannon shares this rich world full of good queens, assassins, misguided alchemists and wonderful dragons and their riders. It is a clever mix of medieval history and alchemy mixed with world religions, an ancient unknown force and the power and majesty of dragons. This is why it works so well - there is just enough of the familiar but it is still a yet unknown world for the reader to explore. The powerful female characters are clearly the decision makers- power driven and in one with their world. There is plenty of magic, violence, politics, and love - all the ingredients you need for a new fantasy series. This is for fans who appreciate total fantasy world-building in the style of Martin, Sanderson, and Rothfuss. For those of you like myself who get lost along the way, the list of characters, timeline, and glossary was very helpful.