Book Review
Title: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1)
Author: Jay Kristoff
Genre: YA/Dark/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: So, I have reviewed Nevernight and Godsgrave quite a few times now, but I have never read Darkdawn despite owning it since its release. This time I am going to re-read the series in order to finish the series. The opening line of Nevernight is going to continue to be one of my all-time favourite probably for the rest of my life but it does set the tone of the series really well. The opening scene is still utter perfection, the duality between Mia’s first sexual encounter and her first conscious assassination are beautiful and how she reacts to each tells us exactly the kind of person Mia is before we even really know her. The first ¼ of Nevernight is all set up as we are introduced to the world, the characters, their motivates and so on before Mia even gets to the Red Church. That being said her humour and wit are brilliant and the only people that really match her in this department are Mercurio and Ash. Reading this book for like the 5th or 6th times I realizes Mia isn’t actually as smart as I thought as she makes a lot of rash or downright stupid decisions.
Mia is a person ruled by her emotions and feels things really deeply and this isn’t the kind of personality suited to an assassin who needs to look at everyone with cold detachment like the Ministry, but we still root for her, even knowing this. The journey to the Quiet Mountain with Tric is one of my favourite parts of the book as these two character grow really close to each other and they end up becoming best friends before they become lovers which is one of the things I absolutely adore about this book. I also noticed a lot more clues this time around, the person scribbling in blood in the Old Imperial is Naev as she follows them, Mouser hints at Lord Cassius being Darkin, not directly yet he says he hasn’t seen anyone resist the Discord as well as Mia did since Lord Cassius, and the only reason Mia resisted so well was because she is Darkin. Once Mia gets to the Church, I really don’t like her relationship with Jessamin. I know they needed to give her an adversary among her peers, but I felt maybe someone like Carlotta was more suited. I can imagine the pair trading witty remarks and insults but still coming together over their love of Truths.
Even though Jess and Mia share a history it didn’t work out the way I wanted, what I mean by this is, they could have started hating each other but once they understand what they are fighting for especially after Cassius’ death, I really wanted them to become friends and they never get the chance thanks to Ash. One other thing I really wanted to happen looking back on events is for a comradery between Mia and Solis. Hear me out, Mia and Solis both know the horrors of the Philosopher’s stone and it has shaped the both of them into who they are. I really would have liked Solis to overhear Mia, discussing Solis as the Last One and commenting on the fact she had also been there. Then Solis, doesn’t become nicer to Mia but pushes her further without being an utter bastard. I also felt that someone should have known at least one thing about Darkin. Like, everyone comments that Mia and be extension Cassius are marked by the Mother but not one damn person, not even Adonai and Marielle who are ancient sorcerii not nothing about them, even though they can sense Mr. Kindly and know what he is. This seemed utterly too convenient and gave Mia opportunities to discover things. I think someone should have known at least one small thing about Darkin, maybe Cassius that really would have helped Mia grow and learn as a character.
The foreshadowing and sexual tension between Mia and Tric is amazing. We know from the second the pair meet that they are going to end up together, but a lot of things happen in between making us question it. Mia has to learn about Tric’s history and he hers, the support each other but neither seems overly interested in the other so we question for a time that they might just stay friends. Then, when Solis takes Mia’s arm we see Tric’s over the top concern for someone who might not make through the trials of the Red Church and we instantly know this is going somewhere and we excited for the journey to get there. Tric’s reaction to Mia’s first weaving to change her appearance and by extension Ash’s comments on her bosom were hilarious but it also reinforced the notion that both Ash and Tric have feelings for Mia in some way and while I support F/F pairings, I would have preferred Carlotta or Naev with Mia rather than Ash. I just hate her so much.
I have just realised by the time we get to Mia’s first lessons in Truths, that there is so much fanfiction I am going to have to write for this series because certain things need fixing here. Apart from Floodcaller’s death quite early on in the novel, the first half has just been Mia making her way to the Church and starting her lessons, however, when they are sent to Godsgrave in search of secret, Mia meets with Mercurio and after he leaves she runs straight into the man who see stabbed in the eye all those years ago and has to make a quick escape. She flees from the soldiers only to be attacked and kidnapped, she wakes in a Confessor’s room where she is being tortured for information on where she was before that night and Mia refuses to break and tell them about the Red Church because she has worked so hard to get there. She ends up using her ability to control the dark to free herself from her bonds but she hasn’t escaped yet. As I am re-reading this I know this is a test set up by the Church to see who is glass or iron but it is so callous as it is designed to make the new students harder and colder but for Mia, it really opens her eyes to what the Church is and Naev’s word begin to haunt me about her keeping any part of herself that means something close to her.
As the number of student is almost halved over the next few months Mia decides that she needs to know what she is after Jessamin sneaks up on her with Mouser’s trinity that causes Mr. Kindly to bolt, leaving her behind. It is here that we get the first notion about Mia’s journey over the rest of the series as the Chronicler tells her that the Church might not be the place she is supposed to be, even though she doesn’t believe it at the time. After the scourging Hush received no one is sneaking about after hours but without Mr. Kindly to drink her fear, Mia is having to cope with it by herself and only manages because of Tric and I know she is going to seek him out more than once for the comfort that her shadow cat would normally provide. The last 150 pages of Nevernight were actually quite hit or miss for me during this re-read. The majority of this book is a really slow burn as we get to know Mia, her goals, her past and how she develops her relationships with the other characters but then everything seems to happen at once and it sets up the events that are going to take place in Godsgrave but I felt they needed more work.
Let’s take a look at the events I am talking about, first, Mia and Ash steal the Trinity from Adonai’s chambers and initially you think it is just Ash helping Mia as we can see she has feelings for the other girl but if you have read this before you know the real reason Ash steals the Trinity and it is senseless and cruel. Yes, that fits the tone of the novel but Ash also knows Mia can’t do much with her shadows and could have killed her a different way or got her out of the way without having to use the Trinity or Ash could have told Mia the truth early on and I am sure Mia would have seen sense eventually and come around to Ash’s way of thinking as she does in Godsgrave. The second one is the final trial Mia faces even after the death of Carlotta where the signs of the killer’s identity are plain to see, truthfully Mia should have worked it out early but she is blinded by her own goals and emotions. However, the final test to become blades was interesting as we see Mia heeded Naev’s advice and held onto a part of herself that she refuses to give away even if it means losing her place within the Church. However, the way Ash coldly disposes of Tric was hurtful as it is needed in a way as Tric would sniff out the poison they are intended to use to subdue the Ministry but we do learn that there are poisons that are completely odourless that they could have used instead of killing Tric, so I felt that this was done purely to set up the relationship between Mia and Ash in the next book which I hated anyway because why would anyone enter a relationship with someone who had hurt them so badly and yes, I understand that Mia is incredibly lonely after losing Tric and seeks some comfort in Ash but I don’t think it was the right choice. Personally, any other female character would have fitted much better as a partner for Mia, Naev, Carlotta, Jessamine just to name a few but there are all scrubbed out because the relationship between Mia and Ash has already had a lot of development in this book. Now, the rescue of the Ministry was a bad-ass scene that I can’t fault but the death of Cassius and him anointing Mia as a Blade made me cry because she was the only one that came for them in their time of need, despite losing her place in the Church, she came because it was the right thing to do.
I would have liked the relationship between Mia and Cassius to have been developed further as his death and Mia’s anointment would have had a lot more weight especially since she takes Eclipse as a passenger and I don’t think it wouldn’t have taken much work, just a few more extra scenes with the pair interacted and actually building a relationship of some sort and I wouldn’t have objected to it being sexual either. The final scenes of the book were a bit clumsy and rushed in my opinion but you can see the set up for the next book in the death of Remus and the escape of Ash but I didn’t feel the overwhelming excitement to jump into Godsgrave as I have done in previous readings I just felt a little meh but I think despite these problems the character work is exceptional and is the key thing that keeps drawing me back to Nevernight. I don’t think I will completely re-read Godsgrave, I may just skim through it to refresh myself on the events of the second book before jumping into Darkdawn and I do have some high hopes for the end of the trilogy but I also know a lot of things I wanted to happen aren’t going to with the way the previous two books have panned out. Still a solid 5 star read for me, but I do see more problems with this book than I have in previous readings.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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