Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

9 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Pregnancy, War, and Death

Moderate: Child death and Religious bigotry

Minor: Colonisation, Classism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

bitter_critter's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, War, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Kidnapping and Adult/minor relationship

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Colonisation, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

Strong scenes depicting supernaturally inflicted violence (ie

dragon and magical creature attacks

).

fairyollie's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, Death, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Animal death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Stalking, Torture, and Adult/minor relationship

the_reading_wren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow, what a story! Darker and more brutal than Priory, but beautiful and wise as well. A great foundation for the Roots of Chaos series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, War, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Gore, Abortion, Excrement, Infidelity, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Suicide, Confinement, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Classism

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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

4.5

I think it was a great followup. I don't typically enjoy prequels because they are inherently tragic, but I think it played with tragedy well while still giving us an interesting story. I also got really attached to the characters. It did drag a bit at parts, but I knew it would given the length. Overall I liked it and I really want a book about our three tree mothers. I need to know the full story. But if we ge the next gen story like she has been teasing that works for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and War

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Animal death, and Religious bigotry

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.  

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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

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
  where all the narrators run into each other.

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

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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

mals_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death