Feb 28

Feb 28 A Day of Fallen Night

Author: Samantha Shannon
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

The stunning, standalone prequel to the New York Times bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Intricate and epic, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.

TL;DR Review

A Day of Fallen Night is a fantastically rendered standalone fantasy novel. It has everything you could want: dragons, queendoms, mystery, battles, politics, and multiple POVs spanning four continents.

For you if: You like (very sapphic) epic fantasy and don’t mind very long books.

Full Review

I, like so many others, loved The Priory of the Orange Tree, and so I, like so many others, was absolutely HYPED to learn that Samantha Shannon had given us a standalone prequel. I’m happy to say that I loved A Day of Fallen Night just as much, if not more. It is LONG (like 900 pages, lol), but it was worth it!

DAY takes place about 200 years before PRIORY, and it’s a true standalone — honestly, I think you could read either one first and enjoy them both just as much. This one spans all four continents of this world and has four main characters: Tunuva, a member of the Priory; Glorian, princess of Inys; Dumai, a godsinger in the East, and Wulf, a member of the King of Hroth’s house guard — all of whom are more connected than they think. When the fire under the earth births horrors not seen in centuries, it throws the whole world into chaos. (And yes, this book is EXTREMELY sapphic.)

How do they stack up? Well, DAY is slower-paced than PRIORY; there are a lot more political plotlines. But I didn’t dislike that; in fact, I think I fell in love with the characters of DAY a bit more for all the time we spent with them. Tunuva may have been my personal favorite, but honestly I loved them all. Also, I’m happy to say that DAY’s ending is better paced than PRIORY, which many agreed felt a bit rushed.

This book is not for fantasy beginners; in true epic-fantasy style, there are lots of characters, places, and more to keep track of. But if that is your thing — and especially if you enjoyed PRIORY — I think you’ll love this one too.