Summary: The first in a new fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author.In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.
Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.
Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.
Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge? (Via Goodreads.com)
Release Date: August 9th, 2016
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Review:
Nevernight was the last book my local library chose to read this summer for their teen book club. Although I finished it over a week ago, I am still having a hard time pinpointing my rating of this novel. My rating of Nevernight continually fluctuates from 3.5 to 4 stars out of 5. Nevernight was an enjoyable read, but it did not live up to the hype surrounding it. While the story was addictive and the setting and the world was unique, intriguing, and quirky, the story line was not cohesive and the characters were mediocre.
I prefer books that are consistent. If a book features several chapters that alternates from the past to the present, I expect that to happen throughout the novel. I would prefer the novel to continually do that instead of stopping after a few chapters. For the first few chapters of Nevernight, the beginning of the chapters feature Mia's past and the second half features her present. While that formatting style initially confused and frustrated me, I grew used to it and was annoyed when it stopped. I disliked that throughout the book Jay Kristoff would begin a particular format and then promptly stop using it a few chapters later. I prefer consistency because it gives structure to a story that Nevernight lacked at times.
Another formatting issue I had with the book was it's use of footnotes. At the bottom of most pages, footnotes would provide readers with extra backstories or explanations. While a couple of the footnotes helped me better grasp the world, most of them featured useless information that only confused me more. The information in the footnotes could provide valuable information later on in the trilogy, but much of the information was useless at the time and only made my reading experience more difficult. It is hard to filter out valuable information in the beginning when the author is throwing too much information at you. It was difficult deciphering what was important and what was not because it was so early on in the book. The beginning of Nevernight was confusing because the reader is dropped into the story and has to delve into Mia's past and present spontaneously. While I commonly enjoy books that feature a similar format, it was too much information early on. The information would have been better suited revealed at a later time.
No matter the amount of information being thrown at the reader, Nevernight was an addictive story. The writing, world-building, and Mia's journey was an intriguing combination that created a fantastic story. Although I struggled to engage with the story until page 50, I could not put the story down once I truly immersed myself into the story. The narration was fantastic and allowed the story to take shape. Without this particular narration, I would not have finished the novel. The narrator had a sense of humor I understood and appreciated. It gave the story personality and liveliness. The world of Nevernight and the system of religion and the different suns was also a fascinating piece of the story. The world was extremely unique and it was amazing to learn more about it. It was devised well and was a great contribution to the story. It made for the perfect backdrop of Nevernight.
Unfortunately, the characters of Nevernight were nothing special. While I did enjoy Tric, none of the characters were that notable. They never hooked me into their lives or their backstories. The reader knew the bare minimum about any of them. Understandably, they are training to become world-renowned assassins, they cannot share everything with Mia, but none of them stood out or captured my heart. They were two-dimensional characters that I could have found in any other fantasy novel.
Nevernight was an enjoyable fantasy book that I am glad to say I have finally read. Nevernight's sequel, Godsgrave, is expected to be released on September 5th of 2017 and I plan to read it sometime in the future. After finishing Nevernight, I am not compelled to immediately preorder Godsgrave, but I do plan to read it in the future. In Nevernight, Jay Kristoff laid the groundwork for an intriguing trilogy that I am interested to finish. While Nevernight was not entirely what I expected, it was an enjoyable enough book to compel me to continue reading the trilogy. I must admit though, if I do end up purchasing Godsgrave, I will be purchasing the UK edition to match my UK copy of Nevernight. For whatever reason, I dislike the US covers of the trilogy. The AUS/UK covers on the other hand are gorgeous. Even if I did not plan to read Godsgrave, I might still have compulsively purchased it because the covers are so beautiful. Please let me know in the comments below which covers you prefer, the US or the AUS/UK editions!
AUS/UK Editions of
Nevernight & Godsgrave
VS
US Editions
of
Nevernight & Godsgrave
Fantastic review! And oh my gosh, the US covers are so pretty!! I'm happy I'm not the only one who struggled with the footnotes. Though they were helpful to the world-building, it kept taking me out of the story every time I read them. Yes, I did find some humor in them, but when something constantly interrupts the flow of the narrative, it will inevitably frustrate me.
ReplyDelete