Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

19 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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 didn’t know a book SO long could be SO fast-paced. I was in love with the characters from the start and got my heart broken and put back together countless times. I love the depth of the history in names of people/places and how the author demonstrates changes in people, places, culture, and languages over time.  I love a book with gay characters in which the trauma has nothing to do with their sexuality. The interview at the end of the audiobook was definitely with the listen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, War, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism and Infertility

abiofpellinor's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, War, and Fire/Fire injury

aileron's review against another edition

adventurous 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, War, Violence, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Animal death

Minor: Suicide, Cannibalism, and Child death

cleo_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense

4.5

Immersive epic fantasy with secret warrior nuns, court intrigue and tons of adventure, set in a medieval-ish world inspired by both western and eastern dragon myths. There are 4 pov characters, initially in 4 different locations (north, south, east and west), living in different circumstances and cultures. And then they all have to deal with a big global crisis involving strange beasts / wyrms, climate disasters and a deadly illness. 

It’s the second in a series (it’s set 500 years before the first one) but it definitely works as a standalone. I thought the first book was promising but this one is just fantastic, a quantum leap in author skill. It’s a thoughtful exploration of faith, loyalty and duty and it’s also a really gripping story that was hard to put down. All 850 pages of it. 

Like the first book, there are lots of LGBT people. There is one character who reads as ace/aro who struggles with acceptance because ace/aro doesn’t seem to be a recognized option. But LGBT identities are understood and accepted as no big deal. 

One interesting thing about the structure and the overall epic-ness of the story is that there’s lots of room to explore different ways to deal with similar situations. There are several young young women dealing with different cultural requirements about who they can love or marry or have kids with and they respond in really different ways. 

Parts of it is pretty violent. There’s no sexual violence but there’s some sexism, especially in the western location (Virtuedom).

And there’s child endangerment and the death of a child on page. Also a terrible plague that spreads across the known world

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Child death

Minor: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

morganfiona's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I think this is truly the best fantasy book I have ever read. The combination of stunning pride, world building, and characters is unmatched. Such a beautifully told story, with all the elements of what makes real life hard and hopeful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Child death

Minor: Rape

3arth2kaye's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Death

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Grief

aas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Pregnancy, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, and War

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Confinement, War, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Animal death, Child death, Body horror, Classism, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Chronic illness, Vomit, Suicide, Cannibalism, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

starrysteph's review against another edition

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.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry