Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

9 reviews

meganpbell's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A glorious, epic, feminist, fantasy masterpiece !!! This prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree had me acting out scenes and saying lines out loud, it was that beautiful, badass, and moving.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Animal death, Child death, Murder, Religious bigotry, War, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief, Medical content, and Gore

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Glorian Shieldheart what a fucking badass. I got literal chills during some of her scenes. I also appreciated that this book was even more gay than Priory. Truly iconic. The way that Shannon integrates a whole cast of different identities into these books is honestly inspiring. Because of the length of the book, some of the slow reveals really kept me invested. All in all, I’d love to keep reading from this world! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Violence, and War

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Gore, and Abandonment

Minor: Mental illness and Cannibalism

eleanora's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

gracewiley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, and Body horror

Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, Medical content, and Xenophobia

donatio's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I had high expectations for this book after Priory and it did not disappoint.
The characters and the world were well-fleshed-out, I came to care about them deeply. There were no plot holes and it set up Priory nicely. 
The writing was beautiful, I only found that it was quite slow for me but towards the end it got better. 
Representation of everyone (gender-equality, POC, LGBTQ, etc.) was there, just like it ought to be. 
I loved the themes, motherhood, religion and duty, and how they were explored. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, War, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Confinement, War, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Classism, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Vomit, Suicide, Cannibalism, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

bashsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book is soooo long and the space & energy for writing a review is so short, yet I shall forge on. A Day of Fallen Night is just as incredible as The Priory of the Orange Tree - if not moreso. Although I read Priory over a year ago now, slipping into this prequel was much easier than getting into the first book. The worldbuilding and the lore came back to me quickly, prodded along by the fact that this is meant to be readable as a standalone. Sometimes that quality can be repetative when you read multiple books in the same universe, but here it was just a boon. 

A short list of things I liked about this book: 

• Always amuses me that Shannon not only made Fantasy Catholicism but also made it canonically false.
• Addition of nonbinary rep - including nonbinary titles! I love the terms Mastress and Lade. 
• Addition of other trans rep - there are at least two trans men & just like the gay relationships, no one bats an eye at them. 
• Thrit, I am emotionally invested in this secondary character, he is the best.
• Gay-on-gay-on-gay violence at one of the climaxes
  Spoiler

  where all the narrators run into each other.

No complaints, 100% recommend, I can't wait for the next book in this universe.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Body horror, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicide, Cannibalism, and Mental illness

goodbyerachel's review against another edition

5.0

I was so incredibly excited to get back to the world from Priory of the Orange Tree. I originally read that book two years ago and was amazed by the world and the characters Shannon created. It was the ultimate peak of high fantasy that was led by the most badass of women. When I think of some of the "most popular" high fantasy, women authors and women characters are sorely lacking but Shannon is here to say "hold my beer" and puts them all to shame. 

And that is how I felt about Priory of the Orange Tree but it holds exactly true for A Day of Fallen Night, as well. This is not a fan-service sequel, this is a beautifully crafted work of art. 

If you take one thing away from my review, it would be this epiphany I had at about 70% of the book. There are four of what I would consider "major" POVs (Tunuva, Glorian, Dumai, and Wulf) and a handful of other major characters who have the occasional section. I realized I never once had an "I wish it wasn't /this person's/ POV right now" moment and not that books have bad POVs but there is always either one that is your favorite, one that is your least favorite, or one that just comes at a time when you're DYING to know what happens next somewhere else. This book? No such thing. I accepted each POV and said, "thank you, Shannon" because they were all so great and tense and moved the story along, even in ways I wasn't expecting. 

Also, with this standing at just under 900 pages, there is so much going on in this book. It feels a bit more political that Priory as both Glorian and Dumai are navigating various degrees of hostility within the courts of their respective areas. There are heavy topics and themes around womanhood and motherhood (again, within courts with expectations of heirs but also the joy of choosing motherhood which was balanced really nicely). The price of duty and loyalty (to yourself, your people, your title). There are dragons and wyrms and magic. Lots of battles. It was very intense and very gripping. I read it quite slowly, usually around 100 pages per day, but it never dragged. If anything, there were parts I wish were longer. 

My only regret? I do wish I had reread Priory before starting this one. Purely for selfish reasons because I am so curious how the events of Fallen Night are referred to in Priory and just the extra bit of context to how they lined up. But realistically, this would still act as a great standalone. 

I really hope we continue to see books in this world because I will be reading them. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Child death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death of parent

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Complex and epic, stretching across so much geography and individual experiences, this is a worthy follow-up to <i>The Priory of the Orange Tree</i>. It manages to feel familiar to fans of the series without feeling like it's relying on the success of the first one to succeed itself. It stands on its own feet and feels independent but welcoming to returning fans.

This is more politically intricate than the previous tome from Samantha Shannon. I didn't personally prefer this much politics in my fantasy, but I know lots of people who enjoy political machinations and intrigue in their high fantasy so I'm sure it'll be popular for that reason. There's a lot more time spent discussing various kingdoms' relationships with one another and marriage features a lot more in this (at least to my memory of what <i>Priory</i> was like). But don't fret, there's also plenty of action and darkness.

The dragon content doesn't disappoint. It feels like it's scraped from the depths of a volcano with how intimidating and ancient they feel. We get lots of conflict with dragons in this which is satisfying because <i>Priory</i> never felt like quite enough. Samantha Shannon is generous with the drama in this book.

Women and women's love are at the core of this novel. Romantic love, parental love, sisterly love. This puts a spotlight on these kinds of relationships and over the course of the novel, they grow and change. They betray one another, they uplift one another, they love each other, they defend each other. It's great. There were some characters I felt more attached to and whose plotlines entertained me more while others were lesser favoured. Glorian was my favourite but I liked aspects of all them.

All in all, I don't think this will disappoint fans. Depending on your personal preferences, you may like this a little more or a little less than the previous, but most importantly, it's its own story with a fresh take on the world. It doesn't live in the shadow of the predecessor but right alongside that legend.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Death, Pregnancy, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol

Forced pregnancy, young pregnancy