Nevernight

There is a gentle sardonic wit that underlies the rather dark coming of age story that Nevernight is centered around. These type of school based training stories are bread and butter fantasy affairs so a story centered around these type of things really needs an x-factor to grab me, and Nevernight does so in style.

This book takes this coming of age schooling motif and twists it in a suitably dark fashion with a school for assassins, adds in a vicious revenge motivation for the main protagonist and keeps a suitable sense of danger and betrayal throughout. The primary character, Mia, is a likable rogue. Her morals are mixed, but she does have her code that she follows.

The humour in the story largely comes from two sources - the narrator and Mia's shadow not-cat (Mr Kindly). The reliability of the narrator can always be questioned (he tries to paint Mia in a much darker light than her actions really are), but through his footnotes he portrays a vivid world with plenty of humour - you can imagine the footnotes being read in sardonic and world weary voice - like Lemony Snickett in the recent adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix. Mr Kindly takes a more direct role in the story, often pointing out Mia's follies and contradictions in a highly entertaining way.

The cast of characters are interesting, even if there are some obvious cliches (the mean girl as the enemy at school), but the twists towards the end give ample pay off.

Coming of age stories are 10 a penny, but this one is honestly the best I have read. The balance of wit and humanity, betrayal and camaraderie, give this story an addictive readability that is impossible to ignore. Highly recommended.

Final review
I know I love badass female assassins. I know I love the idea of training. And I still waited all this time to read Nevernight.... why oh why do I do this to myself 😣😣😣😣 This book transported to a new world, made me fall in love with all these awesome characters, and then stabbed my heart over and over again till I was left wailing. 

Mia is an excellent protagonist to follow. She is smart, intelligent, strong and sassy and her only goal since she was ten has been to become an assassin capable of getting revenge for the deaths of her family. She also has the ability of interacting with shadows and has a constant companion, a shadow cat named Mr. Kindly, who is always there with her absorbing her fears and advising and helping her. Their conversations are some of the most funniest and sarcastic in the whole book. But despite striving to be this ruthless assassin, Mia has her moments of vulnerability and compassion which truly depicts her humanity and I loved this characterization. Her bisexuality is also treated very naturally and there is no questioning or hate because of it, which I thought was wonderful.

The world building is quite unique in this book and I really enjoyed getting to know more about it. The maps of the Republic of Itreya and the city of Godsgrave at the beginning of the book are some of the most gorgeous and intricate ones you will find in fantasy. The setting of Godsgrave is very much based on Venice and the descriptions give us a lot to imagine. Church of Our Lady of Blessed Murder also called the Red Church, where Mia goes to become an assassin is like a highly darker version of Hogwarts. The students attend classes to learn the arts of fighting, poisons, thieving and seduction. The professors are masters in their subjects, but don't think twice before brutally injuring the students or trying to poison or torture them. The fact that only a few students would qualify to become the Blades at the end of their training ensures the persistence of rivalry and sabotage among them which even leads to murder. 

The writing in the book is something that takes getting used to. Almost the first third of the book feels difficult, because we are thrust into this new world and the vocabulary feels unfamiliar. But once Mia enters the Red Church, I did not want to put the book down. It's a whirlwind of murder, blood, brutality, violence and Mia's struggle to retain the parts of her that are still human and not become a mindless assassin ready to kill anybody. I spent the last third of the book at the edge of my seat because the twists kept hitting me, the betrayals blindsided me and I just waited with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. The footnotes in this book are definitely a unique part of the worldbuilding, which might not appeal to everyone but I really enjoyed them. They gave me more context about the culture and beliefs of the people and also had some funny historical stories. 

This was such a thrilling ride of a book. I enjoyed every second of it and I'm already very excited for Godsgrave, but apparently it has a cliffhanger 😭😭😭. I recommend this book to everyone who loves stories about assassins and their training, an awesome cast of morally grey characters, alongwith a huge dose of blood and gore. My only caution is that if you want to preserve your sanity, don't get attached to the characters, because you never know who will break your heart.

First Thoughts
Wow... this is dark and bloody and brutal.. what twists that I never saw coming... My mind is blown right now 🤯🤯🤯
Will write a review once it starts working again !!!!