ABSOLUTELY PERFECTTTTT. The plot. Political intrigue. Diversity. Lovely and fully fleshed-out characters. Tension. Beautiful writing. Amazing world-building. Slow-paced but every single step is worth it.
3 women of different ages from different part of the world facing their own problems but they're somehow connected, one to another. I enjoyed this better because I've read Priory and it's fun to recognize the future references, how Samantha managed to seam between those books despite separated hundreds of years apart.

This made me miss Priory so much. Need to reread ASAP.

An interesting addition to Shannon's fantasy epic. The characters were definitely the star of this tale along with the deep world-building.

Three daughters are born with a great destiny in different parts of the world, when the Dreadmount erupts and infernal creatures emerge out of the earth bringing terror and destruction, these three women must fight to bring their people through this age of destruction.
A great read, I am glad Samantha Shannon returned to this world as it has so much to offer the Epic-Fantasy genre. Loved all the characters and she struck a great balance of bringing intrigue while also peppering familiar references in there for readers of her previous book.
I would say that the book felt a little long, it took a while for the different threads to come together in a compelling way and it did feel like a slog at times.

Shannon delivers yet again! Epic and absolutely impossible to put down from start to finish. Samantha truly is one of the best high fantasy authors of our generation.

Building upon the epic story within the Roots of Chaos Cycle. We see how much of the events of Priory took hold and how the East and West began their animosity towards each other. The way Shannon writes powerful women as independent, strong, and as mothers in this installment in the world of priory is second to none. It is impossible not to care deeply for all of the characters in ADOFN and the way Samantha writes.

The world building, characters arcs and plot line are top tier. Shannon has become not only one of my favorite authors, her books ADOFN and Priory are in my top ten favorite books of all time.

You do not want to miss out on this Epic High Fantasy.

Wow wow wow wow. First off…the cover is absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait see it in person then put it on my shelf next to Priory. All the things I loved about Priory are present in this book, the world building, the relationships, the beautiful storytelling. I think the author did a fabulous job at writing two standalone books that also tell a complete story as a series. I must also note that there was never a dull moment in the story, which is a fate that most long books suffer from.

Which book should you read first?
Honestly I don’t think it matters. This is a prequel so most of the people in Priory aren’t born yet but some places and names might be recognized if you have read Priory.

Five stars truly isn’t enough and I really hope the author plans on telling more stories set in this world.

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!!

This was stunning and absolutely breathtaking. Literally and figuratively breathtaking!!!

This prequel to Priory of the Orange Tree is full of beautiful descriptions and content that compliments the first book so well.

The themes running through this novel are very similar to Priory. Mainly ideas on religion and also, women's roles in history, the strength of women.

I just finished this and I know I'm going to have more to say while this story truly sinks in now.

Out February, 28 2033!

I absolutely love Prior of the Orange Tree so I was excited to find this. I have to say I was disappointed. I thought that being a prequel it wouldn't be as long as Priory. I read Priory in 2 weeks and 3 days, yes I counted,. I don't usually read something that fast. This was just so hard to get into and the length was daunting. It was so wordy and often dry. Maybe if it was a sequel instead it would have held my interest better. Priory was so easy to get into I didn't have a lot of questions about how the story and characters fit where they were. I was left at the end dying for another book which I just saw on goodreads is coming!!

My most anticipated book of 2023! Priory of the Orange Tree is one of my all-time favorite books, and this book was a fantastic prequel for the series. I have been waiting for this one to come out and actually started crying when I saw I got approved. Samantha Shannon has such a talent for world-building, and she creates a fantastic sense of ambiance. The characters and perspective go together extremely well. Usually, there is at least one perspective I wouldn't like when reading multi-POV, but surprisingly, I loved every chapter of this one! ALSO SAPPHIC rep!

I absolutely adored Priory of the Orange Tree, and when I heard we were getting a prequel I was so excited! A Day Of Fallen Night delivered just as promised. Samantha Shannon's worldbuilding is fantastic, and I loved getting to explore a different time period in the world we were introduced to in Priory. It was done in such a masterful way. I felt pulled into the world, and the characters, and I honestly wanted to live in this book forever. This was just as good as I expected it to be, and I look forward to seeing what else Shannon has in store for us in this series. I will definitely be reading all of it!

Getting a sequel to Priory was such an exciting thing to hear. I ended up not being able to focus much on this one. Not sure if it's because I need to reread Priory or not but I'm going to wait for the audiobook to give it another try.

So this one is a prequel to the Priory of the Orange Tree and I could not put this down. I devoured this over the long holiday weekend and loved every page. It's times like this that I wish I had social media because O lord was this something to talk about. If anyone ever picks these up for a movie it is going to be EPIC!!! And if you think you know what your are getting into by reading the Orange Tree you have no clue!! Read this one, add it to your preorder list and then read it all together. Because man it was just that good. I would just about give my soul to have this in print.

Samantha Shannon has done it again! I always feel like even though the books are huge, I wish they were a few hundred pages longer because I'm never ready to say goodbye to the characters and world of the priory. This book had me on the edge of my seat even though I had heard the lore from this time period before in the 1st book. I loved every single perspective and was always amazed how each character became interconnected as the story progressed. I can't wait to see where the next book takes us and I know it will be worth the wait to find out!

I loved the Priory of the Orange Tree so when I found out there was going to be a prequal, I couldn't wait to read it! I loved all the characters and the writing!
I think if you're reading it for the first time it'd be easier reading this book first but even if you don't everything will make sense.

I loved Priory of the Orange Tree and this book is an excellent addition to that world. Sometimes prequels can feel a little bit awkward, shoehorning events that you've already read about in other books into awkward timelines that don't quite flow, and this was not the case at all with this book. If I had picked this up before reading Priory I would not have known they weren't written in chronological order.

This is a very in depth and expansive fantasy world. If you're looking for a light and easy fantasy read, this might not be the series for you,.as keeping the many characters and regions, beliefs and traditions straight can be a bit of a task at first. If you are an avid fantasy reader and up for a little bit of a challenge, then I highly recommend both this book and Priory of the Orange Tree.

I had no idea what to expect when beginning the journey of A Day of Fallen Night. While very long and detailed fantasy, I found myself excited to read more every day.

A Day of Fallen Night follows 3 main female POVS - Dumai, Glorian, and Tuva. There is also a male storyline about Wulf that was one of my favorites. If you are looking for a deep dive into a beautiful, female-driven fantasy with dragons and epic adventures this book is for you.

This book is a prequel to Priory of the Orange Tree. You do learn about the history of the Priory in this book and while I was once intimidated to read it, now I simply cannot wait! While this is a prequel, you can read A Day of Fallen Night and Priory of the Orange Tree in any order or as standalones per Samantha Shannon.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the ebook ARC of A Day of Fallen Night. All opinions are my own.

Another brilliant book from Samantha Shannon, and even bigger than the last one. I appreciate a story I can really sink into and this is it. Incredible world building, and interesting and characters you can root for. Loved the pacing, and the exposition.

This is the "prequel" to The Priory of the Orange Tree, but I think you could read it without having read Priory - though I think it's easier to get into the world with some point of reference.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and netgalley for an egalley of this book!

In Inys, the descendants of the Saint rule, their bodies sacred vessels for future queens to come that will protect virtuedom from the threat of the Nameless One. But Glorian Berethnet balks at the thought of marrying and having a child, her secret wish to be a warrior like her father.
In Seiiki, Dumai lives with her mother Unora on a mountaintop. As godsingers they watch from their remote location and wait for signs to wake the sleeping gods. But Dumai’s world is thrown out of balance when two strangers scale the mountain and change her life forever.
In Lasia, Tunuva Melim is grateful everyday to be a sister of the priory where she can be close to her lover Esbar and dedicate her life to the upholding the legacy of Cleolind. But even idyllic life at the priory has its troubles, when Esbar’s daughter makes one rash decision Tunuva strives to repair the damage.
All of their lives are changed forever by the creatures that fly from the Dreadmount. War and fire ravage the world and these women try their utmost to save it.
A Day Of Fallen Night is a story of mothers and daughters, godsingers and queens. Readers will delight in the vast world created by Samantha Shannon.

When I read the last chapter of "A Day of Fallen Night", the words "towering achievement" came to mind. What a bland, overused phrase that is, so often thrown upon any book of length that features intense worldbuilding and intricate character relationships, but in this case, it is true: "A Day of Fallen Night" is even better than "Priory of the Orange Tree". It's like 900 pages long and not a word was wasted.

Like its predecessor , "A Day of Fallen Night" features four main story threads from different points of view. Unlike its predecessor, I loved all four characters! From the stricken Glorian, princess and hostage to her country's religion, to the bold and decisive Dumai, dragon-rider, all the characters are interesting, layered, and easy to root for. As an ancient adversary rises to lay waste to the world, alliances form, magic is challenged, and hearts are broken as the situation goes from bad to worse. And the pacing! The pacing! Not a moment dragged. I basically spent the last two hours sobbing my eyes out as the characters I had come to love over the last few weeks struggled to survive horrific situations.

I feel like I'm babbling. I LOVED this book. I'm going to sing this book from the heavens. If you enjoyed the Priory at all, you'll love this one. It's more complex, more layered, with even more likeable characters than Priory - a top tier fantasy masterpiece.

While Priory was an easy 5 stars for me and I really wanted to be as swept away and love the prequel to the epic fantasy novel as much as the original. Now don't get me wrong, this book is still incredible, but there were some things that simply didn’t work for me this time around - let's dive in.

Starting with the POSITIVES, Samantha Shannon is remarkable with world building. She understands fantasy as a genre and where it can improve and the world she’s created stands on such solid footing with a complexity of cultures and an open challenge to the more problematic aspects of Fantasy. I truly see her as a leader in the genre, especially in creating intrinsic feminist worlds.

The book is long and it may be intimidating to pick up- but somehow the chapters breeze by, the words consume the reader - the writing is immersive and I was so delighted to be back in this world.

The characters are where we start to split a bit… this book is a mix of plot and character driven - yet it felt like the plot took precedence this go around. There are some characters I loved and thought their development was gorgeous and they elicited moments of tears - then there were some that I think I favored the plot they were thrown into but ultimately that plot didn’t really mean much, and other characters who were frustratingly incapable of communication.

The characters are just a bit flatter than I had expected, I didn’t care for a lot of them and the ones I did it was not as strong a connection as the characters from Priory and the same kind of falls into the rushed and sudden relationships - and I sort of think the reason brings us to the next issue of the Time Skips….

This book is ambitious in plot, it spans nearly a decade and the time and things chosen to be cut for time skips are… interesting? There is a lot of summarizing rather than seeing character moments referred to and sometimes it felt we built to something only to jump ahead when we get there. I did not think I’d need to say that an 850 page book still skimmed over important character moments - but this probably should’ve been 2 books

And I am also, not huge on some resolutions to the plot…

But I did enjoy Day of Fallen Night , when you focus on multiple characters there will be some you love and some you can’t stand and some you do feel indifferent to, this is ambitious but a gorgeous prequel that feels a bit more plot than character leaning but I am still really glad I read it and would recommend for Priory fans, Samantha's an instant buy author for me and I'd say this book was still excellent.

“‘This one’s light, I can see clearly,’ Furtia Stormcaller concluded. ‘This one holds a woken star.’”

Thank you to Bloomsbury for an egalley of this book!

Samantha Shannon has done it again, and by “it” I mean written another book that feels like it could only have been dreamed, with gorgeous, lyrical writing, and a cast of characters both heroic and human.

Make no mistake, I gave Priory of the Orange Tree 5 stars due to the same qualities, but I think her writing and storytelling are even stronger in this book. 2 of the 4 POVs felt a bit lighter in Priory, and the ending wrapped up a lot of conflict quite quickly. It’s an incredible book (that of course I now want to reread), but THIS BOOK. WOW.

Every POV felt equally important and distinct in this book, and I was sad to leave each narrator, while also being excited to jump to the next. We have Dumai, in the East, a woman with a mysterious inheritance and an important gift from her gods; Wulf, in the North and West, a sworn sword to the King of Hroth/Consort of Inys; Tuva in the South; a sister of the Priory with a deep loyalty to her sisters and the Priory; and Glorian in the West, the daughter of Sabran the Sixth, and future Queen of Inys.

What stood out to me most is that Samantha is so skilled in telling their stories in unique ways. While her writing style remains the same, there are subtle distinctions in the metaphors and language in each, in the way they view the events happening to them and their worldviews, and you can sense this in the writing. Tuva, as the oldest of these narrators, and a warrior, has an effortless grace and wisdom. Glorian, the youngest, in contrast, is restless and unmoored, trying to find her way. I could go on, but it’s truly a gift to read a story from such a gifted storyteller.

I won’t say too much about plot, but as you might expect if you’ve read Priory, stories and themes intersect, even when characters don’t have a direct connection. In particular, the theme of motherhood is central to this story, and there were so many moments that spoke to one another and complemented one another.

This story is longer and ultimately possibly a slightly slower ramp up than Priory, but ultimately every moment, every chapter, is so clearly building toward a magnificent conclusion, that it truly is a book to savor.

Anyway read this book!!!