Rating: 4.5 STARS! Genre: Adult Fantasy/LGBT Series/Standalone: The Nevernight Chronicle #2 How I got this book: Bought Assassin Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church ministry think she’s far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she’s no closer to ending Consul Scaeva and Cardinal Duomo, or avenging her familia. And after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia begins to suspect the motives of the Red Church itself. When it’s announced that Scaeva and Duomo will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end them. Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold within the collegium walls, and the body count rises, Mia will be forced to choose between loyalty and revenge, and uncover a secret that could change the very face of her world. If you're looking for a bloody spectacle of a book with more 'boobs and blood' (Jay Kristoff's words, not mine) than its prequel, you'll love Godsgrave. At the beginning of this book, we rejoin our heroin but not where I expected to. The first half of the book jumps between the present day and four mounts prior and leaves you doing a lot of guesswork as to what's going on and why. Mia is still on her quest for vengeance and blood and it leads her in new directions and to new, shocking revelations. What I love most about Mia is her 'couldn't care less' attitude and I think, in particular, the way that Jay Kristoff writes her sexuality (and her self-discovery) is really beautiful (not a word often used to describe this series) but the fact that when Mia recognises her sexuality and just accepts it, without a thought of what anyone will think, it's just perfect and personally, I want more bisexual heroines like this. I'd waited a while since finishing Nevernight to read Godsgrave (I wanted to read it closer to the Darkdawn release - more on that later) and I was so excited to get back to the characters that I'd grown to love in book one, but what I hadn't expected was so many amazing new characters that really made this book something special. I'm going to start with my absolute favourite new character Sidonius who is an absolute legend. I love him and his crass, no filtered mouth and personally, after reading this book I just want someone to be proud enough to call me a 'magnificent little bitch!' The author introduces several other characters; Maggot, Bryn and Byern, Wavewalker, Bladesinger, Furian, Arkades and Dona Leona - all fantastic (and terrible) in their own ways and fantastic additions to the cast. I loved each and every moment with these characters including the unexpected surprises they delivered at the end. Now, I have rated Godsgrave at 4.5 stars instead of 5 and that's simply because I enjoyed Nevernight more. Nevernight blew me away, I'd never really read anything like it and it both shocked and thrilled me. With Godsgrave there were certain parts, and please don't hate me for saying this, that felt a tad predictable and a few revelations that I'd already guessed back in book one and so, whilst the characters themselves deserve the full 5 stars, for me at least, the book itself didn't grab me quite as much as Nevernight but it was still an immersive, thrilling second book of the trilogy and I'm both excited and terrified of what's yet to come. A Conversation with Jay Kristoff in ManchesterLast night was the Manchester stop on Jay Kristoff's Darkdawn book tour and I was lucky enough to grab two tickets for my partner (also a huge Jay Kristoff fan) and I. Let me just say that the 1.5 hour drive to Manchester was not enjoyable in the slightest, neither is driving in central Manchester - why do pedestrians just walk in the middle of the road and where the hell are the road markings??? Anyway, after holding our breaths as we dodged pedestrians, trams and other vehicles, we finally made it to Deansgate Waterstones in time for the event. Listening to Jay Kristoff was a slightly surreal experience. I've read a few of his books (admittedly not that many); Nevernight, Godsgrave (which I finished at 1:30am the day of the event) and Illuminae (which is incredible) and I was almost nervous to meet him if that makes sense; you know what they say about meeting your heroes. But Jay was fantastic, he was incredibly funny, intelligent, kind and witty and hearing about his methodology (writing Godsgrave in Venice), his inspirations (Roman history/politics and Ludovico Einaudi) his funny anecdotes (like the time he almost died in Venice, and getting his wife to proofread his sex scenes) and gaining a little insight into the mind behind these incredible books was a fantastic experience and well-worth the wait, even if we sadly couldn't get any of our books signed due to the massive wait time (5 year old girls will wait for no one, even someone as talented as Jay Kristoff). Now I'm off to try and pry Darkdawn from the hands of my partner who stole it while I wasn't looking! I'm very, very curious about this series. I'm actually torn between getting this series or getting Aurora Rising. Visually, the Darkdawn special edition with the black edges is absolutely stunning but I might not get that already and I'm also kind of scared of getting the whole series and not liking it. So, technically I'm torn between getting Nevernight or Aurora Rising.
Kayleigh @ My Endless Shelf
10/9/2019 16:41:58
I'd definitely recommend it Andie and the Darkdawn special edition is so pretty (although I still haven't managed to steal it back from my partner to read yet). I did have a little trouble getting into Nevernight at the beginning, especially with the footnotes (which I grew to love but you can skip them without missing any important plot bits) but there was a certain point I hit in book one (don't want to give you any spoilers) that just grabbed me and I was hooked from then on. I haven't read Aurora Rising yet, although it is on my TBR. Have you read Illuminae? It was so so good, even if the formatting breaks all the rules lol Comments are closed.
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About Kay (She/Her)
Book addict, film mad, music lover, business owner, writer and mum (not necessarily in that order), living in the UK. About Sophie (She/Her)
Sophie loves books (obviously). She has a passion for photography and spotting wildlife, and is interested in anything made with passion and creativity. THIS BLOG IS SPOILER FREE!
Rating system: 5 Stars - AMAZING!! 4.5 Stars - Almost perfect! 4 Stars - I really loved it 3.5 Stars - I liked it alot 3 Stars - I liked it (I don't typically review books that I rate below 3 stars)
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