I am a daughter of the dark between the stars. I am the thought that wakes the bastards of this world sweating in the nevernight. i am the vengeance of every orphaned daughter, every murdered mother, every bastard son. I am the war you cannot win.
Darkdawn, jay kristoff
This is such a hard book – nay, series – to review.
I read Nevernight in the space of a week, Godsgrave and Darkdawn combined took me the better part of two months.
And I will put that down to a few reasons:
1.) Godsgrave has a very similar setup to Nevernight. Swap murder school for gladiator camp and it is almost the same storyline only with a different love interest and a different end of year test ie. become a blade/champion.
2.) Mia’s romances never really interested me. I quite liked Tric in Nevernight but after his return in Godsgrave he lost his appeal and again I liked Ashlinn in the first book but then found her whiny and annoying.
3.) Darkdawn has a lot of filler material (Cloud Corleone and everything pirate related had me raising my eyebrows)
And finally the most important point (in my opinion) 4.) Godsgrave and Darkdawn could have both been cut in half and put into one book.
The Nevernight Chronicles has incredible world building, complex characters, a strong mythology and its fair share of gore and humour and love. Yet at points I struggled to read it, for the reasons I listed above. I found I was either on the edge of my seat, heart racing desperate to know what happened next, or forcing myself through some of the chapters.
And yet… there is no denying the appeal of Mia Corvere and her Daemon companion Mr Kindly. In fact, everything Darkin related I absolutely loved. I couldn’t get enough of the strange hunger inside her and the way her Shadow often reflected the situations she found herself in.
I also enjoyed the family dynamics, and all the different father figures in Mia’s life from Scaeva to Mecurio to Darius and even Aa and Anais.
Darkdawn brings to the forefront the battle of the gods that we were first told about in Nevernight, and if it isn’t every Greek tragedy you could ever dream of – I loved it.
So yes this series is a difficult one to review, gentlefriends. But ultimately Mia’s journey makes it worth it. As well as Kristoff’s unique if elaborate writing style. I laughed, I cried, I almost threw the book at the damn wall in frustration, but when I closed the book at the end of Darkdawn it was with bittersweet satisfaction and with a book-hangover that will definitely last another turn.
So yeah… you should read it.
Best wishes – Rachel Writes x
The Talking Bookshelf 