Book Review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Nevernight
By Jay Kristoff
The Nevernight Chronicles #1
Hardcover: 427 pages
St. Martin's Press
August 9, 2016
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |5/5|
Categories: Adult, Dark Fantasy
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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?

The book begins in a strange way-- our main character, Mia is both losing her virginity and murdering a man. Now wait a moment here, it's not what you think! The scene is flashing back and forth between the two, making comparisons of both acts. It's brutal, gory, and beautiful all wrapped into one beginning chapter. I was hooked from the first paragraph. Mister Kristoff gives zero fucks about giving his reader the shock factor from the get. He lays out a damaged and possibly insane main character and asks you to accept her. The reader understands what they are getting from the beginning, and he absolutely gives you the opportunity to pass if you're not up for the challenge.

I was up for the challenge. I fell in love with Mia-- her coldness and vulnerabilities and possible mental instability made me love her all the more. She is made to watch her father hang for treason and then ripped away from the cushy, upscale life of Godsgrave's elite. Her mother and baby brother are sent to prison, but Mia is able to escape the clutches of one of the most corrupt governments I've had the pleasure of reading about. In her escape, she discovers a power within her that she doesn't understand. A power that will both be a benefit as well as a curse in the adventures to follow.

"...the brighter the light, the deeper the shadows..."

Mr. Kindly is Mia's shadow cat, and one of the best pet sidekicks EVER. His sarcasm makes my little black heart happy. This is one of the powers that Mia discovers while fighting for her life as a 10 year old exile. She thankfully stumbles upon a man who is willing to take her in. A man who begins training her to be an assassin for the Red Church, an elite assassin training program. Along her journey, she meets a young man named Tric who will play an integral role in the story. Tric is just as insane and damaged as Mia, and I love him for it. He is a fun, sarcastic character that, regardless of his damage, makes Mia more human.

Our main character is the most badass, give no fucks female lead that I have had the pleasure of reading this year. I fell in love with her, coldness and vulnerability and damage aside. She knows what she wants and she is willing to fight, tooth and nail to get it. Her willpower is inspiring, and her need for vengeance is astounding. She is cold, calculating, and ruthless-- but the reader does get to see small parts of her that are human. Her love of reading and her attachment to Mr. Kindly create a human side of her that the reader can't help but be drawn to.

"You've got the look of a girl who's no stranger to the page. I can tell. You've got words in your soul.... The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks onus. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You're a daughter of words. A girl with a story to tell."

The absolute BEST book quote ever. I will leave you gentlefriends now. Do yourselves a favor and read this book! It is amazing, beautiful, adventurous, and full of delicious dark vengeance!

<3 Morrighan