Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle, #2)

by Jay Kristoff

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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