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?

I admit, it took me a while to get into this. As I read, and began to focus and really fall into this book, everything seemed to fall in place. I discovered this is amazing! And yep, I’m annoyed I didn’t read this sooner. I’d heard about this before, a strong female character with some great sarcasm, but I didn’t realise it would be like this. How I wish I’d read this sooner.

The Characters

Mia Corvere – The most awesome, sarcastic, bad-ass character ever. As a main character, she’s up there among my favourites. What’s not to love? Here’s a reason to love Mia Corvere:

And as she spoke, she drew her stiletto and pressed it against the source of most men’s woes, her smile widening along with his eyes.

Tric – Goddamnit Tric. He’s lovely and amazing and I’m annoyed, beyond reason. I can relate to the situation that Tric finds himself in here, and why he needs that drink!

“Black Mother help me, Tric sighed. “I need a fucking drink…”

Mister Kindly – a sarcastic, uh, something, that’s cat-shaped and witty? Yeah, I need to read more of him. And I really want to know exactly what he is.

“… though i have no face, believe me when i say i am scowling the pants off you right now …”

The bad guy – I did not see coming, and that’s another thing I’m annoyed about. Why didn’t I see that coming? Do you know how rare it is for me not to figure out who the bad guy is by 50%? I was sure I had it pegged, but apparently not!

Shahiids – Shahiid Spiderkiller was my favourite of the lot, but Mouser was pretty cool too. I wonder if there’s more information about them in further books. I’m curious about their pasts and their stories. We get hints of some interesting backstories lingering beneath the surface.

The World

The world-building here is, I’m running out of words for amazing. A school, a seriously messed-up school for assassins? Yes, please! Not only do we have an assassins school, we’ve got blood magic, skin-weaving and who knows what else in the shape of Mr. Kindly and Eclipse. Daemons, perhaps? I think that’d be too obvious. If this book has taught me anything, it’s expect the unexpected.

The descriptions to set the scene were terrific. The way Jay Kristoff describes things using metaphors and similes is sometimes a little out-there, but they work. At first, I found it a little contrived, but by the end I enjoyed them.

Would I read it again? Yep, absolutely. I feel like it’s one of those series I’ll pick up if I’m a bit of a slump or I want to read something I know I’ll enjoy.

Will I be picking up the next in the series? Already ordered it! I read Nevernight on Kindle, but I’ve picked up Godsgrave in hardback. I hope they’ll do another print run of Nevernight in hardback so I can pick that up without paying a lot for it too! I’ve also pre-ordered the signed, sprayed edge edition of Darkdawn from Waterstones…

Would I recommend it? 100%, yes!

Is it going on my Favourites shelf? Hell yeah!

Originally posted at A Reading Brit  

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Created Feb 24, 2019 at 5:27am • Submit your own review...