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A review by cleo_reads
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
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
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).
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Child death
Minor: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Abandonment