A Day of Fallen Night (The Roots of Chaos)

Actual review:

Good Lord, was this book fantastic! Honestly, I'm struggling to think of a book that's just as well written, well plotted, and just so well done overall. I was in love with A Day Of Fallen Night from the very first chapter right up until the last page. I haven't read Priory of the Orange Tree yet, but I am so excited for it now after reading this book.

So, this book follows four perspectives in a world where dragons and wyverns are very real. There's a shared myth among most of the people in this world of the Nameless One, a deadly dragon whose fire has the power to turn the world to ash. Each country has their own version of events about what happened to the Nameless One and what it is, but I'm not going to get into it because it would be too long. In this book, an eruption of the Dreadmount and a series of disturbing events lead people to believe that perhaps the Nameless One, or something else, has come back to destroy humanity.

We follow four different perspectives in A Day of Fallen Night, each of them from a different corner of the world. Dumai is a godsinger who hails from the East, which is pretty much isolated from the West due to a harsh sea. Then there is Glorian, heir to the Inys throne in the West and child to two very important and brutal political figures. Wulfert Glenn is one of Glorian's father's men in the North, who has a mysterious past. Finally, there's Tunuva, a warrior priestess from the South with strange magic. I would explain more about these characters' roles in the book, but again, it would take too long and also would take away from the story.

All of these perspectives interweave in ways you wouldn't expect and are so interesting. I was eagerly invested in each of the perspectives, which is a rare thing for me, especially in an epic fantasy. Usually, I prefer one perspective over the others, but I was equally invested in each of these characters' stories. Honestly, i did not want this book to end because I did not want to leave these characters.

As much as I loved the characters, I think the setting and the world was my favorite part of the book. Every time I picked up this book, I felt like I was literally in the world. Samantha Shannon did such a fantastic job writing the setting, the lore, and even the different cultures. I just love feeling like I'm in another world when I read fantasy, and it's rare for me to find a book where I become so immersed that it takes me a few minutes to come back to reality.

I struggle to come up with a single flaw for this book. If I had to find something I didn't like, I'd probably say it was how some things feel unresolved. <spoiler>The dream connection thing, Canthe's real identity, the meaning of the magic stones, and the real story of Cleolind to name a few</spoiler> However, like I said before, I haven't read Priory of the Orange Tree yet. For all I know, the things I thought were unresolved could come up in Priory. Also, Samantha Shannon is planning on writing two more books set in this world so she could be planning on coming back to certain things in the future. Also, this issue of unresolved things didn't hamper my love for this book at all. I still think this book is practically flawless.

If you love dragons and magic and fantastic epic fantasy writing pick this up!!

Pre-review: Could this be the best book I've ever read in my lifetime? Right now, I'm thinking A Day of Fallen Night definitely feels like the best book ever. I need some time to sit with my thoughts and feelings, so review to come later (hopefully).

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for an advanced e-book in exchange for an honest review.

A bit slow to start and looking forward to re-reading now that I’m familiar with all of the characters and world building.

Story/Plot is fantastic, pacing superb, world building is original and fun to immerse yourself in.

Too many times I’ve found books or movies proclaiming/critic reviewed to be Feminist leaning are too on the nose and I made the purchase before realizing aDoFN was such a book. Had I read it without seeing the reviews on the back cover wouldn’t have thought twice about the Fem/LGBTQ aspects of the story. Shannon writes in a way that folds the characters and relationships together effortlessly. Love is love; self-identity is defined by no one but the person it belongs to. Shannon writes these truths and ideologies in such a beautiful way. If only everyone could share this perspective.

Although the Writing style is a bit flowery for my taste, this book is the best new fantasy I’ve read in many years. I would certainly put it on par with other big names and classics of the genre and can’t wait to read the Priory and the Orange Tree

*To clarify - I LOVE stories with female MC’s and LGBTQ inclusiveness (Favorites authors include McKinley, Pierce, Sanderson, Maas, Nix…). my point is, for those who might be put off by the reviews which almost make it seem like the Feminist/LGBTQ is the primary focus of the book…that just isn’t the case here any more than it would be for a relationship or self-identity in the real world. It’s not about making a statement for statements sake. aDoFN just a beautiful story that anyone who loves fantasy will enjoy. If you have a problem with the feminist/LGBTQ aspects…that’s your loss.

Okay, so when I read the Priory of the Orange Tree, I’d really thought there was no way Shannon could top it, but I’ve never been more glad to be wrong. I was a bit suspect about this book being a prequel at first, but now I’m genuinely hoping the next book will also be a prequel. A Day of Fallen Night is not only an amazing story as a stand alone book, but it somehow made The Priory of the Orange Tree even better. The characters and the world building in this series are absolutely incredible and Shannon’s writing style is so poetically descriptive and compelling that it genuinely makes 850 pages feel too short. Not to mention, the way she takes multiple perspectives and weaves them together is quite literally a literary art form. I cannot get enough of this series and am now DYING for the next book (another prequel???) to come out.

I will try to keep this as spoiler free as possible, and put a warning before spoilers when they're included.

I debated giving 4 or 5 stars for this review, because while I was absolutely enthralled by this book, I do feel like it's not quite as well-written or as strong of a story as The Priory. However, at the end of the day, the characters won me over, perhaps some of them even more so than the OG characters in The Priory. It's also still a better book than others I've previously given 5 stars to, so 5 stars it is!

What I loved:

I adored Tuva, Glorian, and Wulf. I absolutely loved how their stories played out, and especially how a 50+ year old woman navigated personal life and conflicts with her fierce love and loyalty. It's rare to see any woman over 30 portrayed in fantasy, and while I myself am only in my early 30s, I could strongly relate to her. I didn't connect as much with Dumai, but I still enjoyed her story, even though I would have personally made far different decisions than she did. Honestly, I also really loved seeing more of the ichneumons as well - I'm a sucker for a good magical companion-animal, especially when they can speak.

I felt that the conflicts were, for the most part, very well written. My main issue with The Priory is how the final conflict felt rushed and glossed over, but there were probably 10+ conflicts in Fallen Night and I thought the majority of them were believable and paced well. I also felt like the threat level in this novel was greater than the one in The Priory, and I think the way Glorian in particular handled the threat was extremely well done. She was a very believable ancestor to Sabran IX in her bearing and response to threats.

I also highly enjoyed exploring more of the world of The Priory - we got to visit multiple new lands that we heard of but never saw in the first book, and they melded seamlessly into the overall story. Expanding a universe in a prequel novel is no easy task, as everything has to make sense for both the current and future (past) stories, and I think Shannon did an excellent job doing so. In particular, I enjoyed seeing Hroth, as I actually just went to Iceland and there were so many similarities in both the landscape and historical culture that it was easy to picture in my head.

What I didn't love:

The main issue I have is that, as a prequel, I ended up knowing 40% of the outcomes of the conflicts in the book, which takes away the element of surprise - my favorite part of reading well-crafted fantasy. I instead was thinking things like "hurry up" or "we know," instead of enjoying the story as it unfolded. The slow burn is lovely when you're first learning about the world, but I don't want to spent a large portion of a 900~ page book re-learning things I already know. I can't fault Shannon for it - it makes sense to include it, especially for those who do read this one first - but it just made this one slightly more of a drag to read than The Priory.

Additionally, the pacing and prose are not as strong in Fallen Night as they are in The Priory. While the first book reads like a literary masterpiece, the prequel reads more like a traditional fantasy novel, with random bouts of literary prose. While this does make it technically easier to read, I missed the challenge on my reading comprehension that came with the first. The pacing also seemed scattered - my number one complaint (with all authors who use multiple POVs) is, is it really that hard to just include a timeline at the beginning of the chapter? Even within chapters, time jumps ranged from a few hours to a few months, with few context clues to realize any time had even passed at all from paragraph to paragraph.

((SPOILERS)) As far as the story goes, the thing that irked me the most was the Canthe storyline. Her true identity was obvious from the beginning, and then it soon became obvious that ((MASSIVE SPOILER)) ((last warning)) Wulf was Tuva's son and Canthe had taken him to Inys. So, one of the few things that could have been a surprise in this novel was spoiled as well before the reveal, due to just plain deductive logic. But - why? We sort of get an explanation at the end, but it's weak at best. Canthe says, in nearly the same breath that she wanted to raise someone as her successor, that she doesn't think she can ever die. So why would she need a successor? Also, a successor to what? She has no kingdom, no land to rule other than the wood, nothing tangible to her name. Her motives throughout the book just don't add up to me. I just don't see why she needed to be a main character, other than the purpose of physically connecting other characters and acting as translator. ((SPOILERS OVER))

I could nitpick more, but there's just no need to, because overall I think it is an engrossing, well-done prequel, with deep, flawed, relatable, lovable characters, all trying to survive and overcome trauma in their own ways. As with The Priory, I didn't want the book to end as I could continue reading about all of these wonderful characters. My only wish is that I had read this one first instead. I hope that Shannon plans on writing more novels in this universe, as I will gladly read anything I can in this beautiful world she's created! I've also included a photo of my special editions because those edges are just beautiful ❤️

In my Priory of the Orange Tree review I mentioned how the first ~25%+ was a slog that took me three tries to get through, but the last half was really good. A Day of Fallen Night was pretty much the opposite.

This time around I was drawn right in and thoroughly enjoyed the characters, relationships and world building in the first half, but suddenly there was an interaction that felt forced and unnatural (as if it was a milestone in an outline that was force-fit) and then we launched into a battle heavy second half that revealed that battles are not the author's strongest suit.

Stakes in a book like this are interesting - there are things we know about the Grief of Ages from the first book that define the overall scope of what this book can accomplish, both in terms of people as well as outcomes. That made much of the second half feel like sketches of battles in a bounded box.

But where the book shines is in the characters and their relationships. This is a world that is diverse in its representation, and that really shines here as well. There are at least a dozen major characters we get to explore from four different regions of the world - there are multiple generations, romances, alliances and betrayals, political machinations, and more.

One area that I loved in this book was how much of a focus there was on older characters - and not just as wisened elders, but as vibrant main characters. One of the key POV characters was old enough to be a grandmother but still fought on the front lines and was critical to everything in the story. As an older reader I truly appreciated this representation.

Another exploration was motherhood - what it means to those who want it, don't want it, have it forced upon them, have it taken from them, or how found family can be every bit as real.

The book wraps up with a character by character epilogue that I liked but felt weird because it felt unnatural and like another thing tacked-on unnaturally - and yet I appreciated getting that 'after the story ends' look. Which is likely why it was added.

Overall I enjoyed Fallen Night about as much as Priory but for different reasons - and definitely recommend it. It is a 'door stop' volume, and will take an investment of time, but is overall a worthwhile read.