Review: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles #1)

Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles #1)
By Jay Kristoff

Published By: Harper Voyager
Publication Date: June 19, 2017
Date Read: August 31, 2021
Genre: Adult – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 463

From Goodreads:
Mia Corvere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.
Destined to destroy empires, the child raised in shadows made a promise on the day she lost everything: to avenge herself on those that shattered her world.
But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, and Mia must become a weapon without equal. Before she seeks vengeance, she must seek training among the infamous assassins of the Red Church of Itreya.
Inside the Church’s halls, Mia must prove herself against the deadliest of opponents and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the heart of a murder cult.
The Church is no ordinary school. But Mia is no ordinary student.
The Red Church is no ordinary school, but Mia is no ordinary student.
The shadows love her.
And they drink her fear.

“Your mind will serve you better than any trinket under the suns… It is a weapon… and like any weapon, you need to practice to be any good at wielding it.”

Nevernight has been sat on my bookshelf unread for around a year. I’d seen it around the book world for a long time but it wasn’t until I read Jay Kristoff’s YA novels he wrote with Amie Kaufman that I decided to finally pick this one up. I am so glad that I finally decided to read this one. It’s very different from the type of book I usually read but I ended up really enjoying it. It’s brutal, and bloody and violent and just utterly fantastic.

Nevernight follows the story of Mia, a young girl who has lost her family and finds herself attending a school for assassins. Her one goal is to become a deadly blade so she can finally get vengeance for her family. Add to that the fact that Mia can manipulate shadows this just became such a fantastic book for me. I really enjoyed the dark academia elements of this book and the more I listened the more I fell in love with this book.

I decided to listen to the audiobook for this book and I am so glad that I did. The narrator of Nevernight has truly done a phenomenal job. In the past I have found I really struggle with some male narrators, particularly if it’s a male narrator for the whole book. That’s what I was faced with here and honestly it was incredible. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a male narrator when the main character is female but honestly it worked so well. He did a stunning job of bringing this book and it’s characters to life. And his narration for Mr Kindly…. chilling!! It actually really creeped me out at certain points.

Nevernight is such a deliciously dark fantasy! Filled with swearing, murder and sex this is definitely dark! So be warned… but it’s oh so good! I ended up loving all of the characters so much, especially Mia. She is definitely an anti-hero. She is not a pure soul… not in the slightest… but is she totally evil? No! And that makes her the most interesting and fun character to follow. This book was filled with twists and turns and honestly, I was driving down the road listening gasping, mouth agape. Anyone looking in their rearview mirror would have thought I was a lunatic! I was so emotionally invested in this book! It’s fantastic.

Nevernight is a fantastic start to what I’m sure will be a great series. I didn’t find it completely unputdownable so I’m not rating it five out of five but it is oh so close. I can’t wait to dive in to book two in this series. I have no doubt it’s going to be amazing. If you love dark, fantastical worlds then this book is definitely not one to be missed.

“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You’re a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell.”

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