A Day of Fallen Night

I wished I'd dnfed this.

I found Priory okay, but this book flopped so bad.

it was incredibly slow to start, with hardly anything interesting about the characters that would keep me engaged in reading. the worldbuilding was good, but at times it was a little infodumpy, and i would have liked more of an subtler take.

for such a big book, it was a slog to get through. some of the characters stories felt a bit rushed or they jumped about the story a little. the romances in these books were defiantly rushed and felt a little forced. some of the plot twists were easy to see.

the ending, where I should have been rooting for these characters instead, i was left feeling incredibly disappointed. the outcome of the whole plot, the one thing they were all trying to stop, stopped on it's own. there was nothing the characters really did that furthers the plot or tried to stop the main conflict. they were suffering and dying, and yet no one came up with any idea on how to stop it, instead all they had to do was wait.

highly disappointing read.

Like The Priory of the Orange Tree, this book is vast. But as someone who struggles with long books, I want to tell you that the time investment is worth every second.

If a character-driven stories about love, friendship, motherhood, and ambition against a backdrop of dragons, war, and political intrigue sounds like your kind of thing – this is the book for you.

Where other fantasy authors might be tempted to create characters, a world, and storylines that sprawl over multiple books, Samantha Shannon makes sure every arc is wrapped up. This means you can pick up this book or The Priory of the Orange Tree without needing to read the other – no prior knowledge necessary.

Whatever I next read will have to be killer to not be overshadowed by this.

“to hold the risen fire at bayuntil the night descends”

How do you make a sequel to something intended as a stand-alone novel? Fans of the series demanded a new book, but things were fairly contained within Priory of the Orange Tree, so how do you square the circle? I quite like the author's approach here; rather than making a direct sequel to the events of the first book, she marched 500 years into the past and created another stand-alone. Fans get their sequel, there's no expectations to live up to, and you can continue building out the (extensive) lore you introduced in the first book. A win all around, that I think the author knocked out of the park to boot.

There be spoilers here after this point.

Despite being an all-new cast of characters, there's just enough familiarity here to hit the ground running with the (many) different viewpoints. Glorian, daughter of Sabran the Ambitious and King Bardholt of Hróth, is having a hard time finding her feet and her place within the role forced upon her. All her life she had her own ideas of how she wanted to live her life, but the older she grows, the more she realizes that duty comes before all else in the Queendom of Inys. Over at the Priory, we're introduced to Tunuva and Esbar, sisters training to slay wyrms that haven't appeared in generations. Discontent is rumbling through the Priory as some younger sisters start questioning why the Order still exists. When Siyu escapes the stifling confines of the Priory, Tunuva is sent to bring her home, but her return brings unwelcome change to the Priory. Finally, in Seiiki, Dumai of Ipyeda is a godsinger at the High Temple of Kwiriki, daughter of Unora of Afa, and heir of more than she knows. When her family comes knocking, she's compelled to leave the mountain home she knows and loves in order to serve the kingdom. But as the world starts to tremble, it is her godsinger heritage that ultimately calls her to duty in service of the sea dragon Furtia. The scope of this book is quite a bit larger than Priory of the Orange Tree I think. Lots more places, tons of minor characters and references, but not to the point where I felt overwhelmed and lost. I think reading Priory of the Orange Tree first gave me the structure I needed to be able to sort through everything thrown at me here. There's quite a bit more politics in this one as well, particularly in the Inys sections, but I'm such a sucker for grand political fantasy that I loved it all. It has a bit of a slow start, and I was starting to wonder where things were headed initially, but about a third of the way through things start ramping up quickly and I had a hard time putting it down. The ending was incredibly satisfying as well, and while a lot was happening at once, it didn't have the same frantic feel as I thought Priory of the Orange Tree had at the end.

I hope the author decides to do more stand-alone books within this universe, because I thought this one was fantastic. Everything had a purpose, the writing was excellent, and I loved basically everything about it. Great fantasy, great work.