Review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

29845906Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles #1) by Jay Kristoff
Publication Date: August 11th 2016 by Harper Voyager
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy, Adult.
Find: Goodreads | Amazon
Goodreads Summary
Destined to destroy empires, Mia Covere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.

Six years later, the child raised in shadows takes her first steps towards keeping the promise she made on the day that she lost everything.

But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, so if she is to have her revenge, Mia must become a weapon without equal. She must prove herself against the deadliest of friends and enemies, and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and demons at the heart of a murder cult.

The Red Church is no Hogwarts, but Mia is no ordinary student.

The shadows love her. And they drink her fear.

Nevernight is the type of book that slowly grabs you. The first 100 pages or so are incredibly slow and then you’re left wondering if this book is really worth all the hype. Thankfully the moment we make it to this school for aspiring assassins things took a turn for the better. With her father branded a traitor and her family being ripped apart as consequence, Mia has been festering her desire for revenge against those who wronger her family. On her journey she meets an array of characters that blur the lines between friend and foe. 

Mia stole the book for me. She is ruthless and ferocious and has no qualms killing those that have in her eyes sinned. However, she also retains a sense of morality and uses her mind, logic and instinct in doling out her punishment. It is this combination of logical thinking and morality that distinguishes her from her fellow classmates but it also creates a potential weakness they can capitalize on. This was a strong introduction to her character and hope to see her grow in the next installment of the book.

The one aspect that took away from the story was the footnotes. The knowledge in the notes themselves were interesting but it took away from the flow of the story and more often than not made me feel like I was reading a textbook. They did help in shaping an understanding of the world but it also made it harder to truly immerse myself in the story. It also took me a while to adjust to the writing style and the terminology used in the book. 

Overall, Nevernight is a solid introduction to the series. It’s bloody and brutal and definitely not a Young Adult book but it has a lot of fascinating characters, a complex world and a promise of a lot more death and destruction to come.

9 thoughts on “Review: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff”

  1. I really struggled to get into this one for some reason. I think it was the writing. I’m glad you had better luck with it even though you had to push through the first few chapters, Lois!
    Lovely review and wishing you a happy new year! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think this book is either a hit or miss. The writing style is definitely an adjustment and the use of footnotes weren’t as effective as I thought it’d be. However, the story itself is awesome. 😀

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  5. […] Nevernight was quite a brutal read, which is not surprising in an assassin training school. However, when the time came, and my pre-order of Godsgrave arrived, I found that I just wasn’t in the mood to read a book with that level of brutality. It’s a series I’m likely to continue, but the initial excitement has waned over the years. The footnotes also did nothing for the story. While interesting, they took away from the flow of the narrative and did nothing to enhance the reading experience. […]

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