A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon somehow managed to amaze me even more then I thought it would.

I knew I would love it - that was never in question. Not just because of its connection to Priory of the Orange Tree, and its ties to these characters I hold near and dear to my heart, but because I find Shannon's writing incredibly intriguing and honestly a little mind-blowing.
Shannon make connections between characters and world builds in a fascinating and yet wholly own way and I think I would read her grocery list and enjoy it if she let me.

Set some 500 years prior to Priory, Shannon somehow both expands and zooms in on much of the world building already established in her first book in this world. And yet is is different.
Characters which are mentioned in passing in Priory take centre stage here - but are wholly human and full bodied in a way historic characters are not.

Following four new (and also not new?) characters situated in the four corners of the world - each tied to each other in indescribable ways. And as the plot thickens these characters are moved closer and closer to one another till the incredible finale where my heart both shattered and was healed (incredible I know!)

Reading a book knowing how the world looks 500 years laters should mean the stakes are less high but Shannon knows how to build action and tension, and though the beginning of the book is slow (to some people it might be a little world building heavy) each page is important and comes to a marvellous conclusion.

In addition to wonderful writing what I also love about the Roots of Chaos is the sheer queerness of it all.
The love between women, both in a romantic sense and in a platonic way, is the back bone of this story and the fact that we get a established lesbian relationship feels like the icing on the cake.

I loved this book. That's mainly it.
Please read it.

A Day of Fallen Night
Author: Samantha Shannon

Prequel to "The Priory of the Orange Tree"

Sometimes you read a book that has the gift of enchanting you.The world around you suddenly doesn't exist anymore. The Priory of the Orange Tree made me feel like if I was wandering around in a fantasy world.

I felt beyond excited when the prequel was announced. We travel five hundred years back in time. Here we discover new cultures, characters and a complex world where everyone will eventually have to form a unity to defeat the darkness.

Religious views play a major role. The storyline is written in a multi-pov where each character lets you accompany them on their journey. Grief, war and many other complex life tragedies appear on their paths.

Due to the rich world building and the introduction of the many new characters, the story gets off to a slow start. Personally, I like it more when the first chapters immediately contain a lot of action. The magic of the first book overpowered the sequel in my point of view.

The hidden messages about motherhood, tragic, love and acceptance are beautifully described by the author. Good to mention is that both books are LGBT friendly.

Lovers of the fantasy genre should give this series a go.

I want to thank Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Trigger warnings:
Violence, grief and death

This novel is one of my most anticipated reads this year and did not disappoint. I loved Priory and got really into the world-building, which I think was helpful when reading this story.

Shannon is so good at having different layers of the story be told separately for the most part but then weaving them seamlessly towards the end. It makes a magical story feel even more magical.

As with Priory, the strong women characters in this book were so well-written and such interesting people, it made it so much easier to read such a chunky book.

It did take me a rather long time to read it because it is such a massive book, but it was definitely worth the slog!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book.

I’m very sorry I’m giving 3 stars to one of my most anticipated books this year. The story is quite beautiful and heartbreaking but the book is definitely too long. For the first half very little happens, especially to Glorian who was one of the characters I wanted to know more of. It is also possible I spoiled myself because before reading it I checked the glossary in The Priory and I already knew what would have happened to some of the characters. Plus, when the dragons awake, the characters almost immediately know that a day of fallen night will come and will put them to sleep again, so it is as if they are all surviving to see that day and there is not much hype. In any case I think it would have been better to read this book before the Priory. The audiobook helped me a lot finishing it.

A complexly-built epic fantasy novel! I absolutely love how Samantha Shannon is able to weave huge story threads together whilst keeping the story flowing, making it easy to follow along and allow the reader to remember everything that's happening in such a huge book. All of the characters were well-written and felt very real and, as with Priory, the world-building was outstanding!

3.5 stars

Headlines:
Complex characters, connections, lands and strategy
Strong women, still beholden
Celestial awakenings

Well, this has been an epic undertaking of an epic tale. I was a stalwart fan of Priory of the Orange Tree and this precursor landed the reader in familiar settings but with a host of new characters with similar traditions. I didn't like A Day of Fallen Night as much as priory but it does sit well as a companion. In retrospect, I still think the best reading order is Priory first.

The story revolved around four main POVs, sometimes they were long and sometimes shorter. At first, I felt like I was just getting to know that particular character when it flipped around the compass. Samantha Shannon excels at deep characterisation. I went from favouring Dumai to finding both Glorian and Wulf to be final favourites. Glorian found her strength and her stride around half way and she was utterly courageous. I loved Glorian's father too. There were side characters (and some main characters) that never really pulled me in like Nikeya, Esbar and Tuneva. Queer relationships abounded in this read woven beautifully into the world.

The story pitched contrasting beliefs and traditions but all the lands found themselves at the mercy of awakening fire breathers. The strategy was difficult to follow sometimes but overall, I managed it. It took time for the stories to connect but honestly, I didn't mind that as most were interesting on their own.

The read overall was slow moving. I really appreciated listening on audio for pronunciation and multiple POV/multiple narrators. The narration was well acted but really slow so I had to speed up way beyond my usual to get a normal pace. It took me about 6 weeks to navigate this one.

Thank you Bloomsbury for the eARC.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this one :( I read The Priory of the Orange Tree for a book club and was excited to get approved for this one. However, at this moment, I am not feeling it. Hopefully, after some time I will!

"A Princess for the West. One lost for the East. In the South, a third girl was born between the other two,

This girl was not destined to wear a crown. Her birth did not stitch the wounds in a Queendom, or gift her with any right to a throne. This birth took place deep in the Lasian Basin, out of sight of the eyes of the world - because this girl, like her birthplace was secret."

A Day of Fallen Night can be read as a stand alone book or as part of the 'roots of chaos' series. It is a very long read but absolutely worth it.

A Day of Fallen Night is written in split narrative form and is one of those rare books where all of the characters are fascinating. I anticipated the next installment of each person equally. I loved the whole thing.

The main element I felt this book brings to the genre is central female protagonists who take charge of the situations they find themselves in. This is an element not often encountered in the fantasy genre. It was a refreshing change, as was the representation of a variety of relationships.

Admiredly there is a lot to take in with this book, because the world bulding is so complex. We get a full political system, history and religious aspects of the world, in addition to knowledge on the lives of the central characters. This knowledge made the book a slow read for me initially but it certainly grew on me later on.

Things are changing. The world is heating up. The gods are waking and winged creatures are taking to the sky.

"Then came a terrible sound, the like of which she had never heard, and hoped never to hear again. Not the crack of the eruption, or the sinister rumble that had been the herald.

This sound was the grating of earth on earth, the ring of metal, the roar of a fire as it swallowed a house - a bellow of consuming rage that echoed across Mentenndon. As Tunuva Melim watched, five dark shapes emerged from the mountain and disappeared into the night.

Five dark shapes with ten dark wings, flocked by dark moths that all screamed the same scream, old as the world."

I hadn't read The Priory of the Orange Tree but I will be reading it now and any others in this series.

I honestly didn't know how to rate this as I definitely think objectively this book is better than priory but my enjoyment was more or less the same. The world is so much richer in this book and we get so much more history, especially of the priory. The characters were also so much more developed and from different walks of life which I loved. All of the characters wove together well. I think Wulf was my favourite character for sure. My only issue is I feel like with a book of this length you don't remember everything that has happened by the time you get to the end

I loved Priory of the Orange Tree, and couldn't wait to start A Day of Fallen Night. But after struggling on for about 20%, I had to give up. With so many characters, and the different locations, it became a trial to keep track of everything. I will pick it up in the future and try again, as I enjoyed what I did read.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC.

A Day of Fallen Night is a standalone prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree. It’s set just shy of five centuries before Priory and covers the period known as the Great Sorrow, or Grief of Ages.
Shannon’s aim is for readers to be able to pick the books up in any order, and to know they’re getting a complete adventure each time. She does not disappoint. Having not read Priory, I was able to thoroughly enjoy this very long read. I did a double take with my Kindle’s estimated read time!! Given how long it is the story does flow. I did struggle to retain all the characters and cannot decide if that was just down to me or some like of distinction and imagery so that I struggled to picture them clearly enough. Thankfully the chapter titles help keep you abreast of which geographical area you are moving between. However it may have helped if the cast of characters and supplementary information at the end of the book were placed at the front for e-readers.
Glorian Berethnet is the sole heir to her throne and the fifteen-year-old figurehead of her religion; Tunuva Melim, who has dedicated fifty years of her life to the Priory and to her goddess; and Dumai of Ipyeda, whose journey and relationship with the slumbering gods of the East will go on to define history. There are magical dragons & Wyverns the friend and foe of the kingdom, amidst a shared myth that the Nameless One will return to turn the world to ash, wiping out humanity.

In part it is a story about mothers and daughters, women, with lots of normalised same sex relationships intertwined with power, religion and politics. It is complicated but generally enjoyable to follow. It progresses at a largely steady rhythm with a purpose, but I will admit as the book was drawing towards its denouement, I found myself relieved to complete it. This probably tarred my overall enjoyment as I had looked forward to picking the book back up to read throughout, but by the end it started to feel like a quest in its own right. Many readers are gushing about the book, which I can appreciate, but with some murkiness about being able to crystalise who was who, the length and a slightly disappointing end, it resulted in some waning of my overall enjoyment. There was some very beautiful world building with a very fitting book cover.

ADOFN the second book in Samantha Shannon's Roots of Chaos series that started with (the marmite-ish) Priory of the Orange Tree. Taking place 500 years *before* Priory ADOFN gives us a thorough lowdown of the last time there was a celestial imbalance and how the Priory and monarchies around the world survived the carnage.

I loved the whole cast of characters from 50 year old warrior Tunuva to 30 year old godsinger Dumai and 15 year old Glorian. I thoroughly fell for Wulf though, the one male POV throughout with a curious phobia and even more curious backstory.

Shannon really puts her characters through the ringer and makes up for it by writing her characters with fantastic depth and nuance. I am always gripped by the emotions her characters go through, their grief, despair, fear, delight, joy, longing and angst feel so so real and especially with ADOFN, more so than Priory for me.

Story wise i really enjoyed reading about the 4 corners of the world, their myths and legends and folklore was so much fun to learn about. My only gripe with this was how long it to me personally to get lost in the story (but I think that was a me thing as there was a lot of Stuff Going On in my life when I started it!).

Anyway ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and I may need to reread Priory now!

Set 500 years before Priory🍊 ADOFN is the story of 4 people, warriors in their own right, and the individual journies they were forced to take the last time there was an imbalance in the world. Full of wyrms, bodily autonomy and so much heart (though not in that order) this is for fans of feminist epic fantasy.

OH. MY. GOD.

Somehow even better than Priory of the Orange Tree, A Day of Fallen Night is INCREDIBLE! This was a true masterclass in high fantasy, I was completely immersed, I thought all of the POVs were really strong - I couldn't decide on a favourite! So compelling and just so intricate - this book is so beautifully well-crafted, I honestly think Samantha Shannon is a pure genius. So much attention to detail with how history would have changed between the events of this book and the events of Priory. The world is so expansive and each country feels so genuinely real and separate from each other, I don't understand how Samantha Shannon's mind has come up with it all.

Despite it being a really big book at over 800 pages, it didn't feel like a slog at all; in fact, I wanted to read it more slowly so that I could truly drink in every single word, but I still feel like I need to immediately reread it to catch all of the details leading up to the end that I might have missed. Even despite knowing how the events of this book would play out (the biggest way anyway) from the history told in Priory, it was still exciting and tense and epic.

This is also a book with mothers and daughters at the very heart of the story and I thought each relationship played out so beautifully and heartachingly. You connect to each character and what they go through, with childbirth, grief, love all flowing through the story and it was truly just so delicately handled, you can tell how much the author loves these characters (despite putting them through hell).

This book is also so gloriously queernormative; so naturally woven in and included is just so wonderful to see! Tunuva and Esbar's relatonship especially is one of my favourite things about this book, they are so in love!!

Truly outstanding, even better than Priory of the Orange Tree, and a work of art. I am going to need the next Roots of Chaos book ASAP please!!!

There's just something wonderful about a chonky fantasy novel, about being able to stay immersed in a world for longer than a typical book. It's an experience I've come to associate with Samantha Shannon. I think this is even better than Priory of the Orange Tree.

Everything just ticks my boxes here! The world-building is thoughtful and interesting, with the religious, political and cultural world well presented. The different character paths weave together well. Furthermore, most of the characters are women and the world is queer-normative. This was just a wonderful reading experience and I can't wait for more in this series.

Thanks to Netgalley who provided a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy!
This book is a masterpiece! Every single page was amazing! Loved the representation and all the characters! Even better than the first one!

Firstly, let’s get to the business of which way around you should read these books. Obviously, I came to this one having already read The Priory of the Orange Tree – but if you haven’t, then it certainly isn’t a problem. In fact, given the relatively slow, steady build-up of this doorstopper, I think it might be an easier introduction to the sheer scope and power of the world. That said, as the books are set five hundred years apart, each one can also be treated as a standalone.

The pacing is certainly tighter in this offering – I recall there were moments in TPOTOT when after a big build-up, the keynote scene was delivered at a bit of a gallop. There wasn’t any such unevenness that stood out for me this time around. And the other issue I had with TPOTOT was the manner in which significant character deaths were treated – Shannon clearly hated killing off any of her cast and so we mostly learnt of their demise second-hand, instead of having a ringside seat to the event. Not so in ADOFN – there are several notable deaths, but two in particular stood out as I didn’t see them coming. But they were movingly written and left me with a lump in my throat – which is what you want when someone is tragically and unexpectedly killed.

Once again, I’m left awed at the sheer scale of this book, which comes in at 850+ pages. Epic fantasy tales tend to deal with the political, religious and social pressures caused by major happenings – and this one is no exception. I liked how a particular historic event has been interpreted entirely differently by various cultures, causing friction and religious persecution that fractures the response to the rise of the monsters. I also enjoyed the tenderness and love demonstrated within the same sex relationships, which Shannon writes very well.

Indeed, the characters all sing off the page as each one is clearly nuanced, with strengths and weaknesses that sometimes define them – fatally so, in a few instances – and always made me want to turn the page to learn more. Perhaps the one theme that stood out for me in this book is the treatment of motherhood. In a lot of Fantasy, mothers are often idealised and there is rarely a hint that any mother is anything other than thrilled with their offspring. So I was struck by Shannon’s more nuanced approach – particularly the feelings of poor, trapped Glorian. And given her plight is one that reflected the fate of queens and princesses through History, I found it both poignant and utterly relatable. I also loved the fact that three main protagonists in this book are all at different stages in their lives.

And I haven’t yet mentioned the dragons… the monsters… the battles… the double-crossings and the redemptions. All in all, this is an impressive effort – and since I stopped reading it, it has stayed with me. I’ve even dreamt about it. Highly recommended for fans of epic fantasy tales that provide an insight into a detailed, plausible world through a cast of charismatic and nuanced characters. While I obtained an arc of A Day of Fallen Night from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

Wow. I am speechless! A Day of Fallen Night is absolutely outstanding! A gorgeous, tragic, triumphant fantasy novel set in such a layered world with its own mythology and history carried by the most inspiring, badass women with the most incredible inner and outer strength. A true tale of love, loss, friendship, family and responsibility. Glorian and Tuva were my favourites throughout, not forgetting the wonderful Wulff. It had everything I need and is one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time. My expectations were high but this exceeded them all and then some. A complete and utter triumph!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

While I probably would have preferred a book that continued the story of The Priory, or at least gave us more insight into some of those characters, Shannon's new book, which takes us back to the time of the Grief of Ages, introduces us to new characters who you immediately get to know and love almost as much. I enjoyed the intertwining of the stories, which happened a lot quicker than in the original novel, and there were a few nods and even cameos that will be appreciated by fans. Getting to know more about the Priory was definitely a bonus, and I really liked the Tunuva storyline especially.

4.5 stars. Let's see if Shannon takes us even further back to the original Dreadmount eruption!

now i haven’t read priory yet… it’s been on my TBR for the longest time ever and since reading this, i have gone to pick it up because i am OBSESSED! now i am not a fan of thick books, so this took me a long time to read because i had to keep taking breaks - big books OVERWHELM me!

you can really tell that Samantha Shannon thought about every word that went into this book. this books screams that Shannon has thought of EVERYTHING - typically when you read a novel, especially one of this size, you question whether certain aspects were relevant and are actually crucial to the story. but this is not the case with this book. not a word was wasted. this book is so immersive and truly hooks you in right from the start. and whoever designs these covers really deserves a raise because they are STUNNING!

this was such a breathtaking and powerful read. i really recommend it to everyone! now… onto reading priory!

I don’t think I could love this book more, the prose is so beautiful, the worldbuilding is first rate and beyond fantastic. I loved the idea of a Matriarchal society, one where homosexuality is accepted, but honestly everything is accepted, there are dragons, magic, religion, action, adventure, love, politics, betrayal, this book has over 800 pages of everything you could ever want in a fantasy story and I completely love it



I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.