Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - A Day of Fallen Night

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A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

87 reviews

bryonyindecisivereader's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

“But I vow to you, this age of fire and smoke will end. A star will come at morning on the first day of spring.”

A Day of Fallen Night felt like Samantha Shannon’s love song to the world she’d already created. Separate to the story of The Priory of the Orange Tree, you don’t need to have read one to understand the other.

However, I do think a love of TPotOT did make me love ADOFN even more. There were a lot of nods to the later world and things that made me look twice because I wasn’t sure if they were things we’ve “already” encountered. I thought it was really clever how traditions/rituals from TPotOT that weren’t in place at the start of ADOFN came into being, both explaining their absence and existence.

Although the story spans three or four worlds, all the characters are connected somehow. More than anything, ADOFN is a story of sisterhood, of the triumphs of women. Women are connected across realms and find comfort in each other. I loved how their stories happened simultaneously, each experiencing the same worldwide disaster. I think this was shown particularly well in the final confrontation.

I absolutely adored the characters. They showed us each a side of the world we hadn’t seen before, like the politics of the courts in the East, or spending more time in the Priory with Tunuva, or exploring the North with Wulf. I’d give my heart for all of them, especially for Wulf and Glorian. We spent so long in Inys before with Ead but we never saw the world through a queen’s eyes. To see it through Glorian’s, a young girl who has never wanted to fall in love but is made to marry for duty, was heartbreaking. I don’t love what she went through, but I loved her character growth and was inspired by the character she was at the end.

I cannot wait to read ADOFN again, and I’m so excited to revisit TPotOT with this in mind.

Content Warnings

jrbenson95's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

starrysteph'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

A Day of Fallen Night was everything I ever wanted and more. (Yes, I think it surpasses Priory in every way.)

The story follows 4 main narrators (Tunuva in the South, Glorian in the West, Wulf in the North, and Dumai in the East), each grappling with similar themes of leadership and loyalty and love. Their world is tested with the eruption of the Dreadmount, releasing terrifying creatures and sending the continents into an age of darkness and sorrow. Each storyteller must fight for themselves and find strength for their people.

I wept and I screeched and I was thoroughly engaged.

The writing was SO lush and beautiful. The story flowed perfectly, with explosive & cinematic action scenes alongside simmering romance and gripping political maneuvers.

A consistent theme was motherhood, and each major character reflects on their relationship to their mother, considers children of their own, and grapples with the weight of lineage. There are beautiful parallels between characters who have no control over their own bodies and characters with the freedom to explore their identities.

There’s also some seriously beautiful work around grief and loss. Characters mourn and sink into depression and learn how to keep moving forward with the weight of the world on their shoulders.

There’s darkness, but also so much compassion. While there are death and war and monsters, human brutality is not a pivotal part of this world. Characters are open with each other. Lovers forgive each other. Even potential political villains are - for the most part - willing to listen and have certain moral boundaries.

The dragons … oh, the dragons. You understand just enough about them and the origins of their power, their ambitions, and their wrath. But they are ancient & terrifying & godlike in the best possible way.

The history is creative, brilliant, and so thought out. We don’t get every single detail, but it’s clear to me that Shannon has built this world with work and care. And the queerness of this world is so rich. We get to see all sorts of relationships - and I won’t say more to keep this spoiler-free, but each romantic arc is delightful and diverse.

I think this story was a level up from The Priory of the Orange Tree. If you have not yet read Priory, I would actually recommend starting with A Day of Fallen Night. I think it sets up the events & world quite nicely - and you’ll enter the world with zero anticipation or spoilers from the Priory plot.

Each page felt essential and moved the plot forward – yes, much of the book is slower-paced, but the chapters were generally short and punchy. There were some plot points I didn’t care for as much as others, but I was never bored. In fact, it was usually quite the opposite: I’d feel a loss at the end of a chapter (wanting to continue with a POV), but then find myself enchanted once more a page into the next perspective. I didn’t think there was a weak narrator.

I was SO invested; it was hard but worthwhile to savor this book and not devour it. There are hints sprinkled throughout and carefully curated threads with brilliant payoffs. I thought Glorian’s arc in particular was absolutely masterful.

Don’t laugh at me - I think the book could have been longer. Because of the time skips, certain moments were so fast. And I think I can confidently say Shannon doesn’t enjoy writing battle scenes (honestly, I don’t enjoy reading long battle scenes, but I can see other epic fantasy readers feel disappointed by the lack of longer action).

Overall, this book was beautiful. The world, the characters, the poetic language … It was everything I dreamed of in an epic fantasy journey.

CW: death (incl. death of parents and child death), war, murder, animal death, pregnancy, adult/minor relationship (political), grief, religious bigotry, fire, terminal illness, suicide, misogyny, sexual content

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Content Warnings

booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

Thank you Bloomsbury for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Shannon delivers yet again! Epic and absolutely impossible to put down from start to finish. Vibrant, beautiful and devastating all at the same time. Samantha truly is one of the best high fantasy authors of our generation.

"MOTHER WE ARE YOUR DAUGHTERS WE REMEMBER WE REMAIN!" The way Shannon handles grief, death and child birth is done so well. As well as the romance. There is an already established relationship that I loovveeeed. An enemies to lovers plot line that gave everything I wanted. This book had it all.

Building upon the epic story within the Roots of Chaos Cycle. We see how much of the events of Priory took hold. How the East and West began their animosity towards each other.
The world building, characters arcs and plot line are top tier. Shannon has become not only one of my favorite authors, her books ADOFN and Priory are in my top ten favorite books of all time.

You do not want to miss out on this Epic High Fantasy.

Fav Quote
"The world is not always kind. But we will try, as long as we can. All of us. All women can be sisters. We will be yours.

Cw
Blood
Gore
Death of a parent
Death of a Child
Birth trauma
post pardum depression
Mild sexual content
Death
Fire

Content Warnings

careinthelibrary's review

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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 The Priory of the Orange Tree. 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 Priory 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 Priory 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

levesc17's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

I loved the Priory of The Orange Tree and was really looking forward to this prequel— and it didn’t disappoint! There is less mystery because we know a lot from the POTOT, but the different viewpoints are so compelling that they keep you going through this thicc book. The theme of mothers and daughters is especially poignant. As we know with this author, there is no straightforward happily ever after, but the emotional resonance is so well done that even if that’s my preference when I read, I don’t care in this case. It’s masterful. Is it too much to hope for yet another prequel about Cleolind? Thank you to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

heartbrekker's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

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