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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
This trilogy by Kristoff deserves more hype by bookworms across all social media platforms.
I discovered this series through Goodreads recommendations and I am so thankful for that app for introducing me to this author and this particular series because this trilogy was what I wanted and needed when it came to assassins, revenge and epic fantasy.
I personally think, Darkdawn was the best in this trilogy. The story progression was well-structured filled with travels around the world, dangerous sea voyages, and some heartwarming moments between a lot of the characters across from the entire series.
Although each book felt different from the last, Kristoff ties all three perfectly well with a nice bow. The themes remained the same with all three of his books: familia, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, revenge, and love that persists. Kristoff did a tremendous job with the character's progression and truly making each character either likable or unfathomable.
I also love Kristoff's writing style, especially when he makes fun of his writing. This book needs more credit and hype than it gets. My favorite book in the series for sure, and ultimately one of my favorite book series I've read. So dear readers, DO NOT sleep on this series or this author.
I discovered this series through Goodreads recommendations and I am so thankful for that app for introducing me to this author and this particular series because this trilogy was what I wanted and needed when it came to assassins, revenge and epic fantasy.
I personally think, Darkdawn was the best in this trilogy. The story progression was well-structured filled with travels around the world, dangerous sea voyages, and some heartwarming moments between a lot of the characters across from the entire series.
Although each book felt different from the last, Kristoff ties all three perfectly well with a nice bow. The themes remained the same with all three of his books: familia, friendship, loyalty, responsibility, revenge, and love that persists. Kristoff did a tremendous job with the character's progression and truly making each character either likable or unfathomable.
I also love Kristoff's writing style, especially when he makes fun of his writing. This book needs more credit and hype than it gets. My favorite book in the series for sure, and ultimately one of my favorite book series I've read. So dear readers, DO NOT sleep on this series or this author.
Well Gentlefriends.... Fuck me very gently, then fuck me very hard... And this book fucked me all over again. Must say it was a masterpiece and a complete emotional rollercoaster for me... My favorite characters died, my least favorite one came back from dead... I bawled my eyes out for Eclipse, Adonai, Aelius, Butcher, TRIC (again!) and more... Smiled when Ash died (just couldn't trust her after what she did, I couldn't get over it, and all together didn't liked her)... Laughed hard in the bantering between characters and funny stories from the past. The love in this book was heart warming and twisted (family, friends, love).
Absolutely adored the magic line in this book, the world build with the light and dark, the moon and the story behind it's just flawless. Loved the book in a book line, the pirates were great (Claude was a perfect side character) and not to mention the epic endgame fight!!!!
Although the ending was to sweet for me... One thing that I don't like Ash but after this rough trilogy I didn't expected that kind of happy ending. And I say it again, Tric should end up with Mia!
Absolutely adored the magic line in this book, the world build with the light and dark, the moon and the story behind it's just flawless. Loved the book in a book line, the pirates were great (Claude was a perfect side character) and not to mention the epic endgame fight!!!!
Although the ending was to sweet for me... One thing that I don't like Ash but after this rough trilogy I didn't expected that kind of happy ending. And I say it again, Tric should end up with Mia!
Vielleicht war ich zu müde für das Finale, aber es war sehr wirr und metaphernreich. Insgesamt ein schwieriger einstieg aber dennoch grandiose momente (wo sie den piratenkönig killt 10/10). Ein gelungener Abschluss, allerdings ist Teil 2 mein Favorit. Teilweise mehr hochgestochenere Sprache als davor. Werds trotzdem vermissen :(
Update 3rd October 2019
Nevernight, ♡♡♡♡♡
Godsgrave, ♡♡♡♡
Darkdawn, ♡♡
It's been nearly two weeks since I finished Darkdawn, and I think it's time to write my review. I won't be able to express my feelings without spoilers, so be warned!
As a non-spoilery review I all I can say is that I am disappointed with how things were executed in this book. I hated/disliked the main characters and found the majority of the book extremely boring. Out of those 40 chapters+ I only enjoyed .... six chapters???
I also want to clarify that I still consider Nevernight as one of the best books I've ever read. The world-building was top, the imagined world of Itreya was top and the premise of a girl who wants revenge for her dead familia had me hooked up.
Beware that I am going to use bad language in my review. Since this whole trilogy is full with filthy mouthed people, I guess it's fitting to swear a bit. And I am still angry. Thus, sorry for any spelling mistakes!
So, without any excuses, here are reasons I disliked Darkdawn.
Before I start with the negative aspects, let's look at the positives one
> the world-building is still top. I loved the idea of the Gods and Itreya in general. I was so intrigued since Nevernight where the Moon is and what had happened to it. Furthermore, I think Jay brilliantly executed the conclusion of the Gods and how he connected it to Darkins
> the last two fights. WOW. Just WOW. That fight in the Mountain?! The death of Eclipse (I am still hurt with this), the power a father has over his son, Adonai's death, that finale fight between Mia and Scaeva .... WOW!!! My absolute highlights in Darkdawn, and the reasons why this book still got two stars and not one
> Jonnen, Tric and Eclipse. Loved them to the Moon and back. Seeing how that brat Jonnen warmed up to Mia and her companions, how he struggled to power his own father and how he was the one to kill Scaeva. I was so proud of him at the end. It might even excuse Eclipse' death.
So .... on to the negative aspects.
1. Where was the purpose bringing Tric back???????????????????????????
Just .... WHY? Do you have any idea how excited I was at the end of Godsgrave?! Do you have any idea how much I hoped things would escalate between Mia and Ashlinn with Tric being back? I mean, this guy crawled his way out of the Abyss to be treaded worse than garbage??? To get provoked and insulted by that bitch Ashlinn?! To kill himself off at the end?!
Honestly, I don't know have any clue where his purpose was besides of telling Mia the truth about Darkins at the beginning of the book. Or maybe to ease his heart and to give redemption for Ashlinn? I. Don't. Know. And. I. Don't. Care. I wished Tric would have stayed dead.
2. Ashlinn
Congratulations Ashlinn, you have a seat on my worst characters ever list! If you followed my reading updates for the trilogy, you might know that I hate Ashlinn passionately. I never thought I could hate her even more, but well ........ Everything she does in this book is
- fucking Mia
- being a pain in the ass
- insulting and provoking Tric (seriously, how Ashlinn tried to warn Mia how DiFfeRenT Tric is now, and that he CaNNot be trusted and Mia is such a saint and Tric such a ruthless killer and his saltlocks are moving BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
I guess I can hold grudges better than Mia does (the fact that this is even possible ... wow). I never felt the connection between her and Mia. I did not care about these two. I skipped their scenes. One of my favourite chapters was definitely chapter 35. Oh guys, I CELEBRATED it. While othet cried, I was laughing my ass out. You can call me a bad person, but I hate her so much and this whole scene was EPIC. Yes, her death scene was cruel, but just the whole scene with Tric before the poisining was AWESOME. Oh how I wished Tric would have killed her, but he is a way better person than I am, or Ashlinn or Mia.
3. Mia
Sigh .... it was just too much. Too much. Mia was pushed into immortality in this book. A woman who can do anything she wants and doesn't care about the consequences. Mia Corvere is
- a Darkin
- a Blade
- winner of the Venatus Magni
- the Chosen One of the Lady of Blessed Murder (I don't even remember the title correctly)
- Pirate Queen
- Lady of Blessed Murder
- destroyer of the Republic
Ehm ... yeah. It's just too much. I already disliked the "Chosen One" trope at the beginning of the book (I guess Mia also hated it). Can somebody tell me why she killed that Pirate King? Because she wanted to show off?! Because she is such an awesome "ruthless bitch"?? Yes, Mia has been reckless since the very first book, but for me her actions were simply idiotic. Also that episode with Mr. Kindley?!!!!! Like .... TF?!!!!
4) The length
My copy of Darkdawn has round about 470 pages. Out of those 470 pages, 350 felt like a boring reread of Nevernight and Godsgrave. The beginning of Darkdawn was really good. I was instantly hooked up and excited! We got so many answers right at the beginning from Tric and her conversation with Scaeva (again, third point, idiotic reckless Mia). However ... afterwards .... the plot got .... lost. We follow Mia and Co through their journey to the Mountain and .... that's it. The middle of this book is full with sex scenes, some action, sex again, some heartbreaking here, some sibling bonding there, some sex talk there, some action again, sex again. That's it. After chapter .... 29 (?) I was really considering to dnf. I was so bored, so annoyed and angry because of reasons one - three. However, there was still that voice who wanted know how the conclusion might be. I still had hope for the finale.....
5. the finale
Jay Kristoff had the opportunity to kill off his main character in a very epic way and I am sure many readers would have liked such an ending. I mean, since reading that very first page in Nevernight I was prepared for Mia's epic death. I was soooo sure he would kill her off. Stupid me.
Do you know what I imagined the ending to be while reading Darkdawn? When Tric talked about that "Hearth" thing, where he saw his dead loved ones waiting for him, I imagined Mia to die and meet her dead loved ones at the Hearth: Her mother, her father, Tric and Ashlinn. Thus, Mia would have found peace surrounded with her familia. Stupid me.
Instead, Mia was ... rebirthed?! I don't even know what happened there. All I know is that after that epic fight with Scaeva, the Moon God gave her her life back, Ashlinn crawled her way out of the Abyss in Tric style (what was that again Ashlinn, Tric is so strange and so dark and untrustworthy being an undead) and these two live happily at this lake.
Yes, I am bitter. I am really bitter. Usually I do not want authors to kill off their main characters, but Nevernight just had the PERFECR opportunity to do so. And yes, I am disappointed and sad Jay didn't use that unique opportunity. I can only imagine how hard it must be for an author to kill off his characters (and I know Jay loves Mia, point three, gloryfiying that woman) but ... ARGH.
6. The Nervnight Chronicles being present in the story//the humour
Okay, at first I was neutral to that idea of Mercurio writing the books. It had a dramatic impact on the plot and I am not lying, I did like how that fake Darkdawn misguided the Blades and Drusilla. However ..... sigh. At school my teachers always tried to tell me that the author is not the narrator. There is supposed to be a kind of line and the author is not the main character nor the narrator (does that make any sense ? :D). While reading Darkdawn, I felt that line, that seperation of narrator and author thinning. I do follow Jay on Twitter and enjoy his sarcastic/ironic responses towards some of his haters or new readers. However, the moment I noticed that Mercurio was using the same damn humour, even the same damn words Jay uses in reality ....
Is Mercurio Jay? Or Jay Mercurio??
I guess the humour and was overdone. After three books with the same damn humour and same damn jokes I got tired of it. I got tired of that sex talk (I cringed so hard when Sid and Co talked about their first time! I mean, talking about your first time is a normal thing but I ... just ... in front if Jonnen ... ugh).
I got tired of the ever present word "fuck" or "fuckarsery". How many times did he use "fuck" or "fuckarsery"????
And the humour:
"I wonder where all the footnotes went? Maybe the author got embarrassed by everyone in his own book taking a steaming shit on them and decided to refrain for the rest of the novel"
EYE ROLLING INTENSIFIES
If you're such an expert on literature, maybe you can write your own book?"
That one hurt. There will always be critics and readers who won't like your work. Accusing them to be "experts" and "to write their own book" did really hurt.
So .... I guess that's it.
Opsie, this is escalated ...... but you see how angry and disappointed I am!!! So, congratulations if you read the whole review
Nevernight, ♡♡♡♡♡
Godsgrave, ♡♡♡♡
Darkdawn, ♡♡
It's been nearly two weeks since I finished Darkdawn, and I think it's time to write my review. I won't be able to express my feelings without spoilers, so be warned!
As a non-spoilery review I all I can say is that I am disappointed with how things were executed in this book. I hated/disliked the main characters and found the majority of the book extremely boring. Out of those 40 chapters+ I only enjoyed .... six chapters???
I also want to clarify that I still consider Nevernight as one of the best books I've ever read. The world-building was top, the imagined world of Itreya was top and the premise of a girl who wants revenge for her dead familia had me hooked up.
Beware that I am going to use bad language in my review. Since this whole trilogy is full with filthy mouthed people, I guess it's fitting to swear a bit. And I am still angry. Thus, sorry for any spelling mistakes!
So, without any excuses, here are reasons I disliked Darkdawn.
Spoiler
Before I start with the negative aspects, let's look at the positives one
> the world-building is still top. I loved the idea of the Gods and Itreya in general. I was so intrigued since Nevernight where the Moon is and what had happened to it. Furthermore, I think Jay brilliantly executed the conclusion of the Gods and how he connected it to Darkins
> the last two fights. WOW. Just WOW. That fight in the Mountain?! The death of Eclipse (I am still hurt with this), the power a father has over his son, Adonai's death, that finale fight between Mia and Scaeva .... WOW!!! My absolute highlights in Darkdawn, and the reasons why this book still got two stars and not one
> Jonnen, Tric and Eclipse. Loved them to the Moon and back. Seeing how that brat Jonnen warmed up to Mia and her companions, how he struggled to power his own father and how he was the one to kill Scaeva. I was so proud of him at the end. It might even excuse Eclipse' death.
So .... on to the negative aspects.
1. Where was the purpose bringing Tric back???????????????????????????
Just .... WHY? Do you have any idea how excited I was at the end of Godsgrave?! Do you have any idea how much I hoped things would escalate between Mia and Ashlinn with Tric being back? I mean, this guy crawled his way out of the Abyss to be treaded worse than garbage??? To get provoked and insulted by that bitch Ashlinn?! To kill himself off at the end?!
Honestly, I don't know have any clue where his purpose was besides of telling Mia the truth about Darkins at the beginning of the book. Or maybe to ease his heart and to give redemption for Ashlinn? I. Don't. Know. And. I. Don't. Care. I wished Tric would have stayed dead.
2. Ashlinn
Congratulations Ashlinn, you have a seat on my worst characters ever list! If you followed my reading updates for the trilogy, you might know that I hate Ashlinn passionately. I never thought I could hate her even more, but well ........ Everything she does in this book is
- fucking Mia
- being a pain in the ass
- insulting and provoking Tric (seriously, how Ashlinn tried to warn Mia how DiFfeRenT Tric is now, and that he CaNNot be trusted and Mia is such a saint and Tric such a ruthless killer and his saltlocks are moving BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
I guess I can hold grudges better than Mia does (the fact that this is even possible ... wow). I never felt the connection between her and Mia. I did not care about these two. I skipped their scenes. One of my favourite chapters was definitely chapter 35. Oh guys, I CELEBRATED it. While othet cried, I was laughing my ass out. You can call me a bad person, but I hate her so much and this whole scene was EPIC. Yes, her death scene was cruel, but just the whole scene with Tric before the poisining was AWESOME. Oh how I wished Tric would have killed her, but he is a way better person than I am, or Ashlinn or Mia.
3. Mia
Sigh .... it was just too much. Too much. Mia was pushed into immortality in this book. A woman who can do anything she wants and doesn't care about the consequences. Mia Corvere is
- a Darkin
- a Blade
- winner of the Venatus Magni
- the Chosen One of the Lady of Blessed Murder (I don't even remember the title correctly)
- Pirate Queen
- Lady of Blessed Murder
- destroyer of the Republic
Ehm ... yeah. It's just too much. I already disliked the "Chosen One" trope at the beginning of the book (I guess Mia also hated it). Can somebody tell me why she killed that Pirate King? Because she wanted to show off?! Because she is such an awesome "ruthless bitch"?? Yes, Mia has been reckless since the very first book, but for me her actions were simply idiotic. Also that episode with Mr. Kindley?!!!!! Like .... TF?!!!!
4) The length
My copy of Darkdawn has round about 470 pages. Out of those 470 pages, 350 felt like a boring reread of Nevernight and Godsgrave. The beginning of Darkdawn was really good. I was instantly hooked up and excited! We got so many answers right at the beginning from Tric and her conversation with Scaeva (again, third point, idiotic reckless Mia). However ... afterwards .... the plot got .... lost. We follow Mia and Co through their journey to the Mountain and .... that's it. The middle of this book is full with sex scenes, some action, sex again, some heartbreaking here, some sibling bonding there, some sex talk there, some action again, sex again. That's it. After chapter .... 29 (?) I was really considering to dnf. I was so bored, so annoyed and angry because of reasons one - three. However, there was still that voice who wanted know how the conclusion might be. I still had hope for the finale.....
5. the finale
Jay Kristoff had the opportunity to kill off his main character in a very epic way and I am sure many readers would have liked such an ending. I mean, since reading that very first page in Nevernight I was prepared for Mia's epic death. I was soooo sure he would kill her off. Stupid me.
Do you know what I imagined the ending to be while reading Darkdawn? When Tric talked about that "Hearth" thing, where he saw his dead loved ones waiting for him, I imagined Mia to die and meet her dead loved ones at the Hearth: Her mother, her father, Tric and Ashlinn. Thus, Mia would have found peace surrounded with her familia. Stupid me.
Instead, Mia was ... rebirthed?! I don't even know what happened there. All I know is that after that epic fight with Scaeva, the Moon God gave her her life back, Ashlinn crawled her way out of the Abyss in Tric style (what was that again Ashlinn, Tric is so strange and so dark and untrustworthy being an undead) and these two live happily at this lake.
Yes, I am bitter. I am really bitter. Usually I do not want authors to kill off their main characters, but Nevernight just had the PERFECR opportunity to do so. And yes, I am disappointed and sad Jay didn't use that unique opportunity. I can only imagine how hard it must be for an author to kill off his characters (and I know Jay loves Mia, point three, gloryfiying that woman) but ... ARGH.
6. The Nervnight Chronicles being present in the story//the humour
Okay, at first I was neutral to that idea of Mercurio writing the books. It had a dramatic impact on the plot and I am not lying, I did like how that fake Darkdawn misguided the Blades and Drusilla. However ..... sigh. At school my teachers always tried to tell me that the author is not the narrator. There is supposed to be a kind of line and the author is not the main character nor the narrator (does that make any sense ? :D). While reading Darkdawn, I felt that line, that seperation of narrator and author thinning. I do follow Jay on Twitter and enjoy his sarcastic/ironic responses towards some of his haters or new readers. However, the moment I noticed that Mercurio was using the same damn humour, even the same damn words Jay uses in reality ....
Is Mercurio Jay? Or Jay Mercurio??
I guess the humour and was overdone. After three books with the same damn humour and same damn jokes I got tired of it. I got tired of that sex talk (I cringed so hard when Sid and Co talked about their first time! I mean, talking about your first time is a normal thing but I ... just ... in front if Jonnen ... ugh).
I got tired of the ever present word "fuck" or "fuckarsery". How many times did he use "fuck" or "fuckarsery"????
And the humour:
"I wonder where all the footnotes went? Maybe the author got embarrassed by everyone in his own book taking a steaming shit on them and decided to refrain for the rest of the novel"
EYE ROLLING INTENSIFIES
If you're such an expert on literature, maybe you can write your own book?"
That one hurt. There will always be critics and readers who won't like your work. Accusing them to be "experts" and "to write their own book" did really hurt.
So .... I guess that's it.
Opsie, this is escalated ...... but you see how angry and disappointed I am!!! So, congratulations if you read the whole review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
This book could have had only 100 pages if all the swearing, fucking and unnecessary descriptions had been cut out. Honestly! I had to fight my way through this book which was really surprising because I enjoyed both books one and two. Can I just not remember the over-use of swearing in those books or was it just exceptionally bad in this one?
But that's not what I was most disappointed in. The book and especially the first half lacked action and plot. Nothing happens! We have Jonnen and Mia, Ashlinn and Tric fighting and everyone having sex and that's it! This book costs about 25 euros here in Germany and is nothing more than cheap smut. For that money, I could buy myself 12 used editions of 50 shades of Gray or anything else and read smut online for free. I only finished this book to know how it ends, but sadly I didn´t really care anymore for the characters at the end of the book. I don´t like any of them. I don´t buy Ashlinns love to Mia, and Mia doing what she does out of love for her family doesn´t make her a good person. Funilly enough, Mia does think some of this herself when she thinks about her and Scaeva not being that different, both monsters and taking lives without remorse. But in the end, it´s just: "Oh I have people I love and care about and he doesn´t which makes a huge difference." Well, it really doesn´t.
And the whole story, about the fallen god and Niah... I don´t know. Was I supposed to root for them? It kind of bored me and I also felt like it was treated more like a subplot than anything else. When it was first mentioned what they had to do I was excited, but then nothing happened for the next 400 pages.
I was really disappointed with this final book. I expected better.
But that's not what I was most disappointed in. The book and especially the first half lacked action and plot. Nothing happens! We have Jonnen and Mia, Ashlinn and Tric fighting and everyone having sex and that's it! This book costs about 25 euros here in Germany and is nothing more than cheap smut. For that money, I could buy myself 12 used editions of 50 shades of Gray or anything else and read smut online for free. I only finished this book to know how it ends, but sadly I didn´t really care anymore for the characters at the end of the book. I don´t like any of them. I don´t buy Ashlinns love to Mia, and Mia doing what she does out of love for her family doesn´t make her a good person. Funilly enough, Mia does think some of this herself when she thinks about her and Scaeva not being that different, both monsters and taking lives without remorse. But in the end, it´s just: "Oh I have people I love and care about and he doesn´t which makes a huge difference." Well, it really doesn´t.
And the whole story, about the fallen god and Niah... I don´t know. Was I supposed to root for them? It kind of bored me and I also felt like it was treated more like a subplot than anything else. When it was first mentioned what they had to do I was excited, but then nothing happened for the next 400 pages.
I was really disappointed with this final book. I expected better.