A Day of Fallen Night

By: Samantha Shannon

Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick, Sheila Atim, Thoren Ferguson, Hanako Footman, Samantha Shannon, Saara El-Arifi

Length: 38 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents A Day of Fallen Night, by Samantha Shannon, read by Ellie Kendrick, Sheila Atim, Thoren Ferguson and Hanako Footman.

In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps listeners back to the universe of The Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

This audiobook features an exclusive interview with Samantha Shannon and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Final Strife Saara El-Arifi.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Samantha Shannon (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"A magnificent, sweeping epic." (Jennifer Saint, Sunday Time bestselling author of Ariadne)

"Shannon is simply a master of the genre." (C. S. Pacat, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Rise)

"A tremendous triumph." (London Shah, award-winning author of the Light of the Abyss series)

Absolutely incredible and original fantasy! Just listen/read it immediately!

The depth that the author conveys of this world is nothing short of magical and the narrators for each POV were just perfect and I can’t imagine them being any different. I immediately went to get Priory of the Orange Tree and can’t wait to devour it!

Great book, excellent narration

I really enjoyed this story. I haven’t yet Priory of the Orange Tree (yet) so there are still some things left unanswered, but overall enjoyed it very much!

Great story

Was awesome to see a different time period and multiple narrators. Made it so much easier to follow and I loved each of the characters. Definitely recommend to fantasy lovers.

Brilliant

True epic fantasy recognizing multiple cultures, politics, all led by a cast of strong characters. Loved the multiple narrators, this helps define the story as it moves between places. All did a great job.

So sad it ended.

I loved this story and the audible performance. All of the readers were excellent. I can not recommend this book enough. This is my first review, and I just had to say how much I loved this book.

Very thorough and impressive in it's scope

I absolutely hated one of the narrator's. Every single thing they said was in a breathy, soft voice that I think was supposed to sound calming and enlightened but just left me annoyed and bored. I had to force myself to pay attention and not fall asleep whenever the story returned to that section of the story because that narrator's performance drove me nuts. All of the other performances were very solid and other than that I can see why people are impressed with this book. It''s very involved and the story itself is decent. It sometimes felt like just one recitation after another of names, titles and places that bordered on self indulgence on the author's part but I can't fault her dedication to detail. I haven't read Priory of the Orange Tree but I might. I didn't love this, but I liked it well enough. It held my attention enough to get through all 35+ hours of it.

adoration

I came into this on the heels of The Priory of the Orange Tree, and I read them in quick succession. This book displays genuine emotion and real connection between its protagonists. It was a real thrill to be brought along on this journey of love, loss, betrayal, and peril. It's truly a magnificent piece of literature and a solid recommendation from me to anyone looking for a beautiful story.

Another solid entry

In my Priory of the Orange Tree review I mentioned how the first ~25%+ was a slog that took me three tries to get through, but the last half was really good. A Day of Fallen Night was pretty much the opposite.

This time around I was drawn right in and thoroughly enjoyed the characters, relationships and world building in the first half, but suddenly there was an interaction that felt forced and unnatural (as if it was a milestone in an outline that was force-fit) and then we launched into a battle heavy second half that revealed that battles are not the author's strongest suit.

Stakes in a book like this are interesting - there are things we know about the Grief of Ages from the first book that define the overall scope of what this book can accomplish, both in terms of people as well as outcomes. That made much of the second half feel like sketches of battles in a bounded box.

But where the book shines is in the characters and their relationships. This is a world that is diverse in its representation, and that really shines here as well. There are at least a dozen major characters we get to explore from four different regions of the world - there are multiple generations, romances, alliances and betrayals, political machinations, and more.

One area that I loved in this book was how much of a focus there was on older characters - and not just as wisened elders, but as vibrant main characters. One of the key POV characters was old enough to be a grandmother but still fought on the front lines and was critical to everything in the story. As an older reader I truly appreciated this representation.

Another exploration was motherhood - what it means to those who want it, don't want it, have it forced upon them, have it taken from them, or how found family can be every bit as real.

The book wraps up with a character by character epilogue that I liked but felt weird because it felt unnatural and like another thing tacked-on unnaturally - and yet I appreciated getting that 'after the story ends' look. Which is likely why it was added.

Overall I enjoyed Fallen Night about as much as Priory but for different reasons - and definitely recommend it. It is a 'door stop' volume, and will take an investment of time, but is overall a worthwhile read.

Worth the read

This was another well written, well imagined, and we'll narrated fantasy epic by Samantha Shannon.

Awesome

One of the things l like about this author is that while she has GLBT individuals in her book -the story is not about GLBT. Its about people-just being people -and some of them like each other. And thats all. Its not the point -its just there…
really good story.