Sweet & Salty Reviews - Dying of the Golden Day by Carrie Gessner

The Dish

The Dying of the Golden Day is the first book of Carrie Gessner’s ‘Heartfriends’ epic fantasy trilogy. It is set in the fictional land of Inanta and centres on the character, Aurelia, who plays a vital role in the land’s future. Self-published by Carrie herself, this is also the second of her works to feature on my blog!

The Sauce
Magic is a gift given by the Goddess. It comes in three forms - elemental, healing and prophecy. It is also on the wane just as Aurelia, a girl with grey eyes, is born. Coincidence or fate? Aurelia can’t be sure, but there is a prophecy that claims she portends the beginning of the end. This magic system also introduces the eponymous ‘Heartfriend bond’, a dedication between a ruler and a magic user for their mutual benefit and betterment. Carrie uses this concept to great effect throughout the story.

The Sweet
Carrie Gessner’s real strength as a storyteller will always come from her characters. Aurelia is a superbly drawn protagonist who combines physical and mental capability with emotional vulnerability. Her tale is that of a girl trying to do good while wrestling with the thought that she is innately evil. It’s a powerful notion that resonates strongly, even in the modern era. It stands to reason that Aurelia would be my favourite character, but she has stiff competition from the supporting cast.

Prince Renfred, Aurelia’s Heartfriend; Brennus, the enigmatic rogue; Edana, the prophet with a temper; Mira, the Empress of Mydrost. All of them are both interesting and charismatic. The less prominent characters like Renfred’s sister, Minerva, are still supremely charming. Even the villains, such as they are, have their own sense of morality, honour and motivation and the ‘evil’ they perpetrate is, more often than not, a means to a debatably noble end, even if what they are doing is ultimately deplorable.

Just like the Empyrea collection, Golden Day is filled with characters who are equal parts kind and fascinating. If you ever have to choose a fictional world to live in, I’d recommend one of Carrie Gessner’s.

The world-building is also phenomenal. Inanta is a fully-realised land with well-drawn borders, a history reaching back 5,000 years, a mythology and a magic system that feed into one another, and old grudges to be overcome. Every kingdom has a capital city and a number of smaller settlements that the story visits along the way. Expect to come away from this book feeling like Inanta could be a real place.

The story delivers some very satisfying twists and turns, none of which I’ll spoil here, but all are tied together at the front and back of the novel. Either Carrie had a decisive plan or she was very careful about picking up after herself. Nothing here seems to have been done without purpose. As such, this book feels like a very strong first step for a trilogy.

Can I talk about prophecies? I hate them. I hate prophecies and I hate heroes foretold by them. One of the best parts of Dying of the Golden Day was the prophecy regarding Aurelia because it didn’t mean anything good. She isn’t destined for greatness. Depending on the translation, she either brings about the end of the world or her suffering will be legendary. It’s an excellent inversion on the age-old ‘prophesied hero’ trope and I can’t wait to see how it plays out in Part Two.

The Salty
The prose in this novel is not quite as crafted as in Carrie’s short-form fiction. It might be because a novel is longer and more difficult to craft (writers will sympathise with this) or it might be because this novel predates a lot of Carrie’s other work. Either way, I’ll be eager to look into her other novels to find out.

This book also has the unfortunate distinction of being the first in an epic fantasy trilogy and so a lot of ground work has been laid for the following books. As such, this book feels like a first chapter rather than a complete story in and of itself. Perfectly acceptable given the genre - let’s face it, Fellowship of the Ring wasn’t a complete story either - but the book might have been more satisfying with a sub-plot that resolved while also feeding into the plot of the over-arching trilogy.

While the story’s eventual villains are presaged at the very beginning of the book, their presence in the story is quite limited until the last couple of chapters. That being said, when they finally do appear on the scene, they are brutal and events intensify quickly into the finale.

The Aftertaste
On the whole, The Dying of the Golden Day is an excellent first part to the ‘Heartfriends’ saga. It introduces all the major players who will certainly play roles in the rest of the trilogy and leaves off at a point of tension so great I can’t wait to get started on Part Two, which is already available. Between Empyrea and Golden Day, it’s clear that Carrie has a passion for creating strong and charming characters. Golden Day shows that Carrie is capable of playing the long game. There is suspense, intrigue and high stakes. You can’t help but buy in.

If you like epic fantasy, strong female characters, worlds where people must put their differences aside to fight a greater threat, or any combination of the three, pick up The Dying of the Golden Day and its sequel, The Shadow of the Endless Night, on Amazon now. You won’t regret it.