The Priory of the Orange Tree

As a strong advocator for the arts, I’ve thought to myself at starting an article here on my website—even though it’s mainly for book reviews and fancasts—to share some names of artists that I feel like everyone should know. Now, I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but I love to read….I know, I’ll let you take a few to process that shocking bit of information on my book review website…

…Now that your mind is no longer officially blown, let it also be known that there are a lot of artists out there who love to read as well, and it’s even better when those artists commission artwork of books I’ve read and also enjoyed! It adds a whole new layer to the fandom of the books themselves, and I want to celebrate their beautiful work, and possibly even give them some free exposure to maybe even let more people discover them too.

Over the years, a few specific artists have stayed in my mind since I’d discovered them either on Pinterest, Instagram, or even through word of mouth from my friends. A lot of them are pretty prolific when it comes to fanart of popular book fandoms, and if you’re an avid reader like myself, will probably recognize quite a few names yourself. They are all noteworthy graphic designers, digital artists, video game artists, commissioners; pretty much anyone who uses a drawing tablet. Enjoy the beautiful work, and hopefully be inspired for your own creative content, no matter what that may be!

Enjoy this list, it is in no particular order!

*I do not own any of this artwork, and have no rights towards any of it. If any of the artists listed below come across this article and wish for their work to be taken down, please let me know!*

CLICK HERE TO SEE PART 2 OF THIS LIST!

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Monolime Art

This artist has a unique style that has caught my eye ever since their work was showcased in a special edition of Sarah J. Maas’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series inside the cover. As you can see, they’ve also done amazing artwork for “The Folk of the Air” trilogy by Holly Black, the “Shades of Magic” trilogy by V.E. Schwab, “Nevernight” by Jay Kristoff, and even “Six of Crows” by Leigh Bardugo.

Instagram: @monolimeart

Tumblr: monolime

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Charlie Bowater

Charlie’s work is simply breathtaking, and she definitely deserves a spot on my top three favorites out of all the artists I’ve included. She does some of the best work for Sarah J. Maas’s books, and her artwork has also graced book covers, and on the inside of dust jackets for exclusive editions. I only hope to see her work showcased even more as time goes on!

Instagram: @charliebowater

Tumblr: @charliebowater

Website

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Kayla Nyre

Kayla Nyre has a style unlike any other artist mentioned in this article. The UW-Stout Animation alumni has taken to social media to showcase her line of prints dubbed “PotHeads” which are an infused style she’s created because of her love of plants and art, and has been a great way for her to focus more on figure drawing!

Instagram: @kaylamnyre

Website

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Daniel Kordek

As a big fan of Ariana Grande, this led me to discovering this artist on Instagram. Daniel has a pattern of turning towards fabulous, fierce females of pop culture. I really enjoy the caricature-like style he has with his work, and his ability to cover all aspects of who are considered to be influential, powerful women in both contemporary times and through history.

Instagram: @danielkordek

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Ivan Belikov

I’d discovered Ivan with his stunning artwork that’d become the cover of the fantasy novel: “The Priory of the Orange Tree” by Samantha Shannon. While I was disappointed by the book, one thing thats held my adoration was his artwork—hint, hint: it’s the blue dragon below. His attention to detail is utterly magnificent, and I definitely recommend checking him out on his website or social media to get an even closer look, it’s simply mind-blowing!

Instagram: @further_up

Website

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Ngozi Ukazu

Ngozi is an artist I’d discovered through her incredible graphic novel, Check, Please! It’s about about a young figure-skater—who loves to bake, and has a vlog—going to college on a Hockey scholarship. Going from Georgia peaches to hockey pucks is already a big transition for a new college freshman, but it gets even worse when he’s got a big crush on the captain. I love her cartoony yet crisp style, and her Graphic Novel is a Sports LGBTQ+ romance to defs give a read-through!

Instagram: @ngoziu

Tumblr: @ngoziu

Website

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Justin Totemical

Just a few words that come to mind when I look at Justin’s artwork: colorful, radiant, transcendent, other-worldly, and trippy AF. His work looks straight out of a vision while on some sort of hallucinogen or out of some crazy video game, but is definitely worth remembering! He’s a computer artist, and is always looking forwards to the latest in whatever technology has to offer in order to create more visually stunning masterpieces!

Instagram: @totemical

Website

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Niru Sky

I’d first come across this freelance artist for their work on Julian and Legend from “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber, and they’ve also done amazing work for Nikolai Lantsov and the Darkling from the Grishaverse, and even the wicked king Cardan Greenbriar from “The Folk of the Air” trilogy by Holly Black!

Instagram: @niru.sky

Tumblr: nirusky.tumblr.com

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icandrawthingz

Like many of the artists on here, this artist—who also doesn’t have much about them on their profiles—have done great artwork commissions for books I love, like “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” “Six of Crows,” and “Vicious” by V.E. Schwab. They’ve also done some fanart from Disney movies and even some OC work of their own. Their work definitely gives me some Disney Animation Studios-esque style!

Instagram: @icandrawthingz

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Natalia Dias

Natalia does some brilliant work with colorful female portraits. They can either be realistic and contemporary or more on the fantasy side, but their most notable work comes from the colorful hair they seem to be a master of commissioning! Her work takes on a euphoric vibe with women of all shapes, sizes, and skin colors to enjoy!

Instagram: @nataliadsw

Website

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Gabriel Picolo

Kayla Nyre, a close friend of mine—remember her potheads from earlier?—recommended this comic artist to me that they’d found on Instagram. I love his style, especially his work with DC’s “Teen Titans.” His scenes with them perfectly capture the fun, youthful vibes of the teens of our culture today, and even does so with Snapchat captions/filters! He can tell a whole story in a single image, and I’d read the first Graphic Novel for Raven, and while the author’s writing was sub-par, his illustrations were what truly shined!

Instagram: @_picolo

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Maya Danuta

Maya has a fun, lighter toned style of work that focuses mainly around the world of Harry Potter. She goes all over the place with Harry, Ron and Hermoine but also goes even further with some artwork centering around James Potter and the rest of the marauders during their years at Hogwarts! While any potterhead will appreciate their work, there’s also a few non-HP related work worth checking out too!

Instagram: @wingedcorgiart

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Tara Spruit

Tara is a brilliant illustrator who’s work is used in exclusive YA-Fantasy subscription boxes like Fairyloot and Owlcrate on a regular basis. She’s done work for just about EVERY fantasy book fandom there is, and that’s too many names to list! If it’s a popular YA Fantasy book/series, odds are she’s created some beautiful artwork for everyone to enjoy!

Instagram: @taratjah

Twitter: @taratjah

Tumblr: @taratjah

Website

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Kira Night

A fellow Minnesotan like myself, Kira is a great artist who loves to use her work to explore whimsical lands with many interesting characters. I was first drawn to her work through some amazing artwork of characters from V.E. Schwab’s “Shades of Magic” Series, but she’s also done Tarot card designs of the “Six of Crows” characters too!

Instagram: @kiranight_art

Website

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Laura Casara

Another artist who does absolutely brilliant artwork of characters from books by Holly Black and V.E. Schwab that I’ve mentioned before. At first, her work is light, whimsical, and full of color until you peer closer and see the character’s dark expressions. She does a wonderful job of sneaking darkness into her characters to it more of a wicked edge!

Instagram: @loweana.art

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Salome Totladze

Much like Tara Spruit, Salome has done artwork for just about EVERY major book fandom out there when it comes to Fantasy novels/series. I’ve been following this fashion designer, illustrator, and comic artist on social media since their earlier days of posting characters from the “Throne of Glass” series, and it’s been an absolute joy to see them continue to improve with every work of art posted for the world to see!

Instagram: @morgana0anagrom

Twitter: @morgana0anagrom

Tumblr: @morgana0anagrom

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Gabriella Bujdoso

Another incredible artist to add to this collection, they do a lot of commissions for popular book fandoms. Along with titles I’ve mentioned for other designers, they’ve also done work for “An Ember in the Ashes” by Sabaa Tahir, the “Captive Prince” trilogy by C.S Pacat, and “House of Earth and Blood” by Sarah J. Maas. Gabriella also has a distinct style that places them amongst who are considered the best of book fandom artists!

Instagram: @gabriella.bujdoso

Twitter: @gabibujdoso

Website

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Diana Dworak

Diana is another book fandom artist that’s worth mentioning because their work is also gorgeous! They’ve made art for many popular book series, and she’s also done work for “Children of Blood and Bone” by Toni Adeyemi and “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson.

Instagram: @dianadworak

Twitter: @DianaDworak

Website

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Nolan Harris

Nolan is a different kind of artist on here who’s not known for commissioning for popular book fandoms, or really even their own character/environments. He’s actually a freelance illustrator that makes pieces of the professional wrestlers of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and has been hired by the company for many merchandise opportunities. His style is so much fun to look at, and captures the essence of each superstar perfectly while infusing it with his caricature style.

Instagram: @nolanium

Website

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Coralie Jubénot

Coralie is by far my favorite digital artist amongst all the names I know…I mean, I’m not sure I need to explain why when you look at their gallery below. Her art is instantly recognizable amongst all the book fandoms for their uniquely drawn characters and their distinctly sharpened facial features. She can really draw those Sarah J. Maas males like Chaol, Dorian, Rowan, and Rhysand to perfection!

Instagram: @merwildandco

Twitter: @Merwild

Website

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N.C. Winters

N.C Winters has artwork that feels incredibly surreal. Whether it’s a beautiful dream or a complete nightmare, the imagery packs a wallop and leaves a lasting impression. They love to focus on beautiful disaster and the windows to the soul; some of their work really reminds me of the cursed crew of the Flying Duchman from “The Pirates of the Caribbean” movies!

Instagram: @ncwinersart

Website

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PhantomRin

One of the first digital artists I’d ever discovered on Instagram, they were also one of the first artists to showcase fanart of Holly Black’s “The Folk of the Air” trilogy. Their style is more simplistic than some of the other names mentioned in this collection, but that doesn’t deteriorate from their work at all! What I can appreciate about their art is how they’re willing to try different styles and different choices of mediums while maintaining their key characteristics that fans can still recognize. Check out their stuff on Instagram if you don’t believe me!

Instagram: @phantomrin

Tumblr: phantomrin.tumblr.com

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Fab Ng

Some key words for this artist’s work is gay, erotic, and Fabuloooooous! They’ve recently gone more in the direction of creating sexy male mermaids, but what initially drew me in was their collection of overly sexualized male superheroes. They do a lot of different types of freelance work with contemporary models, DC and Marvel characters, mermaids and other mythological half-creatures, and also draw up some fierce females too! They have a Patreon page to view their raunchier work, since Instagram unfortunately doesn’t allow such art on their platform.

Instagram: @artbyfab

Tumblr: artbyfab.tumblr.com

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Jemlin Creations

A digital artist that started their little business by designing bookmarks showcasing popular YA and Adult Fantasy characters for fans to add a gorgeous little visual for their reading adventures. They’ve recently gotten more popular for their colorful style, and so they’ve been posting their art on Instagram for all of us to enjoy!

Instagram: @jemlincreations

Website

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Mitch Aseltine

A more recent addition to this collection, I’d discovered this freelance concept artist through @phantasyarts on Instagram: a collection page of amazing concept art and matte paintings for fans of sci-fi/fantasy imagery. He’s got amazing style, and his artwork looks like it should be showcased in video games; I feel like he’s going to be a name to remember!

Instagram: @mitchaseltine

Website

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So, there you have it! So many names, and so much amazing artwork to enjoy and inspire. I wanted to create an article to collect names and profiles not only for me to refer back to, but for others as well for any reason: to discover more artist names, for inspiration on your own artwork, or even for fellow writers who want to use art as a prompt.

I plan to continuously add more and more names as time goes on, so feel free to bookmark this page and refer back to it from time to time too. I want this to be a great resource for interested parties, and please please please please please reach out and talk to me if there are names not on here that you feel like they should be! There are so many artists out there, not even I am aware of everyone out there. Thats kind of the beauty of it; it’s a constant hunt to find them all.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PART 2 OF THE LIST!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fantasy, LGBT

My Review: The Priory of the Orange Tree: by Samantha Shannon

November 1, 2019October 28, 2020 nicholasjgoodsell

Publish Date: February 26th, 2019
Number of Pages: 827 Pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre(s): Fantasy, LGBT+

Total Star Rating: 2 Stars

It took me many moons, many breaks, and many other books in between, but I felt accomplished when I finished this behemoth of a Fantasy novel. Now, was the book as incredible as I hoped for it to be?…

Honestly, I find it hard to say…

There were quite a lot of parts of the story that I enjoyed immensely, some more than others, but I felt as though the book needed a little more editing done as in it maybe needed to be condensed because this book was long…so so long, and I felt like it didn’t need to be. There were quite a lot of high-octane, important moments that pique your interest, but with that comes a lot of slower moments within the four intertwining stories that may or may not be a real haul to cross over, and it felt like because of that the more exciting parts of the story fell flat because they couldn’t entirely hold up the weight those slower scenes gave us.

I will also say that when I started this book back in April 2019, I had no idea it was going to take me until October to fully finish it. The reason behind that was because those slower moments made me have to take breaks from it. The excessiveness made my eyes travel to other books to read in between sessions, and it was like I had to work my way up to getting back into this book. I look at other reviews, at least the ones that are glowing, and scratch my head at how those people managed to zoom through this large book in three days or less…

I didn’t hate it, and there are plenty of parts of it that I really had a lot of fun reading! The dragons and wyverns, even a new creature called an Ichneumon, the slow (literally so effing slow) burn romance, and I really enjoyed quite a lot of the characters. It’s like I said though, I think the author tried to do too much all within this book, that with inconsistent pacing that made it feel like the plot got lost a few times in the middle (or maybe just went off on a tangent too many times) that made the book not start to really interest me until about pages 450-500, and made me not enjoy this title as much as I could have.

Believe me, I am disappointed about that too…

What It’s About:

There’s an ancient evil that rose almost a thousand years ago; an enormous fire-breathing dragon known as “The Nameless One.” He was the king of all dragons and wyrms, and with his army of other fire-breathing creatures, he was destined to destroy the whole world in his raging flame and end life as we all know it. Miraculously, he was defeated and imprisoned deep beneath the ocean, with a myth that so long as there’s a descendent on the throne of Virtudom of the one that ended his tyranny, the dragon-king would never rise again.

Almost a thousand years later, The lands of the east and west are tense and isolated from each other; the reason being that there are different legends of how The Nameless One was actually defeated. The West believed a single man with a magical sword was the hero, while the east believe there water-dragons banded together and defeated their enemy. It caused tensions to rise, and for any alliance between them to end, and have shut their gates of entry with the east terrified of a draconic plague, and the west for thinking the east as heretics and “wyrm-lovers” for revering their water-dragons as gods, along with the possibility of them being allies with The Nameless One.

The story revolves around four main characters as they travel all over the world as rumors begin to stir that the king of dragons may once again ascend from his prison and lay havoc upon them all once again.

Tané has trained her whole life to becoming a high-level dragon rider in the East, but when a strange circumstance presents itself in front of her the night before her coronation ceremony, it causes her to make a choice that could ruin all the work she’d done, and all that she’d sacrificed to get there be for nothing…

Ead Duryan may live inside the walls of court, but she couldn’t possibly feel more like an outsider. As a lady-in-waiting, she keeps a watchful eye over the queen, Sabran Berethnet, who is the descendent of the one they believed to have vanquished The Nameless One. As threats draw near and shadows dance in every corner, Ead must use forbidden magic in order to assure no harm comes to Sabran in the dark times ahead…

Lord Arteloth “Loth” Beck, who is a close friend in Sabran’s court, is banished and sent on a dangerous quest in order to find answers, but finds more than he could’ve imagined…

Niclays Roos, former alchemist for Queen Sabran and her court, has been exiled in the East for many years, making him vain and bitter in his old age, but ends up on an unexpected journey for answers, justice and retribution…

What I Liked:

The Dragons! I never tire of reading books with dragons (or wyverns) within the story. By the way, shout out to the author for knowing the difference between the two! Surprisingly, not as many people know the difference, Google it if you’re one of those people…
The Diverse Cast of Characters! Representation matters, and that is a mantra the author must’ve told themselves as they created the cast of characters within this story. We’ve got almost all ethnicities involved, and even a good amount of LGBTQ+ characters are represented, two of them are of the four protagonists this story follows.
The Slow-Burn F/F Romance! A major highlight of this book is how you watch a relationship start from literally nothing and experience how it develops into an uneasy alliance, to friendship, and then a romantic relationship. It was done so well, and between two important & complex female characters too! Yes, that’s right: a slow burn LGBTQ+ F/F romance!
There’s Feminism Up The Wazoo! If people thought that Game of Thrones was feminine empowerment, think again; this title puts that comparison up in smoke. Every female is a strong, fierce lady in ancient times, even amongst the male characters and fiery demons of the sky coming to cause a lot of chaos. Also worth noting is how these all these powerful women are in high positions of power, which is surprisingly so rare for a fantasy novel!
The Lady Of The Woods Shocking Twist! There’s a mysterious legend behind a witch known simply as “The Lady of the Woods” and seemed like a story that was used to frighten little kids to stay out of the forest at night. ***Mild Spoiler Alert***She’s real, and she plays a bigger role than you’d first think. At around the 500 page mark, a shocking twist is revealed and added some pretty brow-raising news that changes what everyone in this story was lead to believe their whole lives! It. Was. Awesome! Going off of that, there were plenty of other twists throughout the story, and they were fun, but they weren’t anything earth shattering or *gasp* worthy; I’d say this specific twist is the only one that got a big reaction out of me, and the reason behind that is because to me, it was the only one that felt like the author had it planned out before she even started her first draft, when she planned out all the major story beats. It wasn’t randomly placed or added for pure shock value, no, it changed the landscape of the story, and revealed the opposite of what was known as the “truth” was actually a lie for a very long time.

What I Didn’t Like:

The Book Moves Incredibly Slow…After the initial set-up, the book moves at a much slower pace than I’d anticipated. It’s rich and exuberant with the world building and character development, but when other reviewers on Goodreads say things like “Just stick with it, it gets so much better around 70% in”…Okay, a book SHOULD NOT take that long to finally get interesting…especially a book the size of this one…the book is gargantuan and could cause some major damage if used as a weapon.
TMI With The Worldbuilding…This kind of goes off #1, but consider this more specifically towards the world building done in this novel; while part of me wants to commend the author for going so in-depth with all the history, the different cultures, the history and the legends, the languages, and of course the dragons…it just felt like some of it was a gigantic info dump that made the story so much slower to get through. Maybe it was all important to some readers, but to me, it felt like up to 200 pages could’ve been taken out; I didn’t need so much information on literally every single city they visited or the history of the crown in one of the kingdoms, especially if they were only a part of the story for one chapter.
The Confusing Gender Politics…So while I loved the females with power in the Queendom, part of me was confused by the way their political systems were set up. My impression of some of the lands had the same set up as the same ole way as traditional male-dominated courts we feel familiar with in a plethora of other fantasy. It felt like it was supposed to be a polished and ready to be another chauvinistic, sexist society, but it simply wasn’t…it was just female instead. What my complaint about this is why have a female dominated rule be so similar to that of a male reign? Why not switch up the rules of how the court rules, how the royalty reigns? I felt like the author could’ve made the story a little more interesting if she maybe flipped the normalized, familiar societal culture of a fantasy kingdom on us and created something new and different.
An Ending Like Season 8…What’s super ironic about the ending is that it actually felt so rushed and condensed…UNLIKE LITERALLY THE REST OF THE BOOK. It wasn’t a terrible climax, but I was still shaking my head as it ended and thought “That’s it?!?” It was squeezed in to make sure it was there, to reassure we get an ending, but maybe if the author took my advice and condensed the overall book, maybe she would’ve had either more time or more space to make it more memorable. Sloppy pacing in my opinion. (And yes, I’m referring to the final season of Game of Thrones if no one has caught that by now)

Conclusion:

A story with a rich and complex world full of mystique and wonder, and female empowerment in almost a surplus amount that makes it feel fresh, new, and exciting addition to the fantasy genre; I was disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this title as much as I’d hoped I would. In my opinion, the author maybe needed to have spent less time on their world-building, and maybe more time on tightening up the plot to possibly condense the intimidating size of this standalone novel.

The characters are the big highlight rewarded to those who dare lift this book off the shelf like a literary King Arthur and Excalibur in order to open it’s pages; they are complex, engaging and well-developed as they travel over land and sea and move the story at it’s inconsistent pace. I recommend this to anyone who loves dragon-centric fantasy, anyone looking for a well written female/female slow-burn romance, or someone who’s just looking for some badass, powerful female characters trying to save the world, and that I’m seriously not exaggerating on! Just because I may not have enjoyed it doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking into for yourself; the book has a lot of positive reviews which makes it incredibly worthwhile to a lot of readers! I just don’t want a book that grabs my attention at the halfway mark!