Samantha Shannon — A Day of Fallen Night (Roots of Chaos #0)

I realize I‘m one of only a handful of people (at least on Goodreads) panning the latest book by Samantha Shannon, A Day of Fallen Night. But after attempting to connect with it for six weeks and 55 percent of the book, I‘m tapping out.

Here‘s why. I didn‘t connect with or enjoy more than one character. That one character only makes up a small portion of the book. The writing is ponderous, lugubrious, and dull. I‘ve considered DNFing since about 20%. Around 25%, I thought the pace and action would pick up, but it just hasn‘t for me. Life is too short to read books I don‘t enjoy.

I enjoyed two other books by Samantha Shannon, so it isn‘t her imagination or world-building overall. It‘s just that this prequel is not worthy of the later book, The Priory of the Orange Tree. I will certainly try more books by the author in the future. As always, YMMV.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and the author for a digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for this honest review. The expected publication date for this book is 28 February 2023.