Jaelyn reviewed Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos, #0)
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to …
Review of 'Day of Fallen Night' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
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.
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.