This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of The Priory of the Orange Tree on my blog, here.
Samantha Shannon has done it again - thrown back into the world of The Priory of the Orange Tree, she takes us back to the events leading up to the very rise of the wyrms nearly five centuries before the events of Shannon's first work. A Day of Fallen Night can be read as a prequel standalone, but I highly recommend reading The Priory of the Orange Tree before diving into this installment. I absolutely adored the first work in this interconnected series and have been sitting on this prequel for some time - I decided it was finally the moment to see it through.
Politically complex and emotionally drawing, Shannon is able to bring readers right back into the fold of The Roots of Chaos with four new leading ladies as their tales are told and we are taken on a journey to see just how generations of fearless women would be impacted. Much like its companion, this installment is broken up into parts, marking significant turns in their stories and the eventful merge of their journeys. With chapters designated once again to the North, South, East, and West, readers follow characters as their lives are turned around or they embark on their destinies. Having the background knowledge of what happens nearly five hundred years in the future definitely was an advantage, and I found myself easily sliding back into this world - when I first read The Priory of the Orange Tree, I will admit it was a bit of a struggle to wrap my head around the extensive world-building.
I was never bored with any of the leading characters or their journeys - each was unique and intricate, with supporting characters that truly added to the story without being overbearing or useless. You could see the internal struggles of every character, and when faced with a number of difficult and often life-defining decisions, readers could see it was no easy choice for any character to make. With a number of queens, opposing opinions of wyrms, and mistrust around every corner, Shannon ensures readers will be entertained and on the edge of their seat. Much like Priory, this prequel eases the reader into the story while still maintaining a fast pace right from the first chapter.
Relationships are both establish and slow-building, as characters learn more about themselves and where they come from as the story goes on. I really enjoyed this aspect - while we knew information about certain characters right from the beginning, there were a number of characters that were more of a mystery to readers, and as information slowly became available, we were able to piece together characters' backstories. Watching as the characters moved towards the same destination by the end of the book was fascinating, and with differing opinions on wyrms, we see the characters appreciate them in one chapter and then others determined to end them in the next.
I cannot wait to see what Shannon has in store for readers next, and with a short prequel set two years before the events of The Priory of the Orange Tree being published at the end of 2025, I am sure she will have readers in the palm of her hand. An epic high fantasy filled with political moves, friendships, self-discovery, action, and realizations, The Roots of Chaos series truly is an experience any fantasy reader should embark on.
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