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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
You had me at school of assassins. This was totally fucking amazeballs. It had magic. It had murder. It had mayhem. It had smut (albeit a very small bit). I'm ready for book 2. Which I have so go away and let me read!
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wróciłam do tej książki po ponad roku i muszę przyznać, że nadal było mi z nią bardzo ciężko.
Jakoś w 1/3 przeżuciłam się na audio bo tam nie było tych nieszczęsnych dopisków, które uważam za OGROMNY minus książki. Poczucie humoru jest momentami żałosne, bo jest dziwne, bo w innych książkach Kristoffa jego humor jest świetny
Jakoś w 1/3 przeżuciłam się na audio bo tam nie było tych nieszczęsnych dopisków, które uważam za OGROMNY minus książki. Poczucie humoru jest momentami żałosne, bo jest dziwne, bo w innych książkach Kristoffa jego humor jest świetny
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I finally read my most intimidated book of my TBR!
I just have to say that I really loved the worldbuilding, the magic system and the story itself but the writing style made it difficult for me to read at a normal pace so I took a lot of time to finish this.
The first 100 pages had my brain fried but after that it was amazing
I just have to say that I really loved the worldbuilding, the magic system and the story itself but the writing style made it difficult for me to read at a normal pace so I took a lot of time to finish this.
The first 100 pages had my brain fried but after that it was amazing
2 stars
I did it. I killed the beast - this 600+ page monster of a novel. It took me three weeks to get through itnot only because Pokémon Go was released in the same time. And it pains me to say it, but I do feel like it was a waste of those three weeks.
When I saw an opportunity to read the much hyped Nevernight early, I LITERALLY jumped at the chance. I did love the first book I read by Kristoff, Stormdancer, and at the time, a bloody book about assassins in a dark fantasy world sounded like a fantastic idea. I feel like a lot of us fantasy readers on the older end of young adult, who sometimes cross over to adult, are all kind of tempted by that, right? We love a fierce main character who isn't afraid to take a life - who stands for something and will let nothing and no one stand in her way to achieve it. Revenge fantasies sound both dark and fascinating. So imagine my surprise when this book just didn't really work for me on any level.
The first thing to know about Kristoff:
he likes his fantasy elaborate and wordy.
The number of pages should have already given part of that away, but this is not the kind of fantasy that's easy to jump into or action-packed from the get go. Instead, the book takes over 100 pages to actually get going. That's when Mia finally reaches the Red Church, where she trains to be an assassin. Before that it's all world building and character development infodumps, about half of them in flashback form. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not the biggest flashback fan. So this was already working my last nerve, and I struggled to keep going. This book could have been so condensed, oh my god, I can't even.
The writing style is kind of odd.
Yeah, it's elaborate and some may call it purple at some times. But my detachment with the writing goes even further than that. Kristoff randomly interjects his own dark and snarky humor throughout the book. Not enough to give the narration a unique and consistent voice, but just sporadically, in random sentences and footnotes which make you kind of scratch your head a little bit. Oh yeah, FOOTNOTES. Because there wasn't enough room for world building in the 600 page text, he also needed footnotes for more random facts and background information about the world that have absolutely no influence on the story and are neither interesting nor amusing.
Exhibit A:
(Note that some footnotes were so long they spilled over onto the next page. I'm not even joking.)
And that's another thing, to keep his world consistent, Kristoff changes up the slang in an otherwise pretty modern way of speaking. This world has three suns, and the religion is devoted to Aa, the God of Light. Mia, as an assassin, serves Niah, the Goddess of Night. Instead of hell, there's the "abyss", which everyone naturally shortens to "'byss" when they say, "What the 'byss is going on?" (which they say A LOT). I appreciate the efforts to create a new world with consistent terminology and understand, mostly, where it comes from, but this really annoyed me. Also, two sorcerer characters speak Shakespearean English, so really this is all over the place.
The story picks up... a little.
When Mia finally reaches the Red Church, it does get marginally more interesting. IMHO we don't get to see nearly enough of their lessons - those parts are kind of sped through or skipped for whatever reason - but it is an interesting setting. They do fierce training in combat, poison, seduction, and thievery. It's not at all a Hogwarts, and this is no nurturing environment. From the outset, students are whittled away - most of them dying as a result of their training or as an added mystery.
I found some enjoyment in these scenes because all of the characters were rightly suspicious and combative towards each other - and yet, Mia still manages to strike up connections with select people. All the while, she's not stupid enough to forget that she's there on a mission, and they're all actually competing for four assassin positions. The teachers set up some ruthless and potentially fatal tests for the group, and Mia navigates them really well, proving on more than one occasion that she's smart as well as dangerous - physically but also psychologically.
Forced romance is forced.
I'm of two minds about this. I liked certain romantic scenes because - hell, that's when it really became clear this is an adult book. There is some serious hotness going on, and Kristoff writes it surprisingly well. But I did not care much for Tric, the character. And as Mia develops feelings for him, but adamantly denies said feelings, but figures she needs to learn about sex and seduction, so what the heck, let's have pleasure for the sake of pleasure... It feels forced. I kind of would have liked her to be wholly focused on her mission to be an assassin. I did not ship this. I also didn't unship it. I just didn't care for it.
Do not tease me with "the most shocking plot twist ever."
As the UK advance copies were sent out, photos appeared online that the publisher had included a note at a certain page number that YES that shocking thing did just happen, and people should definitely post about it on social media with their shocked faces. Now, this does not work on me. Because for one, now I know something SUPER SHOCKING is supposed to happen. And then, I know the page number where it should happen. My mind goes off without my permission and dissects everything, thinking up one million options of shocking plot twists, and ultimately deciding what would be the most awesome. And no, it's never the most awesome thing.
So yeah. I was not surprised. Considering the setting and the shady nature of literally every character in this book, I more or less expected exactly what happened to happen. My pick for a more awesome plot twist?
Where exactly was this book supposed to wow me?
This is one of the most hyped novels of 2016. And yet... here I am. Let's see how this book did.
- Writing? Too long, overwrought, odd style. I have to be in the right mood to be able to read super dense high fantasy, and I definitely was not.
- World building? Interesting, though too elaborate. Weird mix of Venetian and Middle Eastern terms/descriptions? Dunno how I feel about that.
- Characters? Mia gets a firm nod of respect from me, but the rest I don't really care about.
- Romance? Decently hot, though I don't care for the ship. I know it's en vogue to ship couples who have sex for the heck of it without feelings, but I am not really that kind of shipper.
- Plot? Alternates between intense, gory, high stakes action, intriguing mystery, and the slowest filler material.
- Twists? Did not even blink.
So... that's a hard no.
Summing Up:
I think I've adequately explained why this book didn't work for me, but I get why it exists. This book is like what would happen if Arya Stark got to be in an even darker and bloodier House of Black and White. It's playing on the trends in the book world to love assassins, blood and gore, casual sex, and revenge plots. In that sense, it's brilliantly calculated and constructed. But it feels like I saw through all of it... and I was not impressed. Over-hyped and overrated? I would say so.
I mean, you know you're pretty much over a book when the sentence, "After all, this tale is only one of three," makes you visibly cringe and audibly groan. No thank you.
GIF it to me straight!
Recommended To:
Fans of denser fantasy, like A Song of Ice and Fire, or, hell, Stormdancer.
*An advance review copy was provided by the American Book Center in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.
I did it. I killed the beast - this 600+ page monster of a novel. It took me three weeks to get through it
When I saw an opportunity to read the much hyped Nevernight early, I LITERALLY jumped at the chance. I did love the first book I read by Kristoff, Stormdancer, and at the time, a bloody book about assassins in a dark fantasy world sounded like a fantastic idea. I feel like a lot of us fantasy readers on the older end of young adult, who sometimes cross over to adult, are all kind of tempted by that, right? We love a fierce main character who isn't afraid to take a life - who stands for something and will let nothing and no one stand in her way to achieve it. Revenge fantasies sound both dark and fascinating. So imagine my surprise when this book just didn't really work for me on any level.
The first thing to know about Kristoff:
he likes his fantasy elaborate and wordy.
The number of pages should have already given part of that away, but this is not the kind of fantasy that's easy to jump into or action-packed from the get go. Instead, the book takes over 100 pages to actually get going. That's when Mia finally reaches the Red Church, where she trains to be an assassin. Before that it's all world building and character development infodumps, about half of them in flashback form. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not the biggest flashback fan. So this was already working my last nerve, and I struggled to keep going. This book could have been so condensed, oh my god, I can't even.
The writing style is kind of odd.
Yeah, it's elaborate and some may call it purple at some times. But my detachment with the writing goes even further than that. Kristoff randomly interjects his own dark and snarky humor throughout the book. Not enough to give the narration a unique and consistent voice, but just sporadically, in random sentences and footnotes which make you kind of scratch your head a little bit. Oh yeah, FOOTNOTES. Because there wasn't enough room for world building in the 600 page text, he also needed footnotes for more random facts and background information about the world that have absolutely no influence on the story and are neither interesting nor amusing.
Exhibit A:
But with the weight of her unneeded companions shed, Mia's camels travelled all the swifter, spitting and snorting and making whatever noise it is that camels make as they ran.[72]
[72] It occurs to me there is no word to describe the noise a camel makes. Dogs bark, lions roar, drunkards mumble. What the 'byss do camels do?
ARC of Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
(Note that some footnotes were so long they spilled over onto the next page. I'm not even joking.)
And that's another thing, to keep his world consistent, Kristoff changes up the slang in an otherwise pretty modern way of speaking. This world has three suns, and the religion is devoted to Aa, the God of Light. Mia, as an assassin, serves Niah, the Goddess of Night. Instead of hell, there's the "abyss", which everyone naturally shortens to "'byss" when they say, "What the 'byss is going on?" (which they say A LOT). I appreciate the efforts to create a new world with consistent terminology and understand, mostly, where it comes from, but this really annoyed me. Also, two sorcerer characters speak Shakespearean English, so really this is all over the place.
The story picks up... a little.
When Mia finally reaches the Red Church, it does get marginally more interesting. IMHO we don't get to see nearly enough of their lessons - those parts are kind of sped through or skipped for whatever reason - but it is an interesting setting. They do fierce training in combat, poison, seduction, and thievery. It's not at all a Hogwarts, and this is no nurturing environment. From the outset, students are whittled away - most of them dying as a result of their training or as an added mystery.
I found some enjoyment in these scenes because all of the characters were rightly suspicious and combative towards each other - and yet, Mia still manages to strike up connections with select people. All the while, she's not stupid enough to forget that she's there on a mission, and they're all actually competing for four assassin positions. The teachers set up some ruthless and potentially fatal tests for the group, and Mia navigates them really well, proving on more than one occasion that she's smart as well as dangerous - physically but also psychologically.
Forced romance is forced.
I'm of two minds about this. I liked certain romantic scenes because - hell, that's when it really became clear this is an adult book. There is some serious hotness going on, and Kristoff writes it surprisingly well. But I did not care much for Tric, the character. And as Mia develops feelings for him, but adamantly denies said feelings, but figures she needs to learn about sex and seduction, so what the heck, let's have pleasure for the sake of pleasure... It feels forced. I kind of would have liked her to be wholly focused on her mission to be an assassin. I did not ship this. I also didn't unship it. I just didn't care for it.
Do not tease me with "the most shocking plot twist ever."
As the UK advance copies were sent out, photos appeared online that the publisher had included a note at a certain page number that YES that shocking thing did just happen, and people should definitely post about it on social media with their shocked faces. Now, this does not work on me. Because for one, now I know something SUPER SHOCKING is supposed to happen. And then, I know the page number where it should happen. My mind goes off without my permission and dissects everything, thinking up one million options of shocking plot twists, and ultimately deciding what would be the most awesome. And no, it's never the most awesome thing.
So yeah. I was not surprised. Considering the setting and the shady nature of literally every character in this book, I more or less expected exactly what happened to happen. My pick for a more awesome plot twist?
Spoiler
That Mister Kindly was somehow taking over control of Mia without her knowledge and killing the people. Which would have been SUPER AWESOME because then the second book would be all about an internal struggle with this darkin and... yeah.Where exactly was this book supposed to wow me?
This is one of the most hyped novels of 2016. And yet... here I am. Let's see how this book did.
- Writing? Too long, overwrought, odd style. I have to be in the right mood to be able to read super dense high fantasy, and I definitely was not.
- World building? Interesting, though too elaborate. Weird mix of Venetian and Middle Eastern terms/descriptions? Dunno how I feel about that.
- Characters? Mia gets a firm nod of respect from me, but the rest I don't really care about.
- Romance? Decently hot, though I don't care for the ship. I know it's en vogue to ship couples who have sex for the heck of it without feelings, but I am not really that kind of shipper.
- Plot? Alternates between intense, gory, high stakes action, intriguing mystery, and the slowest filler material.
- Twists? Did not even blink.
So... that's a hard no.
Summing Up:
I think I've adequately explained why this book didn't work for me, but I get why it exists. This book is like what would happen if Arya Stark got to be in an even darker and bloodier House of Black and White. It's playing on the trends in the book world to love assassins, blood and gore, casual sex, and revenge plots. In that sense, it's brilliantly calculated and constructed. But it feels like I saw through all of it... and I was not impressed. Over-hyped and overrated? I would say so.
I mean, you know you're pretty much over a book when the sentence, "After all, this tale is only one of three," makes you visibly cringe and audibly groan. No thank you.
GIF it to me straight!
Recommended To:
Fans of denser fantasy, like A Song of Ice and Fire, or, hell, Stormdancer.
*An advance review copy was provided by the American Book Center in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.75*
I struggled at first getting in to this one and had to put it down once, because the writing is pretty dense and you have to get used to the footnotes. I just didn't have the mental capacity for it at the time. In fact I really didn't like the footnotes at first but once I got into the flow of the narration, I loved them as they added some humour to an overall dark story.
The writing is pretty lyrical and descriptive , so exactly how I like my fantasy books ! The plot was dark and twisty with great characterization.
Although I enjoyed the romantic elements of this story, I think the writing became slightly repetitive in those scenes, the same sentences and expressions being reused.
But my biggest "negative" about this book is that I think I think it would have been so much better if the characters were older. This is an adult, violent, dark fantasy and having the main character be 16 didn't serve the story. I think it is probably because at the time it was kind of a trend to have 16-17 year old protagonists and maybe if this was written today we would have had an adult Mia.
I honestly think if we had had adult acolytes it could have been a new all time favourite, it would have been that much more epic !
Still a really really good read and I'm very excited for the rest of the series. Fantastic writing, plot and characters.
I struggled at first getting in to this one and had to put it down once, because the writing is pretty dense and you have to get used to the footnotes. I just didn't have the mental capacity for it at the time. In fact I really didn't like the footnotes at first but once I got into the flow of the narration, I loved them as they added some humour to an overall dark story.
The writing is pretty lyrical and descriptive , so exactly how I like my fantasy books ! The plot was dark and twisty with great characterization.
Although I enjoyed the romantic elements of this story, I think the writing became slightly repetitive in those scenes, the same sentences and expressions being reused.
But my biggest "negative" about this book is that I think I think it would have been so much better if the characters were older. This is an adult, violent, dark fantasy and having the main character be 16 didn't serve the story. I think it is probably because at the time it was kind of a trend to have 16-17 year old protagonists and maybe if this was written today we would have had an adult Mia.
I honestly think if we had had adult acolytes it could have been a new all time favourite, it would have been that much more epic !
Still a really really good read and I'm very excited for the rest of the series. Fantastic writing, plot and characters.
We're giving this one a very polite no thank you.
Polite because its story did hold my interest and there were some interesting characters.
No thank you because of several reasons:
First of all, the style... was annoying. The similes and metaphors were over-the-top flowery and strange. A new universe's language sometimes takes some getting used to, but the ones here never stopped being jarring. (Sunsset, noonmeal/evemeal/mornmeal, sweetboy, saying "O" all the freaking time.) The way the narrator addressed the reader was so dramatic and overblown. The gimmicky mirroring of the perspectives at the beginning was almost INTOLERABLE. I wanted to set the book down right then.
Fortunately, it does get somewhat better, but I wouldn't say it approaches normal until more than halfway through the book. But second of all, even if you get past how it is written, there are sex scenes. There is dramatic, oh-I'm-so-funny swearing and vulgarity that mostly fails to be amusing. There are way too many scenes that seem embarrassingly self-aware, like they know that they were written blatantly for the purpose of making the reader sit back, whistle to themselves, and say, That was awesome.
Cringey. Tryhard.
I'm just not convinced by this book. I'm not convinced by Mia. The only thing that makes me want to pick up the next installment is the mysterious fate of Mia's brother, which isn't nearly enough.
Polite because its story did hold my interest and there were some interesting characters.
No thank you because of several reasons:
First of all, the style... was annoying. The similes and metaphors were over-the-top flowery and strange. A new universe's language sometimes takes some getting used to, but the ones here never stopped being jarring. (Sunsset, noonmeal/evemeal/mornmeal, sweetboy, saying "O" all the freaking time.) The way the narrator addressed the reader was so dramatic and overblown. The gimmicky mirroring of the perspectives at the beginning was almost INTOLERABLE. I wanted to set the book down right then.
Fortunately, it does get somewhat better, but I wouldn't say it approaches normal until more than halfway through the book. But second of all, even if you get past how it is written, there are sex scenes. There is dramatic, oh-I'm-so-funny swearing and vulgarity that mostly fails to be amusing. There are way too many scenes that seem embarrassingly self-aware, like they know that they were written blatantly for the purpose of making the reader sit back, whistle to themselves, and say, That was awesome.
Cringey. Tryhard.
I'm just not convinced by this book. I'm not convinced by Mia. The only thing that makes me want to pick up the next installment is the mysterious fate of Mia's brother, which isn't nearly enough.