Tag: nevernight

BooksReviews

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Posted on by J.W. Martin

GODSGRAVE
by Jay Kristoff

St. Martin’s Press
September 5, 2017

 

THERE WILL BE NO GODSGRAVE SPOILERS HERE, BUT THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR NEVERNIGHT (BOOK ONE) SPOILERS.

 

 

 

From Goodreads:

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.

Ok, everyone. I’m so behind on all my reviews. Behind isn’t even the right word. More like buried. But I had to crawl out from underneath to rave about this one, because holy crap! I was already a fan of Nevernight, but Godsgrave is next level.

We continue to follow Mia after the events of Nevernight, and once again we’re treated to a story split in pieces. A chapter of backstory, then a chapter of the present. Back and forth. And they’re both fantastic. Every time a chapter ends, I didn’t want it to. I didn’t want to shift from the past to the present or vice versa. But a paragraph or two into the next chapter and I was firmly rooted in that narrative and didn’t want to leave.

Kristoff does this marvellous job of giving us something new and unique while still feeling enough like the original Nevernight book. Not an easy task. How do you make something seem old and new at the same time? Step 1: read Godsgrave. Step 2: Give up, knowing you’ll never be as good as Jay Kristoff.

Many of the characters from the first book are mentioned or seen briefly, but the majority of the story takes place with a new cast of characters. That may seem disappointing at first, but these new characters will worm their way into your heart and won’t leave. Unless you stab them. Then they’ll stab back. And Jay Kristoff will stab you both. I get the impression that the characters from both book one and two (those are still alive anyway) will be meet in the third. And probably stab each other.

Let’s talk about what I didn’t like about Godsgrave: it ended. It ended and I have to wait approximately forever for Darkdawn. Seriously, that’s the only thing. I even liked the footnotes this time around, which were a source of annoyance in Nevernight. I can’t figure out if I enjoyed them this time around because I was expecting them, and thus more mentally prepared, or it was because Kristoff wrote the footnotes with a much more cynical voice. It’s probably a combination of the two.

In summary, anyone picking up Godsgrave can expect dynamite writing, characters reaching right off the page (to try and stab you), answers to some questions you’ve had since Nevernight, and a whole pile of new questions you never had before. Did I miss anything? Probably. Trust me. Just read it.

Fun fact about this post: This book caused me to want to curse out loud many, many times.
AllMemesText or Fiction

Text or Fiction | A New Thing

Posted on by J.W. Martin

This is it. The new kind of post I’ve been mentioning. IT’S FINALLY HERE!!

Have you ever been reading a book and you just have to stop to text someone about it? Pretty sure most of us have. But what if raging to your BFF isn’t good enough? What if you really want to send some straight fire to the steaming piece of hot garbage character that created the very rage that made you reach for your phone?

That’s what I wanted to do while reading Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight. Enjoy! 

 

(WARNING: contains spoilers to Nevernight, book 1 of The Nevernight Chronicle)

 

*please note, the above convo has no affiliation with Nevernight or
Jay Kristoff in any way and is in fact just me talking to myself.

Fun fact about this post: Ashlinn somehow found (or stole) an iPhone for the above convo.
BooksReviews

Stabby, stabby! | Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Nevernight

NEVERNIGHT
by Jay Kristoff

St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: August 9, 2016

From Goodreads:

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 one started off a little rocky for me. If I hadn’t been told by armies of people that it was amazing, I might even have put the book down. I’m glad I didn’t, because Nevernight is a thrill ride full of twists that I thought I saw coming a mile away, only the realize the rug had been pulled out from under me, and underneath the rug was a pit filled with razor sharp spikes and sand kraken.

So what went wrong in the beginning?

Part of it was adjusting to writing style/formatting. Jay Kristoff used lots and lots and lots of footnotes. Some of them were nice a short and added a little giggle into the story. Others were long, VERY long, delving into the history of a particular building or saying. Though interesting, these long ones had a bad habit of pulling me out of the story. 

The other aspect that I wasn’t a fan of was plot based, and only in the beginning. After a strong opening, it just seemed to go off the rails and drift. No real direction to speak of.

But if you keep reading until page 50 or so, you’re rewarded with a story that grabs hold and won’t let go.

How I imagined Mercurio

As you’re told the “present day” story, you’re also fed the back story, which is exceptional. For a lot of the book the back story left me more intrigued then the main plot! Though I do wish there was more Mercurio in it.

While this is a plot-driven book, the characters are exceptional. I’m not sure that Mercurio is my favourite, but he’s definitely the one I wanted to see more of. The rest of the cast are all great as well. And being that the book deals mostly with assassins and wannabe assassins, you never quite know who to trust. You’ll start to trust someone, and then they’ll do something to make you doubt them. 

AND THE BRUTALITY! There’s a warning right in the beginning that no punches will be pulled. After that, and from reading Illuminae and Gemina, I was prepared. And honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, though there were still a few moments that surprised me with brashness or brutality. Nothing upsetting, but surprising.

While this isn’t a book I would recommend to anyone, it’s one that I would recommend to people who enjoy great action and a fresh new fantasy world. And it is a fantasy world, but unlike any you’ve seen before. No sign of elf or orc, magicians do not have staffs and long beards, and the heroes aren’t always men in shiny armor with a broad sword.

Fun fact about this post: HUGE thanks goes out to Taylor, who kicked my butt into gear on this one by offering to buddy read it, even though I was complete buddy read noob and this was a reread for her. THANKS TAYLOR!!
AllFirst Impression FridayMemes

First Impression Friday | Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:

• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the First Impression Fridays out there!

Nevernight

This is my first ever buddy read with Taylor @ Nerd Narration. So far, I’m diggin it!

Maybe it’s the hype surrounding this book, or how much I enjoyed Illuminae and Gemina, but me and this book got off on the wrong foot.

The plot seems a little convoluted and maybe even directionless in the beginning. And the footnotes! OH THE FOOTNOTES!

I don’t mind the short ones that are tossing in something funny or thought-provoking, but many of them are like wiki entries. Interesting stuff, to be sure, but when it’s really long it’s pulling me away from the story for that entire time. Sometimes in the middle of a sentence.

Even so, I know the people who love this book wouldn’t steer me wrong and I’ve been assured that it gets better. Which I believe. Not only because I trust the opinions of these people, but also because through these early faults, I can see the seeds of something pretty awesome. Now I just have to wait for the rain and watch them grow.

My Prediction: 4 stars

Fun fact about this post: I know a certain Bionic Bookworm who will be PUMPED to see this post!