In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.
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 …
In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.
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.
I was a little skeptical at first because we already know the ending but it's just as gripping as "Priory". Samantha Shannon took the opportunity to explore some corners of the world that were mentioned but that we didn't see much of in that book. But we also get more insight into Inys and the Priory itself. I felt that the book was a little tighter/ more coherent than Priory. We stay more with the characters. What resonated with me was how even in the face of a cataclysm you have your relationship and family troubles. Your life doesn't stop. If you liked "Priory of the Orange Tree" you should read this one as well.
Content warning
Minor vaugish spoilers for both Fallen Night and Priory of the Orange Tree
When I first heard that this was going to be a prequel I was so concerned I wasn't going to enjoy this book. I usually hate prequels because the author usually needs to spend time introducing characters that, if you read the "first" book to be released you're already familiar with. Shannon successfully dodges this by jumping multiple decades into her world's past, and introduces a new set of characters that have significant influence on the world.
It was an interesting experience at some points, however, where since I knew how the "story" was going to end because I read The Priory of the Orange Tree. I found myself demoralized and unwilling to continue to read these character's tales of struggle since I knew there was going to be another event of destruction far into the world's future. Despite that, I still continued on because I cared deeply for all these characters by that point and wanted to know how their tales ended.
As usual Shannon's done such an amazing job at both writing immaculately described scenery and cultures, while also writing such well developed characters that I feel like I'm friends and family with almost every character in the book. She also does a phenomenal job at inclusivity to where there are characters all over the rainbow that are just allowed to exist in the world. Several non-binary characters just exist, able to live their lives in the book with little drama from other characters over their identity. Everyone just accepts who everyone else is. There are more important things going on in the world than who we choose to love or how we want to be addressed.
Now I can't wait to see if there's another installment in this series!
A prequel for The Priory Of The Orange Tree, about five hundred years before that book with even more protagonists to jump between in this massive world making the book big enough to count as an offensive weapon in most EU countries. And of course, like before, plenty of these characters are queer af. I was drawn into this cast a lot quicker than the original and it still felt like there was plenty of freshness despite knowing future events from Priory.
In the West, you have the European-style land of the Queendom of Inys, head of virtuedom - a religion built on the lie of a night half a millennium before. Each Queen is only able to have a single female child to pass down the line and their religion holds that their bloodline keeps The Nameless One at bay; a situation which keeps its queens in chains as …
A prequel for The Priory Of The Orange Tree, about five hundred years before that book with even more protagonists to jump between in this massive world making the book big enough to count as an offensive weapon in most EU countries. And of course, like before, plenty of these characters are queer af. I was drawn into this cast a lot quicker than the original and it still felt like there was plenty of freshness despite knowing future events from Priory.
In the West, you have the European-style land of the Queendom of Inys, head of virtuedom - a religion built on the lie of a night half a millennium before. Each Queen is only able to have a single female child to pass down the line and their religion holds that their bloodline keeps The Nameless One at bay; a situation which keeps its queens in chains as much as the peasants. Following Princess Glorian, we see her have to grow up a lot faster than she deserves as a new threat looms upon the world and her right to rule.
In the East, beyond the impassable Abyss sea, you have Asiatic societies whose gods have been asleep for centuries. Dumai has been isolated in the mountains as a godsinger all her life until she is thrust back into the heart of a deeply divided state that refuses to see the rising threat beyond the isolated island.
And in the South lies the Priory, a secret society of women who dedicate their lives to training to defeat The Nameless One when he returns. But it has been so long and some question whether their founding story is true and whether there is any threat to the world that justifies a seclusion some see as imprisonment.
As the end of the world approaches for all, in each corner of the world people rise to face their pain and imagine a future for those they love.
Despite its length, it’s not something that I felt lacked good pacing and always kept me engaged with these characters and their world. I’m always someone who can be sold on anything with a good character and I felt invested in every single one of them, for each of their flaws and dreams.
A decent escapist holiday read, otherwise overly long. Well done gender reversals and critique of monarchy as a womb trap. Characters never quite gripped me, and climax is a bit of a deus ex machina let down.
I love the Priory of the Orange Tree, I really was not sure what to expect but wow. A Day of Fallen night is beautiful. The world building is incredible, and the characters growth and arcs are amazing.
There are ALOT of characters though, that did confuse me at the start but wow just a beautiful and epic journey
It's rare that I read such a beast of a book, but the 880 pages flew by. I had forgotten a lot of the details of The Priory of the Orange Tree and I was a bit distracted by trying to work out who or what I was meant to know about already. It's an entirely new cast except for some of the dragons, I think. Once all the new people are set out, it's a pacey and highly enjoyable tale, maybe a bit predictable in places, but perhaps that was info from the first book creeping through my subconscious.
"to hold the risen fire at bay until the night descends"
How do you make a sequel to something intended as a stand-alone novel? Fans of the series demanded a new book, but things were fairly contained within Priory of the Orange Tree, so how do you square the circle? I quite like the author’s approach here; rather than making a direct sequel to the events of the first book, she marched 500 years into the past and created another stand-alone. Fans get their sequel, there’s no expectations to live up to, and you can continue building out the (extensive) lore you introduced in the first book. A win all around, that I think the author knocked out of the park to boot.
There be spoilers here after this point.
Despite being an all-new cast of characters, there’s just enough familiarity here to hit the ground running with the …
"to hold the risen fire at bay until the night descends"
How do you make a sequel to something intended as a stand-alone novel? Fans of the series demanded a new book, but things were fairly contained within Priory of the Orange Tree, so how do you square the circle? I quite like the author’s approach here; rather than making a direct sequel to the events of the first book, she marched 500 years into the past and created another stand-alone. Fans get their sequel, there’s no expectations to live up to, and you can continue building out the (extensive) lore you introduced in the first book. A win all around, that I think the author knocked out of the park to boot.
There be spoilers here after this point.
Despite being an all-new cast of characters, there’s just enough familiarity here to hit the ground running with the (many) different viewpoints. Glorian, daughter of Sabran the Ambitious and King Bardholt of Hróth, is having a hard time finding her feet and her place within the role forced upon her. All her life she had her own ideas of how she wanted to live her life, but the older she grows, the more she realizes that duty comes before all else in the Queendom of Inys. Over at the Priory, we’re introduced to Tunuva and Esbar, sisters training to slay wyrms that haven’t appeared in generations. Discontent is rumbling through the Priory as some younger sisters start questioning why the Order still exists. When Siyu escapes the stifling confines of the Priory, Tunuva is sent to bring her home, but her return brings unwelcome change to the Priory. Finally, in Seiiki, Dumai of Ipyeda is a godsinger at the High Temple of Kwiriki, daughter of Unora of Afa, and heir of more than she knows. When her family comes knocking, she’s compelled to leave the mountain home she knows and loves in order to serve the kingdom. But as the world starts to tremble, it is her godsinger heritage that ultimately calls her to duty in service of the sea dragon Furtia.
The scope of this book is quite a bit larger than Priory of the Orange Tree I think. Lots more places, tons of minor characters and references, but not to the point where I felt overwhelmed and lost. I think reading Priory of the Orange Tree first gave me the structure I needed to be able to sort through everything thrown at me here. There’s quite a bit more politics in this one as well, particularly in the Inys sections, but I’m such a sucker for grand political fantasy that I loved it all. It has a bit of a slow start, and I was starting to wonder where things were headed initially, but about a third of the way through things start ramping up quickly and I had a hard time putting it down. The ending was incredibly satisfying as well, and while a lot was happening at once, it didn’t have the same frantic feel as I thought Priory of the Orange Tree had at the end.
I hope the author decides to do more stand-alone books within this universe, because I thought this one was fantastic. Everything had a purpose, the writing was excellent, and I loved basically everything about it. Great fantasy, great work.
