Ben Pick
Written on Sep 30, 2021
A ruthless young assassin continues her journey for revenge in this new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff.
WINNER OF THE THE AUREALIS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL
Conquer your fear, conquer the world.
Mia Corvere, destroyer of empires, has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church ministry do not believe she has earned it.
Her position is precarious, and she's still no closer to exacting revenge for the brutal death of her family. But after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia begins to suspect the motives of the Red Church itself.
When it is announced that Consul Scaeva and Cardinal Duomo will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself into slavery for a chance to fulfill the promise she made on the day she lost everything.
Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold, secrets are revealed and the body count rises within the collegium walls, Mia will be forced to choose between her loyalties and her revenge.
- ISBN13 9780008180034
- Publish Date 7 September 2017 (first published 5 September 2017)
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint HarperVoyager
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 464
- Language English
- URL http://harpercollins.co.uk
Reviews
lizarodz
Written on Sep 26, 2019
kalventure
Written on Sep 4, 2019
“You cannot afford to pity those men, Mia. Swimming this deep, your compassion will only serve to drown you. You must be as hard and as sharp as the men you hunt.”Gentlefriends, I don’t know how I am going to string together words about this one. Have you ever felt trolled by a narrator before? Because The Final Word in Godsgrave was like a punch to the soul. One of the reasons I put off reading this trilogy until now was because I heard the ending was a Time, but I had no idea what was in store for me.
Despite being warned by the narrator that Mia is not a hero and she will die come the end of the trilogy, I can’t help but love and root for her even though it feels pointless. She’s just as dogged in her pursuit of vengeance for her familia but still holds on to that part of herself the Red Church hasn’t been able to destroy.
I love that Mia is a complex character who struggles with her own sense of right and wrong while pursuing her goals. It is her connection with people that I really enjoy the most, especially when she kind of goes with her gut.
“Fear is the only enemy in your path. Conquer your fear, and you can conquer the world.”Godsgrave delves a bit deeper into Mia’s sexuality. Through her actions in Nevernight, it was obvious without a bunch of fanfare that Mia is bisexual, and this book sees her with both men and women. The f/f relationship that develops is absolutely beautiful to watch unfold for how it opens her up (even though I am still more than a little sus, sorry).
“Death is the only promise we all keep. This life we live… there is no room in it for love, Mia. But a love like autumn leaves. Beautiful one turn. A bonfire the next. Only ashes the remainder.”Even though the world is so different from that which we know on Earth, it remains accessible and feels true somehow. Days are turns, night only happens once every couple of years, and there are three suns – but the world is tinged with Roman influence, the people just as power-hungry and vengeful as depicted in our history books. Kristoff manages to expand the world-building even further in this installment without weighing down the narrative.
“The heavens grant us only one life, but through books, we live a thousand.”As a nerdy person, I relish in the Roman inspiration and Latin phrases found in this trilogy. As much of a pain in the ass it was to study Latin (I am convinced that the Roman Empire’s downfall was in fact the pluperfect verb tense), it remains ingrained in one’s brain. I outright laughed during the play – ¿ Et Tu, Brute? – and the world’s own version of Julius Caesar.
Just as with Nevernight, the book is fast-paced and action-packed. In my opinion, the narrative is more driven by the action itself primarily rather than the characters or plot. Sure, the action drives the plot… but I found myself less interested with the fight scenes and looking for where our characters are talking to one another or the plot moves forward after the fighting. And since this book takes place in a coliseum, there is a lot of fighting, which for me personally is never fun to read copious amounts of.
Overall, I found Godsgrave to be a fantastic sequel that doesn’t stop pulling punches. Although I personally found myself a little bored with some of the action scenes (it’s a me thing), I am so here for Mia’s journey and am excited & sad to see how it ends. Lots of questions were raised at the end of Godsgrave that I cannot wait to see answered in Darkdawn.
Content warnings: animal death (pg. 327), attempted rape (referred to), blood, child death (off-page), death of a parent, human trafficking, loss of a loved one, murder, sexually explicit scenes, slavery,
Representation: bisexual main character
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Mercy
Written on Jul 26, 2019
Renee
Written on Jun 22, 2019
I adore the love between Mia and Ash, but I don’t want to trust Ash yet. I actually don’t trust Mercurio either, he suddenly seems like such a good person and I just don’t trust it. Also, Tric is alive?! How did this happen?
Just a few more months...
Emma (SCR)
Written on May 4, 2019
Well, I got to the end of this book and I wanted to hunt Jay down and force him to tell me what happens next. Haha okay, maybe not that extreme I am no stalker but seriously Jay! How could you end it like that! How am I supposed to wait until Stabtember to get all the answers I need. Like really need.
Okay well once I got over that initial reaction and really thought about it I felt exactly the same! Jay, you really test me!! I had such a book hangover I couldn't start a new book!
This was much easier to get into than Nevernight. Whether that is because I was more invested or because there was more indication when the story changed timelines I'm not sure.
Mia was as kick-ass as ever in this story. I love Mia. I love her sarcastic, witty remarks. I love her companions too. I love how they are such opposites yet they provide exactly what Mia needs.
I loved The Gladiatii. This was a whole new world. Mia thought the Red Church was brutal until she entered this world. There are some really great characters in this bunch. My favourites were Maggot and Sidonius. Both were such different but interesting characters. They both had backgrounds that you can't imagine having to face.
Jay was as brutal as ever in this book so don't get too attached to anyone. You are likely to get your heart broken into pieces.
I am both looking forward to and dreading Darkdawn. We know that Mia will die in Darkdawn. I don't think Jay is lying about this and quite frankly I don't think I am ready. On the flipside, I NEED to know what happens next. Oh, Jay, you have really put me between a rock and a hard place!
sa090
Written on Sep 26, 2018
I honestly wish I didn’t read this book now, the wait time for book 3 is going to be excruciating.
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I really enjoyed Nevernight and I assumed that this book would be either on he same level of enjoyment, or higher. And thankfully I didn’t end up disappointed while reading this book, in fact I’m simply blown away by how much I actually enjoyed it. Earlier this month I read a Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and she also had a tournament of sorts going on in her series, but compared to how tournaments should be SJM’s was child’s play, here however Jay Kristoff is not afraid to get brutal and insanely bloody in his. Just as it should be in situations like these and especially in this type of setting, the Italian take on the series is really nice to see and the addition of a gladiator’s arena only increased the connection to that atmosphere. I also really enjoyed learning more about the situation in the Republic, the hidden sides to entities and how the arena actually works for those competing in it.
The book starts with two different plot lines, one in the past and the other in the current time before they are merged into one. Think of it like seeing how Mia ended up in some of these situations and what led her to make the decisions she decided upon. There are quite a few twists and turns in this book, although I predicted a few of them, there were some that I didn’t actually see coming. That aside, it should be noted that although Godsgrave is supposedly a YA book, it’s not tame at all. The sexual themes explored alongside the gore, the treachery and the heavier themes of slavery and such, made me think that it’s for a slightly older audience but it’s seemingly not. Personally, I wouldn’t change a thing about the way Kristoff is writing this, in a setting where I have assassins as my main characters, I don’t want to see them act like normal people. If you are supposed to be something, then you better freakin bring it every single time which is so far the norm thankfully.
Like in Nevernight, Jay Kristoff adds a series of footnotes at the end of chapters in his book to give background information or a comment on a certain mentioned area, event or even structure and while I found it somewhat of a hassle to keep going back and forth in Nevernight, I didn’t have the same issue here because they were somewhat less compared to before and when listening to it while I was working, the narrator would actually pause the reading of the paragraph or passage to read the footnote before continuing which I found to be wonderful. Another wonderful thing in this series are the events in the arena, Jay Kristoff really knows how to write a fast paced book and the pace only quickened when we got to the events. It was glorious and the best part is the pace never ever lets up!
Moving on to the characters, it was very interesting to see the development of Mia in this situation and the background stories by the other gladiators on her team. For her specifically, despite the badass self and hard personality, she’s still a little naive and seeing her try to achieve her goals while making sense of what she is and the political situation is definitely a learning experience. Eclipse and Mister Kindly are fantastic companions to read about as well, with the way they bicker and discuss things with Mia before anything is planned was a a really funny experience for me, I found myself literally laughing at some of their comments. Nothing is actually revealed about the Darken themselves and their shadows, but bits and pieces like the quote left in the book she got from the library in the church, how her two companions behave and one other spoiler filled thing; the full mystery is starting to get some extra clarity, but definitely not enough just yet.
The romance in the book, makes me feel conflicted. On one hand, I love the fact that despite it, Mia never actually changes a thing about her goal or about her objective or even her personality, but on the other hand, I’m not sure how “right” or “sensible” this relationship is based on previous events. Regardless the book focuses more on moments of passion than actual blown out romance, until a certain late point anyways, but the best thing about it for me, is that it’s a secondary thing without taking the spotlight more than it needs to. I open this continues as such, because the last couple of chapters in Godsgrave are insane. The final book can be huge and I wouldn’t care less, because of how hyped I am for it, what ended up happening and more importantly the things that need a massive focus to be explained from here onwards.
Final rating: 5/5
alindstadtcorbeax
Written on Aug 21, 2018
Sigh- I’m not ready to review yet- pretty sure I don’t want to face the fact that I have to shelve Mia Corvere until book 3 comes out. I am left reeling; my heart is aching, and I am so very excited, in love, shocked...
Ughhh so many feelings...
littleread1
Written on Jan 8, 2018
Beth C.
Written on Sep 25, 2017
Really - what more needs to be said?
ETA: There will be bigger, better review to come on vampirebookclub.net!