Mia doesn’t have to sacrifice her femininity to be successful. So if there is some part of herself that truly matters, hold it close, Mia Corvere. They may make her beautiful on the outside, but inside, they aim to shape a horror. I loved him! Mia is a complex character, holding onto her humanity with bloody hands, in a world that tries its level best to make her into a monster. My favourite was Mr Kindly, of course, a top notch animal sidekick, so sassy, so loyal and brutally honest. The characters were also well-written, especially Mr Kindly (Mia’s shadowcat companion), Mia and Tric (another side character). The ending climax started off SO well, but Mia seemed to become rather conveniently powerful for a time…though it’s good that she has such a debilitating weakness to counterbalance her darkin magic!

Pacing was largely even I only felt like it dragged for a microscopic period between the major climax and ending. Plot exposition was also excellent, especially with regards to the Truedark Massacre.

Slightly disturbing but also fascinating! Another stylistic point I enjoyed was Kristoff’s use of mirror/dual scenes – there’s probably a fancy official term for this – for example a dual sex/murder scene that actually made me think a lot about how you can describe both acts with very similar words and sequences. After a few pages of footnotes, I learned to just note any new terms and trust that Kristoff would provide amusing (or shockingly dramatic!) explanation in due course. The footnotes were cheeky and clever, surreptitiously info-dumping without technically info-dumping, and really added to world-building on the fly while staying entertaining! And Kristoff is truly diligent with adding a footnote for every unfamiliar term/event/important historical figure. It helped that Kristoff is sarcastically hilarious, which is also reflected in the footnotes, and the dry wit the narrator is possessed of was absolutely aligned with my sense of humour. Stylistically, it’s quite unique – there’s a hefty use of footnotes (also written from the narrator’s perspective), which might not be to everyone’s taste (especially when some take up almost half the page), but I quite enjoyed them.

I braved the vociferous love/hate reactions, dived into ‘Nevernight’ with no expectations and emerged victorious – I really enjoyed this book! Prove herself against the deadliest of friends and foes, and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the guarded heart of a murder cult. Six years later, this child raised in shadows takes her first steps towards the vengeance she vowed on the day that she lost everything.īut the chance to bring down such powerful enemies will be fleeting, so if Mia will succeed in her revenge, she must become a weapon without equal.

Nevernight goodreads