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A review by saucy_bookdragon
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
4.5
I am a simple man, I read a gay ass book with dragons, I’m happy.
A Day of Fallen Night is more complex than Priory of the Orange Tree. Following more characters and taking place over more lands, it’s mostly them reacting to wyrms fucking shit up and being like “how the FUCK do we get rid of these wyrms?”
I wish it was a little more interconnected, though pretty much all of the main characters do interact at some point, this felt more like three interconnected stories than one. The protagonists of these stories being Tunuva, Glorian, and Dumai. Wulf is the secret fourth protagonist that crosses over the most between these main plots.
Tunuva’s plot could have been better paced, but I loved her as a character and her relationship to Esbar. The fact she’s a queer middle aged mother and the protagonist of a fantasy novel was so refreshing and I loved how her arc dealt with motherhood. Love to add this to my list of other fantasy novels with mothers who are also protagonists along with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and The Fifth Season. I also loved how through her we get a deeper look at the culture of the Priory.
Glorian’s plotline was my favorite. She’s the teenage princess of Inys and is dealing with the responsibility of procuring an heir. She’s dealing with the cruelty of the monarchy at the literal worst time (reminder there are WYRMS). Her arc opens a dialog on reproductive rights, mainly in how having children is so heavily expected and even forced on a lot of women, which is made even more interesting in how she’s implied to be asexual and how ace people are often pressured to have sex. She also has such a great and tender friendship with Wulf. Her arc is at once tragic and powerful.
Dumai’s storyline is perhaps the most important to the plotline. She’s dealing the most with “how the FUCK do we get rid of the wyrms?” Hers took me the longest to get into, though I liked her arc and absolutely ADORED her slowburn enemies-to-lovers relationship. Overall, all of the romantic subplots absolutely devoured, managing to both be tender and angsty without melodrama.
Wulf is a poor little meow meow and a sweet boy. He helped add some much needed connections to the characters and is in many ways the glue of the story. There’s some interesting mystery around his character and as previously mentioned he has SUCH a great connection to Glorian, being so ride and die for her.
This book is gayer than the first one. Tunuva and Dumai are both sapphic and have relationships with other women, Wulf is queer (probs bisexual), and Glorian is likely ace. There’s also other queer side characters and identities seamlessly integrated into the world building, including trans and nonbinary ones. Though there’s an emphasis on bloodlines, it mostly decouples this from heteronormativity (with the exception of the Berethnets who manage to be the only people who must marry men and is a point of conflict in both books, Galian Berethnet when you catch these hands). Also having so much emphasis on bloodlines is of course still a problem (and a major source of conflict) but hey at least they aren’t homophobic about it.
I liked how this deepened the world building of Priory, though I wish we had gotten some more new information. We get a lot of expansion on the history of this world, but I wish we had some more on the magic system and mythology.
The pacing also could have been better. Though the climax is significantly less rushed than Priory’s, the first half was kind of a slog to get through. Though it was all good content, it took too long to feel like the story had actually gotten into motion. But once it did it was a roaring ride.
Overall, A Day of Fallen Night mostly sticks the landing as a prequel. Though it has some pacing issues and could have expanded more on the world, it has strong characters and a tragic, wild plot.
A Day of Fallen Night is more complex than Priory of the Orange Tree. Following more characters and taking place over more lands, it’s mostly them reacting to wyrms fucking shit up and being like “how the FUCK do we get rid of these wyrms?”
I wish it was a little more interconnected, though pretty much all of the main characters do interact at some point, this felt more like three interconnected stories than one. The protagonists of these stories being Tunuva, Glorian, and Dumai. Wulf is the secret fourth protagonist that crosses over the most between these main plots.
Tunuva’s plot could have been better paced, but I loved her as a character and her relationship to Esbar. The fact she’s a queer middle aged mother and the protagonist of a fantasy novel was so refreshing and I loved how her arc dealt with motherhood. Love to add this to my list of other fantasy novels with mothers who are also protagonists along with The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and The Fifth Season. I also loved how through her we get a deeper look at the culture of the Priory.
Glorian’s plotline was my favorite. She’s the teenage princess of Inys and is dealing with the responsibility of procuring an heir. She’s dealing with the cruelty of the monarchy at the literal worst time (reminder there are WYRMS). Her arc opens a dialog on reproductive rights, mainly in how having children is so heavily expected and even forced on a lot of women, which is made even more interesting in how she’s implied to be asexual and how ace people are often pressured to have sex. She also has such a great and tender friendship with Wulf. Her arc is at once tragic and powerful.
Dumai’s storyline is perhaps the most important to the plotline. She’s dealing the most with “how the FUCK do we get rid of the wyrms?” Hers took me the longest to get into, though I liked her arc and absolutely ADORED her slowburn enemies-to-lovers relationship. Overall, all of the romantic subplots absolutely devoured, managing to both be tender and angsty without melodrama.
Wulf is a poor little meow meow and a sweet boy. He helped add some much needed connections to the characters and is in many ways the glue of the story. There’s some interesting mystery around his character and as previously mentioned he has SUCH a great connection to Glorian, being so ride and die for her.
This book is gayer than the first one. Tunuva and Dumai are both sapphic and have relationships with other women, Wulf is queer (probs bisexual), and Glorian is likely ace. There’s also other queer side characters and identities seamlessly integrated into the world building, including trans and nonbinary ones. Though there’s an emphasis on bloodlines, it mostly decouples this from heteronormativity (with the exception of the Berethnets who manage to be the only people who must marry men and is a point of conflict in both books, Galian Berethnet when you catch these hands). Also having so much emphasis on bloodlines is of course still a problem (and a major source of conflict) but hey at least they aren’t homophobic about it.
I liked how this deepened the world building of Priory, though I wish we had gotten some more new information. We get a lot of expansion on the history of this world, but I wish we had some more on the magic system and mythology.
The pacing also could have been better. Though the climax is significantly less rushed than Priory’s, the first half was kind of a slog to get through. Though it was all good content, it took too long to feel like the story had actually gotten into motion. But once it did it was a roaring ride.
Overall, A Day of Fallen Night mostly sticks the landing as a prequel. Though it has some pacing issues and could have expanded more on the world, it has strong characters and a tragic, wild plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Pregnancy and Grief