A Day of Fallen Night: Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos) Paperback – 18 Jan. 2024

There's no two ways about it, Shannon's Roots of Chaos books are an undertaking to read. This one was even longer than The Priory of the Orange Tree and while a book being a chonky boi isn't something that generally ever puts me off, I'm well acquainted with the author's writing; there is never a wasted word nor a moment where you can scan over a descriptive passage. She always asks you to engage with every moment. Your reward for this is a fully immersive fantasy experience unlike any other. But if you're in the mood for light, undemanding fare then this is probably not the book for you at this time.I loved The Priory of the Orange Tree. I won't claim it was flawless but it was a perfect book for me - the sapphic fantasy novel I'd always wanted. A Day of Fallen Night recaptures that immersive experience and tightens the story telling. It took me a little while to get into - Shannon uses the first twenty per cent of the book to set out her stall and doesn't rush. However, the narrative is still engaging enough to draw you in if you give it the chance.A Day of Fallen Night is a subtle, slow burn political fantasy novel which explores various themes (which I'll get into) and while it does have plenty of action, it's main purpose is an examination of character interactions set against a backdrop of helplessness in the face of impossible odds.It's told from four disparate POVs and Shannon moves us skilfully through different corners of her world, managing the enviable feat of making all of her ensemble cast equally compelling. It seems initially as if at least three of these POVs are all on separate trajectories and are unlikely to meet in the main plot and part of the joy of the story is unravelling how these pathways will collide.Let's talk themes. Perhaps one of the biggest is how we all deal with being helpless and what choices we make when under that kind of pressure. The dragons in this universe and especially in this book are more like stand-ins for natural disasters. We frail humans cannot generally stand in the path of an earthquake or a volcanic eruption and expect to emerge the victor, and it is the same with the wyrms or western dragons, and to a lesser extent the hybrid creatures who follow them. The point here is that if you cannot solve the problem by swinging an ordinary sword at it, what choices do you make? This plays nicely into an examination of the interconnectedness of all things. When a global disaster hits, you may be striving to survive and find solutions, but so are other people on the other side of the world - people you have never met and will likely never know about. You benefit from their courage and endeavour as they benefit from yours. Therefore no matter how hopeless a situation appears, it is always worth fighting on in whatever way you can. No man is an island and perhaps you won't succeed for yourself but you might just tip the balance for someone else.Another theme is motherhood and parental/ child love. Honestly, this theme would normally turn me right off because there is far too much 'mothers are saints and can do no wrong; isn't it sacred and beautiful' crap out there. However Shannon skilfully examines the issue from all perspectives and from a variety of different approaches to parenthood. Even mothers who mean well can do harm and on the opposite end of the scale, motherhood can also be used in toxic ways to 'own' a child. There's a look at changing perspectives from being the child recipient of parental love to becoming a parent too. And the always gut wrenching 'this is the world I must bring a child into' aspect told with nuance and empathy.Another major theme is power. Who deserves power, if anyone? Who is worthy of it? And how far will you go to obtain and hold it? There was an interesting pont where one character is politically outmanoeuvred. Ordinarily, the reader would then be treated to several chapters of them out scheming the opposition in turn. I love a good battle of wits but what Shannon did was more interesting IMO. She had her character reassess why she wanted power and whether she could do better elsewhere. Sometimes, choosing to surrender, even temporarily, in a bid to do the least amount of harm, is the best choice. Surrender is not necessarily to be conflated with weakness.I could on about themes, about every bit of meaning I extracted from the story on just one read (I'm sure there's more) but I'd advise you just to read the book. The world building is phenomenal. The prose is intelligent and beautiful. There are several sapphic romances told with nuance and featuring fully formed characters and a range of other diverse representation which shows diversity of thought rather than being a tick box exercise. The story is gripping and so multi layered and clever, I'm not sure I saw everything even now. Best of all the characters completely engaging. I loved this book. Highly recommend.

What a fabulous continuation of The priory of the orange tree. Well written with lots of twists and turns, passion, adventure, danger, fantasy at its best and totally absorbing. Cannot wait for the 3rd book in this series to come out.

Got for the wife who was 40 odd books into her year. She really likes the story though found the world building to be a little too much. It's a large book and for the first half she had to reread a few bits to make sure she knew the different groups/characters/locations etc well enough for the storyline to make sense (there is a section at the back with the 'answers' for stuff like that though tbf.

An incredible book, I poured hours into this and it was worth every gripping second.

Phenomenal. Breath-taking. Complex, and well worth both the wait and the work - well, it’s not really work to read this. It was all pleasure.To say this book is wide-sweeping would be an understatement. Set 500 years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, A Day of Fallen Night encompasses a whole world, with different religions, traditions and cultures. The complexity of this book! And then there’s the fact that I didn’t for one moment feel confused. The style of writing in each Kingdom was so distinct, that I knew immediately where I was (no reading ahead and then back again to figure out where I was!).Matriarchal societies, societies where homosexuality is accepted (and in fact is nothing extraordinary), dragons, magic, did I say dragons? Yes, OK, I did, but I cannot stress enough how much I loved the dragons.There’s over 800 pages of action, fighting, adventure, romance, politics, love, betrayal, religion, dragons (have I mentioned the dragons?), magic, strong women, noble men. Ah, I could go on - I won’t.If fantasy is your thing, you’ll love this. If you’ve read and enjoyed Priory, you’ll love this. I don’t think it matters which order you read the two books in, they’ve been written as standalones in the same world. And, if rumours are true, there will be more - AND I CAN’T WAIT!!!Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for my ebook copy. And you’d better bet your life that I’ve bought a hardback copy (from Amazon!). I mean, look at that cover! It’s glorious - beautiful!!

Stupid book. Couldn't get on with it. Confusing and typos make it worse. Very rare I get a book that makes me frustrated and angry but this is one of them. I tried to keep reading it many times without any luck. Disappointing 😞