Hey, guys! I realize that it's been a long time since I've posted anything here and thought it was about time I did so. And what better way than to start off with a book review? I just finished rereading one of my all time favorite books, if not all time favorite. And it's the first book in my all time favorite series. And that would be Nevernight, book one of the Nevernight Chronicle, by Jay Kristoff.
Nevernight follows Mia Corvere, a girl on her way to the Red Church, which trains Acolytes (the students) in hopes of becoming Blades (assassins). When she was younger, her father had been killed by other members of the government and Mia's mother made her witness her father's hanging. Dona Corvere and Mia's younger brother Jonnen are taken into the Philosopher's Stone (a prison). Mia herself was to be killed. She escapes and is taken in by Mercurio, who trains her to get her into the Red Church. And the story takes off from there.
I had so much fun with this reread of Nevernight. I have multiple copies of it, so I annotated and tabbed my US paperback of the book. A friend who borrowed this particular edition almost immediately after I finished was just a bit horrified since she was raised to never write in books. But she did end up underlining stuff in it and wrote some notes in it as well. And now she wants to do the same with her favorite book.
This time around, after having read book two already, I could see lines that alluded to things that would happen in Godsgrave and there were things that I think may even allude to Darkdawn (which is book three and is the final book in the chronicle). I even found things I had initially missed in my first two times reading this book. For example, the first time Mister Kindly shows up when Mia is younger and how he doesn't announce himself until a few pages later. Just when she needed him.
In all honesty, there was quite a bit I had missed while reading but caught during this read, or in certain instances until after I had finished. When my friend and I had been discussing the book, she mentioned that she couldn't remember the description of Naev, a Hand of the Church. I couldn't remember her, either. I just remembered the basics of how her face had gotten to where it looked when Mia met her and that was why she wore veils.So I just had to go in and find the description of her face. And I just stared at it for a moment before point it out to my friend. And the only thing Naev says that could have caused it was, "Love."
There are footnotes throughout the story. They aren't 100% necessary to the story but help with world building and sometimes there is a funny line or two where the narrator tries to make a joke.I loved reading the footnotes as I went. They added to the story for me. They aren't for everyone, though.
Another thing you'll either love or hate is the descriptions. This isn't a description heavy book but with the way the descriptions are written, it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. I loved them and they helped me to be able to imagine everything just so much more clearly.
Once I got to the last 100 or so pages, I didn't want to put the book down. Things were picking up and there was way more action than there had been before. There had been the occasional death, loads of sassy comments, some smutty bits. But it got into full swing the last 100 or so pages. Even with knowing that certain events were coming, it didn't change my mind about certain characters. Some I still hated, some I wanted to protect forever (in spite of them being an assassin-in-training).
If you are into assassins and/or revenge stories, this is one for you. I would highly recommend picking this one up.
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