“We will all be stories one day, and I’d want someone to believe we existed. Wouldn’t you?”
When I found out Samantha Shannon was returning to the world of The Priory of the Orange Tree, I was already smitten; she is a special author to me because I’ve been along for the ride since the beginning when the first few of The Bone Season were sold at auction. And while I love Paige and the world she’s created in that series, The Roots of Chaos claimed my heart. A Day of Fallen Night (Bloomsbury 2023), set centuries before the events of The Priory of the Orange Tree, is a slow burn of an epic fantasy, with dazzling world-building and a large cast of characters that are so beautifully entwined and depicted, it never feels crowded. I loved every word of this 866-page novel. Every last one.
Tunuva is a sister of the Priory. She’s spent decades training to fight “wyrms” following the Mother’s defeat of The Nameless One. In her five decades of training, she’s never seen a wyrm. The sisters are mages, fed by a magical orange tree, and hidden away from the rest of the world. The women are the warriors, trained for battle, while the men perform the more traditionally female roles. Love and family come second to loyalty to the Order. Tunuva will find her loyalties to the Order and to her lover, a woman on track to be Prioress, tested when the Dreadmount erupts and wyrms begin to set the world ablaze.
Dumai has been raised a godsinger, worshipping the dragons that terrify parts of the world. In her bones is an old light, a connection to the sleeping beasts that need to awaken. She’s also the secret heir to the Rainbow Throne, and secrets don’t always stay hidden. Her blood is from lines favored by the gods and her people need her in the battle against the wyrms. Dumai must come to terms with who she is and forge her own destiny, and she’ll do it on the back of a dragon.
Glorian, heir to the Queendom of Inys and rightful heir to Hroth, is a link in a chain. Her kingdom believes that her ancestor defeated The Nameless One and that the continuation of this line is the only thing keeping The Nameless One from returning. Each queen births a female daughter, only one, that is a carbon copy of herself. Generation to generation, they are born to breed more than lead as the link must not be broken. One of the powerful wyrms, hellbent on destruction, has his eyes set on breaking the link.
Wulf was found in the haithwood as a child and adopted. Rumors have swirled that he is a witch, but the King of Hroth, husband to Queen Sabran of Inys, has much respect for Wulf’s fathers and brings the boy under his wing, where he grows in his loyalty. As the world erupts in chaos, he finds himself forced to confront his own past and the fears that keep him awake at night.
The world Shannon has built is one that screams and sings in duality. Fire and ice. Dragon riders and dragon slayers. Siden and sterren. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and it soars like the dragons when it centers on the relationships between women and in its many seasons of motherhood. It’s also cruel in its chaos, but it’s most certainly magic – the kind that leaves fire under your skin and stars in your eyes.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 