ARC Review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Series: The Nevernight Chronicle #1
Genre: YA/NA High Fantasy
Published August 9th 2016 by Thomas Dunne Books
Format: ARC
Length: 448 pages

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?

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, explicit language, and violence.

Note: All quotations in the advance reader’s copy is subject to change in the finished copy.

As a first time reader of Jay Kristoff, I had no idea what I was going into. The synopsis was intriguing, and the cover was stunning, so I was definitely pumped to start this novel. I love school-like tropes and assassin main characters, so this concept grabbed me and didn’t let go until the last page. I don’t want to talk too much about the plot (because you should go read it!!!!) but I guarantee that it’s amazing (SO MANY PLOT TWISTS).

Mia was a fantastic main character; she was vengeful, angry, tough, and an all-around badass girl who I was rooting for throughout this whole novel, reminiscent of Adelina from THE YOUNG ELITES and Celaena from THRONE OF GLASS. The book also presents lots of flashbacks in which we learn more about Mia’s background and the events leading up to her need to avenge her family, making her character more relatable to me.

“The last thing you will ever be in this world, girl, is someone’s hero… But you will be a girl heroes fear.” (13, ARC)

This novel did take me longer to read than usual, which I think may be because there were a lot of characters to keep track of (although this also may be attributed to the fact that I always read physical books at a slower pace). Many of the characters were part of the Red Church, which, in fact, is filled with new characters. It was difficult, in some respect, to fully understand what was going on at times, to be honest. Nonetheless, a lot of the characters, including the other Acolytes, were well-developed and surprised me at the most unexpected times, including our own Mia.

Additionally, the writing style was remarkable. The writing flows with mystery and thrills and contains a mix of “university professor” and “swearing like a sailor”, both of which were very enjoyable to read for me. However, the most obvious aspect of this novel was the number of footnotes throughout the whole novel. The footnotes added a lot more humor and world-building that wasn’t explicitly stated throughout the story, so, in a way, it added to the whole experience. I personally thought the footnotes were pretty interesting at first but I ended up not reading them by the end of the novel (oops).

Overall, this first installment of this trilogy was incredibly impressive. Filled with action-packed fight scenes to exciting sexy scenes, NEVERNIGHT is not a book you want to miss out on!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Have you read this book yet? Are you planning to read it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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