A Day of Fallen Night

“to hold the risen fire at bayuntil the night descends”

How do you make a sequel to something intended as a stand-alone novel? Fans of the series demanded a new book, but things were fairly contained within Priory of the Orange Tree, so how do you square the circle? I quite like the author's approach here; rather than making a direct sequel to the events of the first book, she marched 500 years into the past and created another stand-alone. Fans get their sequel, there's no expectations to live up to, and you can continue building out the (extensive) lore you introduced in the first book. A win all around, that I think the author knocked out of the park to boot.

There be spoilers here after this point.

Despite being an all-new cast of characters, there's just enough familiarity here to hit the ground running with the (many) different viewpoints. Glorian, daughter of Sabran the Ambitious and King Bardholt of Hróth, is having a hard time finding her feet and her place within the role forced upon her. All her life she had her own ideas of how she wanted to live her life, but the older she grows, the more she realizes that duty comes before all else in the Queendom of Inys. Over at the Priory, we're introduced to Tunuva and Esbar, sisters training to slay wyrms that haven't appeared in generations. Discontent is rumbling through the Priory as some younger sisters start questioning why the Order still exists. When Siyu escapes the stifling confines of the Priory, Tunuva is sent to bring her home, but her return brings unwelcome change to the Priory. Finally, in Seiiki, Dumai of Ipyeda is a godsinger at the High Temple of Kwiriki, daughter of Unora of Afa, and heir of more than she knows. When her family comes knocking, she's compelled to leave the mountain home she knows and loves in order to serve the kingdom. But as the world starts to tremble, it is her godsinger heritage that ultimately calls her to duty in service of the sea dragon Furtia. The scope of this book is quite a bit larger than Priory of the Orange Tree I think. Lots more places, tons of minor characters and references, but not to the point where I felt overwhelmed and lost. I think reading Priory of the Orange Tree first gave me the structure I needed to be able to sort through everything thrown at me here. There's quite a bit more politics in this one as well, particularly in the Inys sections, but I'm such a sucker for grand political fantasy that I loved it all. It has a bit of a slow start, and I was starting to wonder where things were headed initially, but about a third of the way through things start ramping up quickly and I had a hard time putting it down. The ending was incredibly satisfying as well, and while a lot was happening at once, it didn't have the same frantic feel as I thought Priory of the Orange Tree had at the end.

I hope the author decides to do more stand-alone books within this universe, because I thought this one was fantastic. Everything had a purpose, the writing was excellent, and I loved basically everything about it. Great fantasy, great work.