Okay so. It took more than a year to finish this book. It's MASSIVE. The first 200 pages, roughly, are mainly worldbuilding. It's fantasy, so I expected as much. Sadly, I was just really lost sometimes, which made it harder to continue and forced me to have major breaks in between. Nonetheless, the last 150 pages were epic, and I loved all the representations in this book. A queer, feminist book that I can recommend if one is better equipped with a map and more patience.

Between all the books I’ve read recently, this has been something else. It has such a deep, grand and well thought through world, that it has Eragon or LotR vibes due to its complexity. There are so many single strands that slowly but surely come together in over 845 pages. I loved so many plots of the different characters, but have to admit sometimes I lost track of the storyline or who was who again, bc it’s just sooooo much. Still looking forward to the other books of this universe.

(For some reason, the German translation of the story was split into two books - god knows why. That's why I'm only reviewing the first half of the book here). Since I received the book through a book box (where you don't know beforehand which book you will get), I started the story about Tané, Ead, Sabran and Loth with absolutely no expectations at all. I had seen the book pop up on my Goodreads dashboard from time to time before, but I never looked into the content, only admired the beautiful cover (probably the most beautiful cover of the year - at least in my opinion). At the beginning, I struggled a bit to find my way around the world in which the story is set. In the first four or five chapters, so many places, people (with weird names) and things (such as the religions represented there) are thrown at you that I thought it would take me forever to read the book. But to my surprise, after a certain point you find your way around quite quickly (if you forget the names of a few unimportant side characters right away). I have to say that the story really captivated me. I also think that the writing style is very well chosen - very appropriate for the type of story, but still easy and good to follow. Some things that happened in the course of the story I anticipated, but that didn't bother me at all (for once). Nothing seemed heavy-handed, trite or forced. I am really curious to see how the story continues and ordered the second volume yesterday. "The Priory of the Orange Tree" is definitely one of my highlights of the year in 2020. I really recommend it to everyone - even if you don't usually like fantasy that much (like me).

Ich war so gespannt auf dieses Buch. Es ist ein High-Fantasy-Einzelband -- wann liest man denn mal so was? Es ist, als wäre Game of Thrones zu einem einzigen Buch verdichtet worden, so hat es sich zumindest angefühlt, als man das Worldbuilding einigermaßen verstanden hat. Beim Lesen war ich vom Potenzial dieser Welt überwältigt. Magie und Politik ist für mich allgemein immer eine reizende Kombination, und jetzt auch noch Drachen und LGBTQ+ Repräsentation? Ich konnte gar nicht genug bekommen. Doch habe ich mich während des Lesens fortwährend gefragt, wie das Buch enden soll. Denn am Anfang war die Geschichte ziemlich langsam. Klar, es ist viel passiert, aber das diente alles nur dem World- und Characterbuilding. Man ist mit vielen Informationen gefüttert worden, großen und kleinen, sodass man hervorragend Vermutungen über etwaige Plottwists aufstellen konnte. Das liebe ich an Büchern, wenn sie selbst zum Mitdenken animieren. Als der Midpoint rum war und nicht das geschehen ist, wovon ich ausging, dass es geschieht, habe ich mich noch intensiver gefragt, wie das Buch denn bitte schön enden soll. Denn: Viel Zeit bleibt nicht mehr für ein episches Finale und die Resolution. Lange Rede kurz: Das Finale war etwas enttäuschend. Und in der Resolution waren so viele Dinge angedeutet, dass ich gar nicht verstanden habe, was denn nun angedeutet wird. Trotzdem würde ich es jedem ans Herz legen, der Fantasybücher mag. Allein für die ersten 700 Seiten lohnt es sich (vor dem Finale kann man ja einfach einen Cut machen und sein eigenes Ende schreiben :D)

I actually, sincerely hope that this isn’t too mean. I’m just saying my opinion, so don’t come for me. I apologize for any mistakes with grammar and spelling as well at punctuation.English is not my first language. And I cannot let go of using commas. It is in my nature, and my mother tongue. ————————— ⚠️This review may contain spoilers.⚠️ ————————— First off, if you’re reading this book for the dragons, then DON’T. —— This book was not purely a waste of time, emphasis on not purely, because it partially was and is. The first 450 or 500 pages of this brick of a book could’ve easily been shortened to 200 and made this less boring. Basically everything that happened felt fabricatedly elongated to me and reminded me of watered down juice to make more juice. Works, but does not always make the juice better. While I can think of books that could have benefited from this, this one wasn’t one of them. This is watered down orange juice. (pun intended) It was hard at first, to actually remember the names of the main characters when constantly switching around the entirety of the world like going from Bogota to Jakarta (two cities that are almost antipodal to each other). Even at page 150 I had hardly grasped the protagonist names, let alone those of the side character, because I had at that point barely had time to adjust to any of them. It almost had me glad of certain deaths, because “Who the hell even was that?” and “ls this name supposed to be ringing any bells?” were so reoccurring that I was beginning to loose faith in myself, who usually has no problems remembering names. And don’t get me started on the unlikability of some of the protagonists at the beginning. Tané? Selfish. Niclays? Selfish. Sabran? Selfish. The only person I liked to read about, whose name even felt somewhat of a fresh breath of air (dare I exaggerate) was Ead(az). Why even have so many protagonists? One of the first things we learned in German class in middle school was to not have too many main characters because it’s hard to keep track of them all and give them all a personality and development. This is exactly what’s going on here: Protagonists lacking a personality and development. Apart from that, I felt like so many (side-)characters, whose name I had finally learned, were just discarded. Why did I learn Turosa’s name? And the names of even half the ladies of the privy chamber. God, let me stay strong. In German I’d say, and did say, “Ich mache drei Kreuze, wenn ich dieses Buch durchgelesen habe.” I was ready to DNF this book and put it on my shelf of shame, and then finally, at around page 450, something somewhat interesting happened. And I must be honest, it got better from there. At least for some time. Then, it went downwards again. Making Kalyba be everyone and everything felt almost lazy to me. Kinda like when I don’t know the answer to an exam question and then write the first best thing I can think of to at least not have it be unanswered. It’s giving “I wanna get it over with and be done with writing this.” And don’t even get me started on the lack of purpose of the last 10 to 15 pages. The end would (in my opinion) have fit better after defeating the Nameless one. Then a nice clean cut and done. boom. Anyway, to summarize my review: The book had potential, a great thought behind it, but it was somewhat butchered. It felt too long, like it was drawn out but to make it longer, not better. And then rushed at the end to not make it any longer. The entire fight seemed like the author didn’t want to take the time to go more in depth and the Jump from the nameless one falling to back on land seemed to be days apart and like a time skip in a fanfic when the author didn’t feel like writing a canon scene and just skipping it. Overall, the plot turns that seemed too convenient most of the time, caused a lack of tension in this book. When normally, I don’t want to put a book down because it is so captivating, I could barely pick this one up. It felt like I wasn’t making progress in getting through the book and the plot didn’t progress either, at least for the first 500 pages. I really don’t enjoy giving a book less than 3 stars. I know that authors spend a long time writing and editing and rewriting their books, and that it’s a Labour of love for them. And no one has to read a book they don’t like, but I think with a book of this size, 800 pages, you should know what you’re getting yourself into. 1/5 stars.

I love the idea of a secret order killing dragons in combination with people who are dragon riders. Mix it with politics and great worldbuilding and it would be perfect. Well, at least the last two were fulfilled. But the priory? Wasted potential about their own politics and structures. Why exactly do they hate all dragons so much? Ignorance or something more? We never know. But most importantly to me was the negligence of the dragons. They are nothing more then a fancy way to travel. Gosh we get a perspective of a dragon rider and we get to know nothing about their dragons except they can speak and need water to survive. Wow. I would have liked to get to know more about their lost abilities, what they still can do. Their history. Or at least give them a personality 😅 The writing is amazing, the worldbuilding too. But we get descriptions of stuff that wouldn’t need to be described in detail and miss important points instead.

Die Welt, die die Autorin hier erschaffen hat, ist wirklich großartig! Es gibt viele verschiedene Charaktere und vier POVs aus der die Story erzählt wird. Dadurch wird es zum einen am Anfang schwierig den Überblick zu behalten und die Verbindungen aller zu verstehen. Zum anderen wird die Story auch groß aufgezogen und alles fügt sich irgendwann zusammen. Mir hat die Geschichte wirklich sehr viel Spaß gemacht und ich wollte gar nicht, dass es endet. Ead und Tané waren tolle starke Frauen, die sich mega weiterentwickelt haben. Tané ist eine Drachenreiterin und wir begleiten sie auf ihrem Weg in der Ausbildung. Ead ist undercover am Hof der Königin Sabran, um diese zu schützen. Dabei ist sie auch eine Magierin, die eigentlich aus der Priory des Orangenbaums stammt. Auch die männlichen Charaktere haben einiges zu bieten: Loth und Roos. Wobei ich Roos die meiste Zeit einfach doof fand anders als Loth👀 Für mehr als 3,5 Punkte haben mir hier definitiv die Drachen mit mehr Anteil an der Geschichte gefehlt - hier hätte ich mir einfach mehr gewünscht. Außerdem kam der Feind, der große Wyrm, erst 50 Seiten vor Schluss zum Zug, 20-30 Seiten Kampf und das wars. Mir war das etwas zu flach und zu schnell abgehakt… dafür wurde dann halt doch 750 Seiten genau darauf vorbereitet👀

This is a long book, indeed. But it didn’t feel like it. I enjoyed the four different narrators. Liked some more, some less. It still felt like everything is important for the story. The worldbuilding was good and I liked how we jump from one part of the world to the other, but everything is connected. Oh and of course I appreciated that the leaders are mostly women and nobody questioned their competence because of their sex. A dream. If there were a second book already, I would read it right away.

Das Buch ist mega, nur zum empfehlen. Tolle Geschichte mit einer neuen Welt und Charakteren. Leider aber an manchen Stellen zu langatmig & am Schluss viel zu kurz. Der „Krieg“ wird in den letzten 50 Seiten leider einfach nur noch schnell fertig geschrieben. Ebenso gab es keine unerwarteten Überraschungen / Ereignisse mehr.

It was okay, it's a really worldbuilding ploted book, but it's not all at ones, the worldbuilding goes all over the 800 pages, it's a LOT info to take in, to much if you ask me, half of the chapters were boring or just useless, it's a book with dragons, but where are they? It's not a bad book, just not one for me

ENDLICH hab ich dieses Buch geschafft. Durchaus ein Epos, der wirklich viel zu erzählen weiß und dies auch gut macht. Wie es aber nun mal bei einem Epos manchmal so ist, ist das Große Ganze oft wichtiger, als die einzelnen Charaktere an sich und das hat mich persönlich zu sehr auf Distanz gehalten. Ein Kritikpunkt ist, dass Kämpfe ein wenig zu verwirrend geschrieben sind, weil unbedingt eine bestimmte Art von schöner Umschreibung beibehalten werden will. Momente, die klar beschrieben werden sollten, werden durch Symbolik und Metaphorik in eine Richtung gedrängt, der man nur schwer folgen kann. Aber Kämpfe sind auch einfach schwer. Rest war wie gesagt echt gut, hat mich nur nich gecatched. Wer Bock auf einen Fantasy Epos mit geilen Drachen und Legenden hat, wird hier auf jeden Fall belohnt.

more of a 3,5 tbh So. it’s done. ITS FINALLY DONE!!!! this book both put me in a reading slump and pulled me back out of it again. To be quite honest it bored me a lot of the time, especially the first half of the book but the second half and all the plots coming together kind of made up for it. Did it have to be this long? maybe not. honestly would have preferred it otherwise but here we are. at one point i was honestly just bound to reading it solely by my spite… Some of the histories and riddles and intricacies are still confusing to me and i don’t really care for understanding and knowing everything but sometimes it frustrated me a little and felt a little useless. I am also extremely confused about what Tanés ending meant to convey, i probably missed some important information that would make me understand or maybe I’m just tired but for now i don’t know what to make of it. Also did not rly care that much for the main plot of killing the nameless one… i should have probably cared but i kinda didn’t. yikes. there were just so many side plots and little humps that made me groan and sigh. ANYWAY. now to what i liked. I haven’t read a book with this many povs that switch that often in so long i truly can’t remember but it payed off in the end, i loved seeing it all wrapped up and connected. My favorite part were definitely the relationships and characterizations, they were done extremely well and made it immediately apparent who’s pov it was which is a really hard thing to accomplish. My favorites are probably Ead (same as everyone else lol) and Tané (i was listening to the last great american dynasty for most of her chapters and oh god how it makes sense for her….). I have to confess i’m kind of a sucker for the whole history repeats itself through the descendants of it, that was done rly well and I’ve read some people didn’t think it was done realistically but i liked it. Maybe an important side note…i mainly started this book bc i was told there would be a wlw couple. now someone tell me why it took over 400 pages for us to get there? talk about slowburn..AND THEN TO TAKE THEM AWAY SO QUICK FOR EVEN MORE PAGES…i’m a bit bitter abt it but they mean the world to me and they kept me reading for most of the book. As always, I have many many thoughts and can’t hope to put them all down but this will do for now… IM A WINNER I FINISHED ITTTTTT

Okay DAMN. Going into this book I didn't really know anything about it, except that it has dragons in some capacity and is absolutely massive. I've had this on my shelf for about a year because I was kinda scared of the commitment. So if you're also scared of the commitment, let me tell you, it's worth it. It took me about 100 pages to not be confused anymore and get the names straight. By page 250 I felt like the exposition was over and the plot had been set up. And from there on I was INVESTED. Pros: - The characters and their arcs really had enough room to develop - The story felt well-rounded - The world building was soo detailed - It felt long yes, but for the most part not unnecessarily so Cons: - Some parts could have been left out, especially the Tolkien-esque stories in the story and some repetitions - There are never enough dragons In summary: Be brave and you will be rewarded with 800 pages of amazing fantasy.

I enjoyed every minutes of this book! Definite recommendation. Following Ead, a young dragon slayer, Tané, a young dragon rider, Sabran, Queen of a tousand-year-old empire, Loth, Sabran's childhood best friend, and Niclays Roos, alchemist and enemy of Sabran on their quest to kill the Nameless One (Voldemort the dragon), the story is rich in colors, similarities to our own world and history, and lore. The story takes a good 500 pages to build up, and the next 150 seem almost too short for the dramatic pinnacle of this fascinating story. The final 30 or so pages are left for a short, bittersweet and satisfying end for all main characters. Along the way, the story includes sometimes wholesome, sometimes less so queerness, but always portrays it as something normal - which is fascinating given the fact that it takes place in a world where same-sex love is forbidden. I personally would have liked the climax of the story to be a bit longer than a (what felt like) sub-clause, but I really enjoyed all the lore and world building before.

So close to giving 5 stars - but where were the dragons?! The cover promises dragons and the book doesn’t really deliver dragons. That being said, I immensely enjoyed the story. Most of the main protagonists are badass women with strong minds and still an openness to change and different thoughts (even if it takes a while to get there). It also doesn’t happen that often in fantasy that there are middle-aged protagonists. If read here and there that pacing was an issue for some; it wasn’t for me but I only got around to read a few chapters at a time so I was always looking forward to get back into the story. Having read the books in plot chronological order, it was nice referencing back to the history that I had read before, like Easter eggs. I can understand why this was first and then some mentioned historical figures got their own and fully fleshed-out story. But again, where were the dragons? (#0 has way more dragon center-stage so I like that one better!)

Another beautifully written book that was set in an interesting world, following multiple people. Samantha Shannon has done it again after ADoFN, and managed to flesh out another book I couldn't wait to read. It was very interesting with my knowledge from the prequel going into this book and seeing how everything fit in. The ending seemed to be rushed after the epic high point, just missed a little sweet spot. Rating: 4.5

The only criticism I have is that it took some time to get into because the world building is quite intense and you dive right into it. But after about 200 pages you get attached to each person and I found myself excited about all the chapters and not just chapters about certain characters. It wrapped up very nicely at the end and plot twists managed to surprise me throughout the whole book. Loved it, look past its length and pick it up!

I think it takes amazing skill to keep a story interesting and engaging for 800 entire pages! very lovely world, well-written and nuanced characters. Usually with fantasy stories, the beginning is very tedious to get through until you get fully introduced to the new world and can actually enjoy it. But not with this one! I was hooked from the very first page. I truly can't think of anything I would change about this book. It is the perfect embodiment of why I love reading. Cannot wait to read more from this world. Which is what I am going to do now: On to "A Day of Fallen Night"!

I have no words. THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!!!!!! I took way too long to finish it, probably because it's so long, but I pushed through and ADORED it til the end!!! Oh my god, this is the 3rd best book I've ever read in my life, The Last Unicorn #1, and The Hobbit #2, but wowww. This book is definitely going to be one of favs for years to come. I think I'm actually going to buy it at some point, since for my first read I have it from a library. BUT WOW. WOW. 1000000/10 I will always recommend this book. Perfect for dragon-lovers like myself. This is amazing. Edit - I've just finished rereading it, about a year later from my first review. LOVED IT JUST AS MUCH!!! It took me long to read it this time too but I am a slow reader... Reading a book a second time for me is like reading it for the first time but I actually understand everything that happens better. This book reading it the 2nd time I'd say was even BETTER than the first time I read it. I felt I never really got bored and everything made more sense and had a lot more clarity and I enjoyed it so much. I am SO excited to read the second book, I am starting it next!!!

War super gut, nur ab und an war es mir etwas "gefühlsarm". Also wir haben gelesen, dass etwas passiert, aber so recht, wie sich die Person dabei gefühlt hat, war unklar. Es gab häufig "Er fühlte sich blub" oder auch sehr oft "Sie fühlte, wie sich eine Kette um ihren Hals legte, ihr Magen sich zusammenzog, ihr Mund voller Brei war" Sowas halt. Das fiel mir besonders im Showdown am Ende auf. Das hat es für mich dann etwas angekratzt. Ansonsten fand ich das Buch super. Wie GoT, nur ohne den ganzen ekeligen Kram (Sexismus, Vergewaltigung, Gewalt etc) und mit vernünftig denkenden Charakteren. Viele Klischees und Tropes, die man sonst kennt, wurden hier nicht bedient, was mich sehr positiv überrascht hat. Weiterhin haben wir eine schöne Diversität an Kulturen und sexuellen Orientierungen. Der Plot war cool, viel Politik und Verschwörungen, aber sehr cool. Es wurde sich vor allem mit den verschiedenen Auslegungen von Religion auseinandergesetzt, Depressionen wurden thematisiert, Es ging um Freundschaft und Zusammenhalt. Charaktere konnten sich entwickeln, mal in die eine oder in die andere Richtung. Weltenbau war gut nachzuvollziehen. Ich kann mir sogar vorstellen, dass es noch mehr Geschichten aus diesem Universum geben kann. Empfehlung!

Eines meiner All-time-Favorites! Ich wusste nicht, was mich bei "The Priory of the Orange Tree" erwarten würde, habe es aber schnell ziemlich ins Herz geschlossen. Es ist wie Game of Thrones ohne all die Minuspunkte <3 Drachen! Magie! Eine komplexe Welt, verschiedene Kontinente, verschiedene Kulturen, eine große Bedrohung und viele Abenteuer, von Piraten, Fliegen, Magie, Glaube, Liebe und so vielem mehr! + keine 5000+ Seiten wo ständig neue Nebencharaktere kommen und die wirklich wichtigen, von denen man lesen will, mal ein Buch lang verschwinden, sondern 800 Seiten, starker Plot, starke Spannung, 4 POVs + kein rape, kein incest, keine Kinderopferungen, sondern einfach wholesome! + natürlich gibt es dennoch Böse und Spannung und Twists und Tod und Verletzungen, aber nicht diese Schocker um des Schockens willen und jegliche Grenzen überschreiten, die viel zu häufig vorkommen + die "White Savior"-Trope wird absolut auseinander genommen, was mir ziemlich Spaß gemacht hat beim Lesen + eine lesbische Liebesgeschichte im Mittelpunkt, ein schwuler Hauptcharakter, und Hauptcharaktere, bei denen einfach komplett kein Fokus auf einer Liebesgeschichte liegt, sondern Freundschaft und Familie wichtiger sind, ohne dass ihnen etwas fehlt oder das als Manko thematisiert wird! + kulturelle Diversität - auch wenn die Länder nur angelehnt sind an unsere Kulturen, so gibt es auf jeden Fall Beschreibungen, die auf BIPoc hindeuten und nur wenig, die Weiß gelesen werden können (ohne dass dadurch die Identifikation irgendwie flöten geht) + Redemption Arc und insgesamt einfach viele Entwicklungen für die Hauptcharaktere, was nachvollziehbar und sehr stark gemacht war + all diese Hintergründe! Das Worldbuilding, vor allem in der Vergangenheit, war so detailliert, und es gab so einige überraschende Wendungen - keine Triggerwarnung in meiner Ausgabe - am Anfang etwas viel Input. Karte und Glossar am Ende helfen, aber dass das Glossar die Figuren nach den Regionen in der Welt ordnet, hat überhaupt nicht geholfen. Rein alphabetisch wäre sehr viel hilfreicher gewesen statt immer alles durchblättern zu müssen, weil der Charakter, der da gerade erwähnt wird, vielleicht doch gar nicht aus dem Westen, sondern aus dem Süden ist etc. Große Leseempfehlung auf jeden Fall!

I think that's the only word I can use to describe this book. There's no other word that can. The writing, the plot, the characters, the romance. I've never read anything like it and I don't think I ever will. Truthfully, I put this book off for a whole year because - well, I don't really know, but for anyone who might be doing the same, read it now. After a few pages you're hooked, it's crazy. Shannon has portrayed the characters and their thoughts and inner turmoil in such a way that you don't question any of it because you understand. I understood why they acted 'selfishly', and at no point did I say 'I would have chosen differently' or 'That course of action didn't make sense'. (semi-spoiler:) My favourite part of the story has to be when the characters are faced with challenges that shake the foundations of what they thought was the truth. Loth questioning his faith, Eadaz questioning the Prioress, Sabran questioning the very foundation of her queendom, Tané questioning her worthiness (and also Niclays questioning his will to live, but I didn't much care for him and I think that's what Shannon intended). This book has become my new favourite. Will be reading more by Shannon in the near future 🫶🏻

'To be a kin to a dragon,' Nayimathun said, 'you must not only have a soul of water. You must have the blood of the sea, and the sea is not always pure. It is not any one thing. There is darkness in it, and danger, and cruelty. It can raze great cities with its rage. Its depths are unknowable; they do not see the touch of the sun. To be a Miduchi is not to be pure, Tané. It is to be the living sea. That is why i chose you. You have a dragon's heart.'

This book is absolutely amazing! I was always a fan of dragon stories - Eragon and How to Train Your Dragon are among my favorites. To me there was always this slight disappointment that there didn't exist more stories like those. Finally, all my wishes have come true in this book. Priory contains everything I want from fantasy: dragons, strong women, political intrigues, secrets, legends and an old enemy who will end the world if he is not stopped in time. I really appreciated the diverse relationships as well, the strong friendships (even between men and women), the same-sex relationships, secret affairs and the slow burn romance! The world the book is set in is divided in two: one half, the West, sees all dragons as evil and wants them dead. The other side, the East, worships their dragons (although they also see the fire-breathing dragons as their enemies). While the narrators are, at the beginning, evenly distributed between those two sides, the balance did feel a little off. Maybe that was just because I always wanted to read more of Tané. I just I loved her storyline so, so much. However, it wasn't too annoying - there were so many thing happening with the other narrators that I was never disinterested. Anyway, that is the only thing that wasn't absolutely perfect for me. In the end, I enjoyed the whole read so much that I didn't want it to end. The length of the book made me appreciate every single moment, right until the end.

I just start to dive into fantasy and I am so glad that this started with this epic tale! What I liked especially about The Priory of the Orange Tree is the fact that Shannon manages to show characters from different perspectives, so that it's the choice of the reader wether he/she likes a person of the tale or not (e.g. with Niclays Roos -- until the end I was not sure if I'd rather pity him or if I should bear my grudge against him for his deeds). Furthermore I liked the fact that so many important characters, such as warriors, queens, and consultants, where women and on top of that, I found it especially refreshing that Shannon weaves in the fact of two men or two women marrying or being together as totally normal without shoving it into the reader's face as something extraordinary -- and that's how it should be, shouldn't it? An absolutely normal thing. I loved this story for so many more reasons, but since it's past midnight now and I'm not the most hard-working bee concerning reviews: Just grab it for yourself and enjoy 804 pages of epic fantasy!

I put this book off for so long because of its thickness (= intimidating asf) and decided to pick it up on a whim and read it. Now… Even though it is more than satisfying to see the cracks decorating the spine, I have to say it wasn’t worth it for me. The story is not necessarily bad but being thrown into a universe without getting some type of world building beforehand is really confusing, paired with constantly changing POVs of the four protagonists didn’t really help…(Maybe I should have read A Day of Fallen Night first? Idk…) The writing is really good and beautiful, no question, but I was expecting something with more excitement and action, which it’s not… Therefore I found the story to be rather flat and it gave me more of a cosy(?) feeling overall. I’m glad I listened to the book rather than read it or I’m pretty sure it would have been a DNF very early on.