A Day of Fallen Night: A Roots of Chaos Novel (The Roots of Chaos)

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Wulf: I haven’t really talked (typed?) about him, because I was focusing on the women, but he’s one of my favourites! He’s so sweet, and I just wanted to hug him too!

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. Across the sea in Seiiki, Dumai has spent her life as a godsinger on Mount Ipyeda, a frigid and isolated world away from the politics of the throne room she may be destined for. The sheer effort and commitment in writing such a comprehensive book is to be commended, but it does not stop there because Shannon also provides the images of the global landscape, an explanation of the characters and their roles and even a glossary of terms to help the reader. Long length seems to be becoming The Roots of Chaos' brand, which I don't necessarily dislike. There is a badge of pride and a sense of community that comes with completing such long books. But it comes down to quantity over quality. Does the story justify the length? Do the multiple POVs add or subtract? Do the character motivations make sense? Are they consistent or dynamic? Does it maintain its momentum? Is it balanced?First and foremost, I want to thank Bloomsburry and NetGalley for approving me for an ARC of this book. A Day of Fallen Night was my most anticipated release of 2023, and to read it months before its release was such a surreal experience and I´ll forever be grateful for it. 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. Glorian was my favourite character, and I was constantly flipping between being worried about her and wanting to hug her, to being astonished at how brave and fierce this 17 year old is! What I particularly love about this series, this world, and Samantha Shannon’s writing, is how she writes female relationships. Lastly, this book in particular illustrated so beautifully, that women are simply be the most fearless and forceful beings in this world and our world. In addition to that, A Day of Fallen Night is one of the most inclusive and diverse books I´ve read in a long time and it made me realise how desperately I needed a sapphic enemies to lover’s arch in my life right now.

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. A Day of Fallen Night is a slower burn than Priory. The world building is even richer and more fleshed out and you spend more time really digging into details and getting a look at the world of Priory as it was 500 years before. There are differences in cultures and beliefs and alliances that will provide fans of Priory a good amount of time to speculate how and when certain changes occur. 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.All of which is to say that motherhood and childbearing and the different ways people feel about them are a STRONG theme across this book that's explored so well I still think about it all the time.