Reviews with content warning for Grief - A Day of Fallen Night

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

84 reviews

hannahpings's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.5

my god i fell in love with this book and these people and this world. i never wanted it to end and i'm so sad it did. every single one (not an exaggeration!) of its characters had significant depth and nuance, and felt authentic in a way i wasn't necessarily expecting. i'm not going to be able to forget about any of them any time soon, and i wouldn't want to. it's also seeped in the lore and complex politics that i was craving after its predecessor.

i also loved priory––i think it was fantastic––but for me, there's been a marked improvement in samantha shannon's writing between the two. a day of fallen night gives itself time to breathe, has pitch-perfect pacing, and doesn't fall prey to the same "and then all this happened btw and now we're here" telling-not-showing issue that priory does.

this book made me feel a way i haven't felt in 20 years at least. i truly cannot wait to read all 868 pages again

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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A Day of Fallen Night is not just epic in length - a whopping 868 pages to be exact - but epic in just about every other way.

The worldbuilding is intricate down to the tiniest detail, and the care that Samantha Shannon took is evident on every single page. I can't imagine what the research process was like for this, but, as with The Priory of the Orange Tree, I can say that it must have been exhaustive (and no doubt exhausting too). I am in awe of the scale of it. Belief, politics, geography, history - it's all here and all believable.

I would have liked a fuller map of Hróth, though!

The plotting is also immaculate. The way Shannon has created her POV characters and how she has crafted every twist and turn of the plot to bring them together and apart is masterful. I will say that at times the characters felt more like pieces in the elaborate chess match that was Shannon's plot, rather than fully fleshed-out human beings.

And the dragons and other magical creatures determined to be dangerous? Let's just say I didn't find their evil natures entirely convincing, given that they seem evil just for the sake of it.

There are four characters - dubbed "storytellers" in Shannon's extensive notes and glossaries - whose points of view we see. Tunuva, a middle-aged sister at the Priory of the Orange Tree, Glorian, the adolescent heir to a fabled queendom, Wulf, a young man sworn to a Northern King, and Dumai, a twenty-seven-year-old apostle at an ancient mountain temple.

Of all of them, the ones I liked best were probably Tunuva, Glorian and Wulf. Dumai I couldn't really warm to, although she was very interesting as a character.

Speaking of characters, this novel has a huge cast - I appreciated the index at the back, which I found an excellent way of keeping track of the characters and their relationships with one another and their worlds. I did feel that some of the smaller characters got lost in the bigness of it all. Of the secondary characters, I probably appreciated Nikeya most. And Canthe (

who I suspected from the start as having a hidden agenda, it was almost too simple when her big reveal happened, thrilling as it was to read

).

Aside from feminine agency and power (similarly dominant in Priory), the themes of environmentalism, religion, and belief also come through very strongly. The overarching plot point of the novel is analogous to world events of the last few years (

the threat of climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic, most evidently

). Overall this was effective, although I do feel it was hammered home just a bit too much at times.

LGBTQIA+ representation is done well throughout. There are trans and non-binary folk in the large cast of characters, and a range of different sexualities among minor and major characters also. Within the world Shannon has created, this gender and sexual diversity is normalised, which is refreshing to read about. Although this is an imagined world in terms of ethnicity there is still a range of skin tones from white to dark-skinned, which I know many will appreciate.

Although it has its flaws, this was overall a satisfying and highly enjoyable read.

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justgothenough's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

3.5

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tinybluepixel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

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amschelly153's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Stunning read, compelling and adventurous.

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fairyollie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

it's difficult to imagine anything topping priory, yet somehow, this book does. emotional, magical, tense, fantastical, wistful, and heartbreaking - no adjectives can do the beauty of this work justice. i cannot wait for the next installation in the heartwrenching, stunning Roots of Chaos world. i will dream of this book for the rest of my days.

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sehenry20's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

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quechaya's review against another edition

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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

This book is way better than Priory, and it's not even close.
I remember reaching a part in this book where I thought "oh no, this is where the bad things start happening to them" and realizing in that moment how expertly the author made me care for these characters. I haven't connected so strongly with book characters in a very long time. Every time the POV changed, I was left wanting more, but the next POV would instantly pull me in. I will remember these characters for a very long time.
I have two critiques. The first is that

humans vs wyverns is just not that interesting to read over and over and over, with every POV character, so some of the battle scenes toward the end felt repetitive. Conflicts between humans are much more interesting.

The second is:

the author knows what we want, but gave us an ambiguous ending for one of the lesbian pairs anyway?? GIVE US WHAT WE WANT. WE ARE STARVING.

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saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I am a simple man, I read a gay ass book with dragons, I’m happy.

A Day of Fallen Night is more complex than Priory of the Orange Tree. Following more characters and taking place over more lands, it’s mostly them reacting to wyrms fucking shit up and being like “how the FUCK do we get rid of these wyrms?”

I wish it was a little more interconnected, though pretty much all of the main characters do interact at some point, this felt more like three interconnected stories than one. The protagonists of these stories being Tunuva, Glorian, and Dumai. Wulf is the secret fourth protagonist that crosses over the most between these main plots.

Tunuva’s plot could have been better paced, but I loved her as a character and her relationship to Esbar. The fact she’s a queer middle aged mother and the protagonist of a fantasy novel was so refreshing and I loved how her arc dealt with motherhood. Love to add this to my list of other fantasy novels with mothers who are also protagonists along with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and The Fifth Season. I also loved how through her we get a deeper look at the culture of the Priory.

Glorian’s plotline was my favorite. She’s the teenage princess of Inys and is dealing with the responsibility of procuring an heir. She’s dealing with the cruelty of the monarchy at the literal worst time (reminder there are WYRMS). Her arc opens a dialog on reproductive rights, mainly in how having children is so heavily expected and even forced on a lot of women, which is made even more interesting in how she’s implied to be asexual and how ace people are often pressured to have sex. She also has such a great and tender friendship with Wulf. Her arc is at once tragic and powerful.

Dumai’s storyline is perhaps the most important to the plotline. She’s dealing the most with “how the FUCK do we get rid of the wyrms?” Hers took me the longest to get into, though I liked her arc and absolutely ADORED her slowburn enemies-to-lovers relationship. Overall, all of the romantic subplots absolutely devoured, managing to both be tender and angsty without melodrama.

Wulf is a poor little meow meow and a sweet boy. He helped add some much needed connections to the characters and is in many ways the glue of the story. There’s some interesting mystery around his character and as previously mentioned he has SUCH a great connection to Glorian, being so ride and die for her.

This book is gayer than the first one. Tunuva and Dumai are both sapphic and have relationships with other women, Wulf is queer (probs bisexual), and Glorian is likely ace. There’s also other queer side characters and identities seamlessly integrated into the world building, including trans and nonbinary ones. Though there’s an emphasis on bloodlines, it mostly decouples this from heteronormativity (with the exception of the Berethnets who manage to be the only people who must marry men and is a point of conflict in both books, Galian Berethnet when you catch these hands). Also having so much emphasis on bloodlines is of course still a problem (and a major source of conflict) but hey at least they aren’t homophobic about it.

I liked how this deepened the world building of Priory, though I wish we had gotten some more new information. We get a lot of expansion on the history of this world, but I wish we had some more on the magic system and mythology.

The pacing also could have been better. Though the climax is significantly less rushed than Priory’s, the first half was kind of a slog to get through. Though it was all good content, it took too long to feel like the story had actually gotten into motion. But once it did it was a roaring ride.

Overall, A Day of Fallen Night mostly sticks the landing as a prequel. Though it has some pacing issues and could have expanded more on the world, it has strong characters and a tragic, wild plot.

1 like

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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? No

5.0

I bought this as soon as it was released, of course. Because Samantha Shannon is an absolute star of [epic, feminine, sapphic] fantasy and one of my favorite authors. I really couldn’t wait to dive into this prequel to Priory of the Orange Tree, which was one of my top ten (though if we are being honest, probably my number one favorite) read from 2020. It took me a few months to be ready for it (almost 1000-page novels are not something to enter into unless fully ready), but this seasonal turn into winter was the sign I needed and the time was finally right to sink into this cozy (as in fantasy a comfort genre, not because it has a particularly comforting plot) chonker of a novel.

I’m not even sue how to give a summary of this book, as it really embodies the vibes of “epic.” We are in the same world as Priory, but half a century earlier. The story is told from four primary perspectives. Tunuva is a member of the Priory, blessed with the magic of the Orange Tree, and trained from birth for the task of defending the true history and legacy of Cleolind (the real defeater of the Nameless One), and the world at large, in the case of its return. Dumai, raised in a temple to the sleeping gods high in the mountains by her mother, finds out that her parentage is far different from, and greater than, she’d ever known…and she must take up a mantel within the court and ruling family of Seiiki. Glorian is the young heir to the Queendom of Inys (yes, the same one the Sabran leads in Priory), happily growing up in the shadow of her imposing parents. Wulf is a young karl in the service of Glorian’s father, whose unknown past and childhood friendship with Glorian sets him up to play a central role in the interconnectedness of the separate nations and storylines. When the Dreadmount erupts, it ushers in an age of violence, sickness, and fear that threatens the existence of humankind and these narrators must fight with everything they have to maintain hope and help their peoples survive.

Look, I can sum this entire review up with just one line: Shannon is the queen of fantasy. And she just keeps getting better. I mean, I loved Priory. And I have long loved The Bone Season and cannot wait for more of Paige’s saga there. But this? This was a whole other level. I loved every single narrator. I loved their perspectives and their complexities (strengths and flaws). I loved how deeply developed they were internally and in all their other relationships and the climates within which they lived. I am really not sure that I can put into words how much the variety of female realities represented in this novel affected me. There were older women at the forefront, with direct addressing not just of menstruation, but also menopause and related sexual urge changes. There was pregnancy and childbirth and postpartum bodies and depression, all of which was not just not glossed over, but major aspects of the storyline and the experience of the women involved in how living that alongside a world-ending crisis of this magnitude feels. There was early motherhood and mothering of adult children, with the variety of different challenges each presents. There was motherhood as it lives on even after the loss of a child. There was motherhood as a requirement and as sacrifice and in defiance and to right previous mothering wrongs. There were incredibly soft and comfortable queer vibes (sapphic and asexual, with passion and connection that are meaningful, but still so light, ohhhhhh it’s lovely). There were women that didn’t want to bear a child or have sex, and while their choices on how to respond to the social structures that expect and require that were different, that representation too felt full and real, as sometimes that pressure is fought and sometimes its given in to. It was all just…right. I felt seen in so many ways and even in the choices I haven’t made myself, the breadth of exploration of womanhood and motherhood was stunning. That all is a major reason why, for me, Shannon is queen of fantasy: the strength and diversity of women are central and there’s not a single one-dimensional female character in the bunch.

I also loved the world-building. It’s just magnificent. Shannon has created something so massive and real here. And while this builds in together with what she began in Priory in physicality, this prequel also adds further context, in a way that both complements and expands. The tone of the writing is expansive and familiar all at once and the stories weave together in ways that are so smooth and well-paced. The scoops large. And while I could see an argument for some editing down, a bit, I can’t way I’d have wanted that. This is the kind of unfolding tale that you get lost in, that you allow to soak into yourself, and so you want every bit of that slower (but evenly) paced development, because it gives you more time in this world, with these characters. And for what it’s worth, though it’s long, it’s never dull. There is always something happening, whether it be interpersonal relationship growth, political maneuvering, discoveries of evils growing and betrayals occurring, or battles against dragons and the malformed animals they twisted to their service. And when the narratives do start to converge, it’s so good. Because you know it’s coming, in some form, and are waiting for it. And yet, every time there’s a crossover, it never hits that point of formulaic; there always remains some aspect of the unexpected. And as they drift apart again, and then spin back together, sometimes with just the barest touches, it’s just achingly well done.

SPOILER IN THIS PARAGRAPH. SKIP TO THE NEXT IF YOU WANT TO AVOID IT! Finally, I appreciated, so much, the ending. The fact that what truly “saved the day” was not a chosen one/person or an act or a perfect deus ex machina, but a foretold celestial event that no one could prevent or make come faster…I was completely here for that. The message that these characters were all fighting, with everything they had, with the barest hope, against a seemingly unbeatable foe - and even for those that had an inkling of the foretold event that would hopefully end things, that’s still a fight for survival until something greater, promised only by a legend/dream, arrives to stop it… That is a totally “other” kind of strength. And it’s a style of denouement that is very uncommon in fantasy. I really appreciated the way it was used here. Plus, the way it explains the small riddle that is the title – loved that.

I feel like, when I usually write reviews, I add in details about which characters I liked most, which plot points were best, what the language was like…and with specifics. And as I’m looking back over this so far, I have none of those specifics here (except for the part about the way the plot “ends”). It’s all more general impressions and overarching reactions and themes. I’m not sure then, if this is a good review or not. But, it’s the truth that I have. I loved it all. And it contains so much that details that minute really become impossible to include, because there’s no time, no space, for it all.

The many ways this book, this series, is an ode to the myriad and (generally) unheralded strength and power of women is unmatched. Plus, it was very cool to see how the threads of this story set the groundwork (and became the legends of yore) for Priory. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel reading a prequel after what it comes before, but it turns out, I liked the experience. To repeat myself, because she deserves it…this novel is epic and Shannon is a queen.

“All women can be sisters. We will be yours.”

“…but a house that crushes its own daughters beneath its foundations, that is no house at all. Better it burns with the rest.”

“A flower in a world of ash is proof that life endures.”

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