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A review by youaremykiseki
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I really enjoyed this book! The writing was absolutely beautiful and wonderfully atmospheric. Tuva was my favorite main character by far, and I loved the way her story unfolded. I also enjoyed the way the author wove in names both familiar and unfamiliar from the first book, which made it feel much more like a real history than most other prequels manage. One of my favorite examples of this is that despite the Priory having already existed for centuries in both books, there are centuries between the events of the two books (if I'm remembering the timelines right), and you could see how some of the choices in this book shaped aspects of the Priory that I recognized from the first book.
I unfortunately had to return the book today so I was on a tight deadline to finish and wasn't able to read the epilogue in detail, but the parts I skimmed seemed like they fairly neatly wrapped up some loose ends that were needed for continuity with the previous book. I would definitely like to read both of them again, closer together (and preferably not on a timeline so that I'm rushing through 600 pages in a day like I did for both of these books oops) so that I can more clearly see the effort the author took in the timelines and continuity. Before this, I wasn't sure if I wanted to reread the first book any time soon, but now I'm hoping to buy myself a copy of the duology asap!
One of my only critiques with this book, which I also had for the first book, is that some of the coincidences felt a little too convenient, but I think that overall they did a good job of bringing all the storylines together. My other critique, which I also had for the previous book was that some of the pacing wasn't the best, and I think they both could've been maybe 100 pages shorter. However. It is also entirely my fault for trying to read them each in the span of only a couple of days. Bad planning on my part.
tl;dr I held back from buying the duology last time I was at the bookstore bc I hadn't read this book yet and wasn't sure I'd want both books but now I am definitely buying them together!!
I unfortunately had to return the book today so I was on a tight deadline to finish and wasn't able to read the epilogue in detail, but the parts I skimmed seemed like they fairly neatly wrapped up some loose ends that were needed for continuity with the previous book. I would definitely like to read both of them again, closer together (and preferably not on a timeline so that I'm rushing through 600 pages in a day like I did for both of these books oops) so that I can more clearly see the effort the author took in the timelines and continuity. Before this, I wasn't sure if I wanted to reread the first book any time soon, but now I'm hoping to buy myself a copy of the duology asap!
One of my only critiques with this book, which I also had for the first book, is that some of the coincidences felt a little too convenient, but I think that overall they did a good job of bringing all the storylines together. My other critique, which I also had for the previous book was that some of the pacing wasn't the best, and I think they both could've been maybe 100 pages shorter. However. It is also entirely my fault for trying to read them each in the span of only a couple of days. Bad planning on my part.
tl;dr I held back from buying the duology last time I was at the bookstore bc I hadn't read this book yet and wasn't sure I'd want both books but now I am definitely buying them together!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts