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A review by emoverhere
A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
5.0
I don’t think I can properly review this book, even if I wanted to. After a certain threshold of love for a story is reached, it becomes quite difficult for me to put my feelings towards it in words. eloquently or otherwise. But, this love has to go somewhere, so here it goes:
I adore this series, I don’t think I’ve ever held so much love for any world before. From the moment I found out another book from the Roots of Chaos cycle was coming, it was all I looked forward to reading. And by god, was it worth the wait.
Samantha Shannon proved, yet again, that she is a master of her craft. The genius of this world left me speechless at multiple turns, the sheer vividness of its details, the unflinching humanity of every single character, even the antagonists, the richness of the its history is refreshing. I never knew how much I missed it until I returned to it.
I’m going to admit, it was strange at first, to go back to Inys and not find Ead and Sabran, to visit the Priory without the sisters I’ve grown used to, to return to Seiiki without Tané. It was home, but slightly different, but surprisingly, it didn’t take time at all to get used to these new characters. With every turn of the page, I got more and more used to them, and when it was time to say goodbye, it was exceedingly difficult to accept that their stories have come to an end.
I’d also like to praise the way certain topics were handled in this book (ie: Glorian’s heir situation). If it was any other author, I would’ve held my breath in terror, knowing how easy it was to mishandle a topic as delicate as the one Glorian had to endure, but that never once happened here. Like, what happened to Glorian was absolutely heartbreaking, but the way the Yscali Prince thing was handled was a reminder of why I trust her so much. After all, reading is an emotional experience, especially when stories about womanhood (girlhood, really, in Glorian’s case) are involved, stories that are so often handled with suck recklessness that, in some ways, it became normal to mess them up.
Also, the LGBTQ+ inclusion in this book was out of this world, I’ve never seen a book with so much representation across the entire spectrum. It was fantastic. My favorites were the relationship between Tunuva and Esbar (because honestly, how often do we get to see older sapphics in media who are still badass warriors), and Dumai and Nikeya’s relationship. Nobody writes sapphic enemies to lovers as well as Samantha Shannon. NOBODY.
There’s so much more to be praised: the fantastic writing, the way this made priory richer, the bittersweet endings, the way this beautiful work of art added to an already rich world. I can praise this series for the next one hundred years and it wouldn’t do the love I hold for it justice.
If I could give this a billion stars, I would, but sadly goodreads doesn’t have that option yet. So for now, this is a ridiculously easy 5 stars. I already can’t wait to for book 3 in this series. If it’s next year or in thirty years, I will be waiting patiently for it, excited by the prospect of returning to this world I’ve grown to love as much as a second home.
I adore this series, I don’t think I’ve ever held so much love for any world before. From the moment I found out another book from the Roots of Chaos cycle was coming, it was all I looked forward to reading. And by god, was it worth the wait.
Samantha Shannon proved, yet again, that she is a master of her craft. The genius of this world left me speechless at multiple turns, the sheer vividness of its details, the unflinching humanity of every single character, even the antagonists, the richness of the its history is refreshing. I never knew how much I missed it until I returned to it.
I’m going to admit, it was strange at first, to go back to Inys and not find Ead and Sabran, to visit the Priory without the sisters I’ve grown used to, to return to Seiiki without Tané. It was home, but slightly different, but surprisingly, it didn’t take time at all to get used to these new characters. With every turn of the page, I got more and more used to them, and when it was time to say goodbye, it was exceedingly difficult to accept that their stories have come to an end.
I’d also like to praise the way certain topics were handled in this book (ie: Glorian’s heir situation). If it was any other author, I would’ve held my breath in terror, knowing how easy it was to mishandle a topic as delicate as the one Glorian had to endure, but that never once happened here. Like, what happened to Glorian was absolutely heartbreaking, but the way the Yscali Prince thing was handled was a reminder of why I trust her so much. After all, reading is an emotional experience, especially when stories about womanhood (girlhood, really, in Glorian’s case) are involved, stories that are so often handled with suck recklessness that, in some ways, it became normal to mess them up.
Also, the LGBTQ+ inclusion in this book was out of this world, I’ve never seen a book with so much representation across the entire spectrum. It was fantastic. My favorites were the relationship between Tunuva and Esbar (because honestly, how often do we get to see older sapphics in media who are still badass warriors), and Dumai and Nikeya’s relationship. Nobody writes sapphic enemies to lovers as well as Samantha Shannon. NOBODY.
There’s so much more to be praised: the fantastic writing, the way this made priory richer, the bittersweet endings, the way this beautiful work of art added to an already rich world. I can praise this series for the next one hundred years and it wouldn’t do the love I hold for it justice.
If I could give this a billion stars, I would, but sadly goodreads doesn’t have that option yet. So for now, this is a ridiculously easy 5 stars. I already can’t wait to for book 3 in this series. If it’s next year or in thirty years, I will be waiting patiently for it, excited by the prospect of returning to this world I’ve grown to love as much as a second home.