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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

137 reviews

sephiefoxx's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“Can you imagine what that’s like – to be seen only for the life you could make, not the life you already possess?”

I did it! After over a year of this booking sitting on my TBR shelf taunting me, I read it. And…wow.

Samantha Shannon has such an amazing skill to keep me enthralled for hundreds of pages. Within the over 850 pages of this behemoth, my rapt attention did not falter once. 

This is a fantastic prequel to Priory of the Orange Tree - filled with the same level of fascinating characters, high stakes, and glorious representation as the original. The way everything comes together and influenced the events and characters of Priory was expertly done and had me squealing. 

A Day of Fallen Night is a rich high fantasy about love, personal journeys, power, magic, and most importantly, motherhood against the backdrop of a cataclysmic event. And motherhood is truly the epicentre of this tale, with almost all of POV characters’ journeys intertwined with at least one theme of pregnancy, birth, motherhood, and/or the relationships with their own mothers. And it is the diversity of these experiences and how the characters interact with these themes that mean that there is a story within that will resonate with so many readers.

Samantha Shannon is truly a marvel at high fantasy, and this series has my heart. The characters and world have their hooks in me deeply. 
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hevlav's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

This book was a haul, much like the first. I wish I had read it as soon as I finished Priory; the amount of names and events mentioned in both makes it hard to remember who is who, and what is significant for the future. I do, however, think it is incredibly successful as a stand-alone and I loved the story and writing.
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opinkb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

5.0

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weirdemosrus's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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hayreading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

There was so much I could appreciate on a second read. The worldbuilding is beautiful. Every character felt so real and I loved them all so much. The interwoven story between this and Priory, while both can be read without the other is amazing. So much of what I love in fantasy stems from this series.
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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What a ride. I think I loved this book more than the first.

I loved this one so much. I always love when multiple-POV books from characters across the world eventually come together and storylines converge, and the first one had this but this felt much better written, better paced, and better plotted out.

There's a great theme of motherhood throughout the book and despite a number of queer relationships in the book, they're not the solitary point of the story. Everyone's storyline was multifaceted even with common themes such as Fighting The Wyrms. It was a wonderful time reading this even if it took me two whole months because Real Life. I would love to read smaller novellas that would stem from this world, even some written in between the time periods.
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selimhannah's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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sshaw86's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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ladyylesbian's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book was much more enjoyable to read. I love chronological order so I would have read this book first before The Priory of the Orange Tree. I think it would also help with understanding and caring about the characters in the first book more by reading in chronological order. I only cared about 3 of the POVs until about half way through the book and then I was interested in all POVs and distraught by having to constantly switch which character I was reading. Similar to the first book, I felt the ending was rushed and too easy, but it at least it made more sense to be easy than in the first book. I was confused by some
deaths that turned out to not be deaths
. I love how much love and family and support this book was filled with no matter the POV being read
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scoutgreimel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Is this book as amazing as its predecessor? No.  However, that does not stop it from being an amazing book in its own right. In fact, in regards to overall story arc pacing, I do think that this one is a bit of an improvement.

I do not usually find that I have trouble with books that have a slow narrative that jumps between many points of view, but this one was truly a slog at many times. Yet, that did not hinder me from becoming deeply attached to the characters. So attached that I am still sobbing as I write this review.

While this book does not answer every question you’re left with during Priory, if you are a true lover of the lore and world building of the original book (and a freak about remembering details like me), many of the plot and character reveals that come later in the book are not that surprising, but still incredibly satisfying, like Shannon is rewarding you for being so invested in the world she has carefully crafted.

The parallels and foils go crazy (as usual), and just… I don’t know how else to say it, Shannon has made a beautiful, epic, sweeping story that sticks with you forever. AGAIN!
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