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Cover of A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha ShannonA Day of Fallen Night
New · Fiction, Fantasy, LGBT

A Day of Fallen Night

by Samantha Shannon
2023 · 881 pages · Fiction
Reserve shelf
≈ 22 hours to read · about 6 weeks at 30 minutes a day

What it's about

Five hundred years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, four people's lives are changed as dragons return to the world: a warrior woman in a secret order of mages, a princess heir to the throne of Inys, a young woman training to be a priestess in the East, and a young man searching for the truth about his parentage.

Why it's worth reading

It was a Goodreads Choice finalist. It's a huge, rich epic fantasy with female heroes.

You'll love it if you liked

Good to know

It's nearly 900 pages. It can be read before or after The Priory of the Orange Tree.

By the numbers

74.9Must-Read Score
  • Readers84 out of 100 · counts 42%
  • Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%
  • Bestseller43 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
  • Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%

Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.

On our reserve shelf: it's well reviewed, but isn't currently a prize winner, a lifetime bestseller or a book everyone's talking about, so we don't rank it. We check again every month, and it can still turn up in your 50 once you've read most of our ranked books.

Why it made the list

Shortlisted
Goodreads Choice (fantasy) finalist (2023)

Reads as

Epic

How we rank

Already read it? Upload your Goodreads or StoryGraph history and get the 50 best books you haven't read, tuned to your taste.Get my 50

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Explore the best-of lists

All 36 best-of lists →

Quick answers

Is A Day of Fallen Night worth reading?

It was a Goodreads Choice finalist. Its Must-Read Score is 74.9 (the best book we found scores 99).

What is A Day of Fallen Night about?

Five hundred years before The Priory of the Orange Tree, four people's lives are changed as dragons return to the world: a warrior woman in a secret order of mages, a princess heir to the throne of Inys, a young woman training to be a priestess in the East, and a young man searching for the truth about his parentage.

How long does it take to read A Day of Fallen Night?

About 22 hours (881 pages), or about 6 weeks at 30 minutes a day.

What should I read after A Day of Fallen Night?

If you liked it, try The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan or His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.