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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

133 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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opinkb's review

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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

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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

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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

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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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scoutgreimel's review

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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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beebeewin's review against another edition

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

4.5

Another great novel by Samantha Shannon within the world of the Priory of the Orange Tree! While I don't think this is my favorite fantasy book, I do like it better than Priory of the Orange Tree. I think Shannon's world building, character writing, and battles in this novel were fantastic. She really provided us deep character moments that made them feel so human and real. Especially, in a world so uncertain and full of natural disasters and disease, much like ours, Shannon made the characters and behaviors feel so true to life. As with her other books, I appreciate the queerness of the book and appreciated getting to see all kinds of relationships and sexualities represented. She pulled no punches and the ending destroyed me a little. I would say in comparison to the other book in this series, because everything was out in the open for every character in the beginning we got to spend more time with all of them and learn about their worlds. My only complaint is similar to the other book in the series, is that the ending felt a little rushed. I wanted to more in the battle and get to see the emotions and thoughts of all of our characters! I honestly might recommend this book more than Priory of the Orange Tree, especially of you are a little bisexual like me as there is plenty of cute love and intense emotionally wrecking action to go around!
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101mayas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

5.0

A slow burn for sure, but the last ~55% had me so hooked I was reading every chance I got! 100% recommend if you enjoyed Priory
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ryssabean's review

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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? It's complicated

5.0

priory of the orange tree set the world up beautifully and a day of fallen night built on that, even though we see 200 years into the past! the intertwining with priory’s future was really well done, and the inclusion of lgbtq+ folks into more of the story was incredible. TWO wlw relationship! TWO!!!! and one of them was comprised of OLDER WOMEN! it was fantastic.

the pacing was excellent, easing a person into the world again before taking off. relationships were complex and interesting, and a lot of anxieties the characters experience are so real and relatable. 

anyhow! i loved this book!!!!!!! 
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