Nevernight
Ratings218
Average rating4.1
Oh God, what did I just read?!
This was waaaay better than Lifelike, but oh my God, so brutal. The story and the characters were amazing! But how could you kill my favorite character just like that? Huuuh!
And I did not see that coming near the end. It was glorious (except for the freaking long footnotes).
3.5
the best part of this: mister kindly and eclipse.
overall underwhelming but the end was solid.
DNF @ 15%
This year began I trend of taking risks on young adult fantasy and having a string of four and five star sucesses. I should have realised that there were bound to be misses. It just didn't occur to me that widely acclaimed Nevernight was going to be my miss.
On page, Nevernight has so many things I love. Assassins, revenge, what sounded like would be a fast paced and twisty plot and everyone on booktube raves about the main character, so I had unknowingly built quite the hype around this book. I ended up DNF'ing this book on page 64 (around chapter 6) simply due to the writing style. I liked that the flowery descriptions, but I found them to be nonsensical at times. No matter though, because I think that about The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and it garnered a four star rating for me.
On the first nine pages of the UK paperback, the phrase “O, [blank]” appears on every page at least once. That got fucking tiring, really quickly. The narrator talked to the reader, and referenced the reader like an audience calling them “gentlefriends”. The footnotes felt unnecessary to the story, and gave the writing a smary feel to it. I have enjoyed books with footnotes before when I read the Bartimaeus Trilogy as a kid/teen, but I ended up skipping these ones. I just generally couldn't truck with the style of writing, and I'm really disappointed because this would have probably been a four star read for me otherwise.
Final review
I know I love badass female assassins. I know I love the idea of training. And I still waited all this time to read Nevernight.... why oh why do I do this to myself 😣😣😣😣 This book transported to a new world, made me fall in love with all these awesome characters, and then stabbed my heart over and over again till I was left wailing.
Mia is an excellent protagonist to follow. She is smart, intelligent, strong and sassy and her only goal since she was ten has been to become an assassin capable of getting revenge for the deaths of her family. She also has the ability of interacting with shadows and has a constant companion, a shadow cat named Mr. Kindly, who is always there with her absorbing her fears and advising and helping her. Their conversations are some of the most funniest and sarcastic in the whole book. But despite striving to be this ruthless assassin, Mia has her moments of vulnerability and compassion which truly depicts her humanity and I loved this characterization. Her bisexuality is also treated very naturally and there is no questioning or hate because of it, which I thought was wonderful.
The world building is quite unique in this book and I really enjoyed getting to know more about it. The maps of the Republic of Itreya and the city of Godsgrave at the beginning of the book are some of the most gorgeous and intricate ones you will find in fantasy. The setting of Godsgrave is very much based on Venice and the descriptions give us a lot to imagine. Church of Our Lady of Blessed Murder also called the Red Church, where Mia goes to become an assassin is like a highly darker version of Hogwarts. The students attend classes to learn the arts of fighting, poisons, thieving and seduction. The professors are masters in their subjects, but don't think twice before brutally injuring the students or trying to poison or torture them. The fact that only a few students would qualify to become the Blades at the end of their training ensures the persistence of rivalry and sabotage among them which even leads to murder.
The writing in the book is something that takes getting used to. Almost the first third of the book feels difficult, because we are thrust into this new world and the vocabulary feels unfamiliar. But once Mia enters the Red Church, I did not want to put the book down. It's a whirlwind of murder, blood, brutality, violence and Mia's struggle to retain the parts of her that are still human and not become a mindless assassin ready to kill anybody. I spent the last third of the book at the edge of my seat because the twists kept hitting me, the betrayals blindsided me and I just waited with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. The footnotes in this book are definitely a unique part of the worldbuilding, which might not appeal to everyone but I really enjoyed them. They gave me more context about the culture and beliefs of the people and also had some funny historical stories.
This was such a thrilling ride of a book. I enjoyed every second of it and I'm already very excited for Godsgrave, but apparently it has a cliffhanger 😭😭😭. I recommend this book to everyone who loves stories about assassins and their training, an awesome cast of morally grey characters, alongwith a huge dose of blood and gore. My only caution is that if you want to preserve your sanity, don't get attached to the characters, because you never know who will break your heart.
First Thoughts
Wow... this is dark and bloody and brutal.. what twists that I never saw coming... My mind is blown right now 🤯🤯🤯
Will write a review once it starts working again !!!!
This book series has been a very firm favourite with fantasy readers and reviewers for some time and having spotted the first book, Nevernight, sitting on my library shelves I decided that I'd be prepared to give it a try. I've read Jay Kristoff before but in a very different setting through his joint writing in the Illuminae Files with Amie Kaufman. I loved the Illuminae files but they are a very different proposition being sci-fi as opposed to Nevernight which is pure fantasy writing so I was not quite sure what to expect.
The very first chapter of this book was enchanting. I immediately fell in love with the setting of the city of Godsgrave. It felt a little Venetian, absolutely rich with fantastical elements and historic feeling and the writing was so clever. By the end of the first chapter I knew that the potential for me to love this book was strong as even in those first few pages Kristoff twists his story and delivers the unexpected. Having said that, I struggled with the following few chapters a little.
In his world-building efforts Kristoff uses footnotes to his narrative to expand upon elements he is discussing. So if his main character Mia comes across something in her journey around Godsgrave he feels we need to know more about there will be an asterisk and we have to jump to the bottom of the page where he expands for us with information about the historical significance or myths about this part of the world. The footnotes, however, were not just one-liners, some were massive paragraphs, some even several paragraphs that meant in the written book the page of narrative text would only take up around half the printed page, the footnotes took up the other half and this would go on for page after page. This jumping up and down and up and down the page meant the first few chapters read quite slowly as you had to really focus to take in the 2 side by side storytelling styles. Was it worth persevering through, hell yes!! Absolutely! It was intense for a few chapters but this is because Kristoff is building Mia's world for us and has lots to say but as the chapters progressed slowly the footnotes slipped away and would become fewer and as a reader I lost myself in the narrative and when footnotes came I knew it was because Kristoff had something witty or important to impart and I enjoyed them more and really liked them.
The story itself was really immersive, the story of Mia Corvere, a 17-year-old girl whose father was hung as a traitor when she was only 10 years old, her mother and baby brother imprisoned and she taken to be drowned by the soldiers responsible for her father's execution. Mia was taken in by a man by the name of Mercutio who has taught her all the skills she needs to join a church for assassins where she will learn even more about how to get revenge upon the 3 men she holds responsible for her father's death and the destruction of her family.
Nevernight is about Mia's journey to the church where she will have to prove and hone her skills as a fearful killer. It's about the people she meets on her journey, the skills she must learn and the magical elements that will help her prepare for the revenge she must seek. The world Kristoff builds is so rich and well fleshed out that you absolutely fall in love with it. It's no quick read, there is so much going on you really don't want to miss a thing so I found myself lingering longer over chapters, taking my time to really enjoy the time spent with each character.
And the characters are absolutely the most incredible thing about this book. There are so many I fell in love with, Tric and Mia are just beautiful together. The journey they go on in this book together is so emotional and we root for them both. Kristoff's characters are so good to read because they are so complex, no one is written as straightforward bad or good. Each has different intentions for their actions and this means that we can be cheering them on one minute and then he turns around and twists it around and suddenly you are unsure if you really should be cheering them on. This led to me caring really deeply about them all so that even when disaster looks set to befall those we haven't perhaps felt empathy for throughout the narrative we want them to be okay. We cheer when they pull together and use their collective skills. It's a character based narrative and whilst there are fantastical elements and magic at work it's the people who ultimately pull us through.
One element I was not expecting was the sexual element to be quite so strong. In a few chapters, Kristoff lets things get pretty hot and heavy for a while. It's explicit and it's full on and absolutely in fitting with the parts of the narrative he is telling but just be aware in case you aren't expecting it.
I am itching to read Godsgrave, the second in this series, because the ending of this book has left plenty of questions we have not answered, Mia has lots still to achieve and there are so many stories still to be told. I am also thrilled to see that the third book in the Chronicles will be out later this year so I'm not going to be waiting too long for even more wonderful writing from Kristoff.
I've had a good reading year so far in 2018, I've read lots of wonderful books but this one is something really special. It is worth every bit of hype it has received and I am an absolute fan. I read many reviews which slated Kristoff's writing style as too convoluted and intense but for me this was why I loved his writing so much. It was deliciously rich and immersive and if you allow yourself to just slow down for a bit, forget your Good Reads challenge for the year and take the time to go on Mia's journey with her however long that takes you it pays you back in dividends. I would give this more than 5 stars if I could.
I feel like Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh cartoon by Disney pondering why he invited Winnie the Pooh into his house. Why oh why did I read this book. I would read an occasional good paragraph or two of random wanderings which is why I powered through in hopes there would be more like those small gleaming nuggets. However they were very few and mostly I was just annoyed with how the book was written. This book has got great reviews so my lower rating will not hurt it, and hey who knows maybe it just wasn't the book for me. I see one of my friends gave it a 5 star rating.
You had me at school of assassins. This was totally fucking amazeballs. It had magic. It had murder. It had mayhem. It had smut (albeit a very small bit). I'm ready for book 2. Which I have so go away and let me read!
4.95
SO MUCH HAPPENED IN THIS :???)
I am nothing ! But ! Happy ! Rn ( joke i cried after finishing this )
This was an amazing book. I cannot wait to read the sequel.
Mia is the daughter of a hanged traitor. Her mother and brother are in jail. They try to kill her but something strange happens and she gets away. She has gifts that no one can image. She travels to join the Church of Blades and become the killer she has to avenge her family. Along the way she has to make many hard decisions.
I wasn't sure I was going to like this book but even though Mia is a killer you will still root for her.
I absolutely loved this book! I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the shadow cat! Everything about it was brilliantly thought out and executed. I even liked the footnotes, which, in my head, were read by the excellent Mister Kindly!
Wow. This was phenomenal. After reading a few 1 star reviews I was a little worried about the writing style, but honestly, it was awesome. I didnt find it hard to read at all, yes the beginning is a little slow. But I find that is the case with most fantasies.
Mia, the protagonist, is looking for revenge for her fallen family. In the first 2 chapters she murders someone, loses her virginity, and then there is more murder. Yes please! Mia also ends up stabbing someone in the eye when shes 11, so, fun times right? Oh yeah, she has a shadow-cat-not cat-thing, that has a lot of attitude. I like it.
To be honest, I was kind of thinking a lot of this sounded like when Arya was going off to join the many faced god in GoT, but ya know, with actual training in assassin-y type stuff. I also got a HP vibe in the mountain. Edit I think this was jedi mind tricked into my brain when I read JK's review of the book a little bit. Maybe. I dont know.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and if you are feeling skeptical, the worst you can do is borrow it from a library. If you dont like it, dont finish it, but I am glad that the poor reviews that I read didnt scare me off.
I know I should write something about this book because it was so many things but right now I'm still in shock about the last 150 pages or so. So I can't coherently write out my thoughts and ideas about this book.
The early pages of this one were bit of a struggle, but I'm glad I perservered. Once you click with the author's slightly florid style, it becomes an engaging and enthralling story of a young girl's experiences in a school for assassins. There's an interesting setting, kind of Roman Republic meets 17th century Venice in a city built in the corpse of a dead god. There are footnotes aplenty, and they are pleasingly sardonic. The heroine is well drawn, but here lies my main grumble with the book. I'll try to keep it vague but SPOILERS from this point on- you have been warned.
All through the book we are in Mia's head. We are privy to her thoughts, her doubts and desires. The book isn't actually written in first person, but it's an incredibly tight third person narrative with no similar insights into the interior life of any other character. About two thirds of the way through, we discover Mia has been doing something in secret in order to gain an advantage and surprise her classmates. The problem is, it's been secret from us as well. We know all about her feelings for a fellow trainee, we know the secret of what happened to her parents to spark her on this journey, we know exactly what she's thinking at almost every moment. But we don't know this, and it's jarring to have it suddenly revealed at exactly the point in the story where it becomes useful. It feels like a cheat, like the author has sacrificed the integrity of the character and the story for a brief moment of cool. It shatters the narrative spell and cheapens Mia's efforts. If it wasn't for this, Nevernight would be close to five stars. There's a lot of good stuff here, and it shouldn't be spoilt by one miscalculation. But it kind of is.
Mia Corvere was 10 when she lost her entire family. Vowing to avenge their deaths, she trains to become an assassin for The Red Church. The road will not be easy, but if she succeeds, she will become a Blade for Our Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to avenging her familia. I have never read any books by Jay Kristoff, but after this book, I will be reading more!! This book was great! I can't wait for the next one. The world building, the characters, everything was great. I found myself invested in what happened to the characters, and that's the way a great story should be. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.