REVIEW 08

I'm biased on this one, I read The Priory of the Orange Three (TPOT) a couple of weeks ago and I honestly loved it, so I was really looking forward to this one (and I'm already looking forward to reading A day of Fallen Night, even tho it'll be delivered until late October/early November).

So let's get into it,first of all, I love how Samantha Shannon does her world-building, I loved that aspect of TPOT, but in here it was a bit different, this was what I was craving during the last book, she showed me her capacity for devastation at close range. Like it's a book of less than 300 pages and it was so politically intricate, and somehow more emotionally brutal. It is a story about a kingdom learning that its doom is not a distant prophecy but an arriving fact.

The story takes place in Yscalin (a kingdom that I felt we barely explored in TPOT). Is a volcanic kingdom of molten rivers and ancient mines, where Marosa Vetalda, heir to the throne, lives as a prisoner in her own palace. Her father, King Sigoso III, has kept her confined since her mother's death, and her only hope of escape is her betrothed, Aubrecht Lievelyn, the Red Prince of Mentendon, who rules his own kingdom in all but name. We see their relationship conducted largely through letters and internal musings, we get so much restrained longing, and it is used as a tender counterweight to the book's mounting dread. Meanwhile, Estina Melaugo, a former smuggler turned dragon hunter, scrapes out a life on the margins, her arc offering a visceral, ground-level view of what it means to survive in a world tilting toward annihilation.

This was a master class in yearning and doomed relationships, I loved Marosa and Aubrecht's interactions, and knowing the fate of both added a pang of sadness and doom to all of them; In TOPT I honestly didn't care that much about him, he was nice and cute but that was it; but in here, god I love him, he is so nice and loving, also loved how he viewed his betrothal to Marosa, he respected and cared for her even without being together yet.

That takes me to my second point, using characters that weren't explored in TPOT makes this book (what I consider) ans essential prequel but best enjoyed read after TPOT. The storytelling is visceral and immersive, I think she let herself write more in the body horror mode than the fantasy making the kind of writing that makes you feel the heat of wyvern fire singeing your skin, the rumble of something ancient stirring beneath the mountain, the quiet devastation of a princess who has learned to hide her cunning behind obedience. It also helps that the book has a lot more of action, from the eruption of wyverns from Mount Fruma, the skies darkening with wings to the lavender fields set ablaze, but it doesn't neglects the quieter moments that linger, early morning conversations heavy with what cannot be said, a letter written and rewritten, the choice to keep living when hope is a diminishing resource.

I think what nailed the 5 star for me was its tragic architecture (We also have a wlw relationship, that also added points). I know that Yscalin falls. I know that King Sigoso will ally with the great wyrm Fýredel. I know that Marosa's story does not end in escape. Shannon does not soften this. She lets us watch the betrayal unfold with the terrible clarity of characters who can see what is coming and cannot stop it. We are shown Marosa's quiet defiance, Estina's hardened tenderness, Aubrecht's determination to build a better world even as it crumbles but they are not seeking a redemption arch or any of that sort we are shown that dignity can persist in the face of annihilation.

AND ALSO WE HAVE ILLUSTRATIONS, I almost forgot to mention how Rovina Cai's gorgeous illustrations add an atmospheric depth, like I was finishing reading the chapter when the wyverns awoke and were destroying the city and then I was hit with the same image I had in my head of how it looked in the book, she made an excellent work in translating Shannon's description into images. Also I think they stand on its own as a haunting meditation on grief, loyalty, and the cost of obedience. It's hard watching the portraits of Marosa or Aubrecht's and know what's going on inside their minds, you get to see how much a facade can hide.