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. To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hroth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow - exactly where she wants to be. Most of the original cast aren’t born yet, but some of the new characters are their distant relatives, which I hope will give you a sense of connection to them. Another epic, sweeping fantasy from the mastermind behind The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Bone Season series.

While Samantha Shannon already shined at creating strong, emotionally complex female leads in The Priory of the Orange Tree, the male characters were underdeveloped by comparison. In A Day of Fallen Night, Shannon avoids this problem by introducing Wulf, a young man from the North who becomes the fourth main protagonist in the second part of the book. Wulf strives to find his calling in a world that underestimates him, proving to be a multidimensional character every bit as compelling as the three female leads.

Customer reviews

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. When a book says "Prequel" and it is BIGGER THAN MY YEARLY BOOK BUYING RECIPT I am expecting it to shed light and give some history that explains the original book

A desirable and engrossing fantasy that is intense, dangerous, fascinating but compelling and also extraordinary. 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. How she cared for her daughter, how she cared for her people, her kingdom, was so powerful, and I loved her all the more for it.

Ahhhhh!!!! I cannot possibly put together all my thoughts in coherent sentences, so I will just ramble in bullet points. The three lead protagonists represent each major region of the world—East, West, and South—which have very different religions, political structures, and cultures. In the East, the mountain-dwelling Dumai trains as a godsinger, establishing a connection between humankind and the dragons that her society worships. In the West, Glorian is the young heir to the queendom of Inys who struggles with her royal calling. In the South, Tunuva is a warrior from the mysterious Priory of the Orange Tree, a religious organization who follow the Mother and are committed to defeating the Nameless One, an enormous fire-breathing dragon.