A review by just_one_more_paige
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

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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