Book review: Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff
Series: The Nevernight Chronicle #2
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • TBD • Goodreads
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Source: Borrowed

A ruthless young assassin continues her journey for revenge in this new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff.

Assassin Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church ministry think she’s far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she’s no closer to ending Consul Scaeva and Cardinal Duomo, or avenging her familia. And after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia begins to suspect the motives of the Red Church itself.

When it’s announced that Scaeva and Duomo will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end them. 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 within the collegium walls, and the body count rises, Mia will be forced to choose between loyalty and revenge, and uncover a secret that could change the very face of her world.

Set in the world of Nevernight, which Publishers Weekly called “absorbing in its complexity and bold in its bloodiness,” Godsgrave will continue to thrill and satisfy fantasy fans everywhere.

If you recall, I was a literal 😭 emoji after finishing Nevernight. I buddy read that one with Leslie and neither of us could wait to dive into the next book, so we did a surprise buddy read of this one too! (You can see her review here!)

I love that this book starts with a recap! I wish that more books would do this! Even though I started it two days after finishing Nevernight, it was still really great. And I’m much less apprehensive about the fact that I have to wait an entire year for Darkdawn now that I know it’ll probably have a little recap in the front too.

There are some great new characters introduced in Godsgrave! I loved Sid, I constantly wanted to know more about Furian, and Maggot was amazing. Of course, several characters from Nevernight make a comeback and Mia’s Blade training comes in very handy when she sells herself as a gladiator in her crazy quest for vengeance.

Now, no spoilers here, but a whole heck of a lot happens in this book. There are a lot of battle scenes, a lot of blood, a lot of poison, a lot of plotting, and a lot of plot twists. Also, much like in Nevernight, a fair amount of sexy scenes.

I am basically dead from the last ten or so pages. Some of it I saw coming, some of it I definitely did not. My only negative comments have to do with (a) the fact that we really don’t know anything more about being a darkin than we did at the end of Nevernight and (b) that Mia seemed to forgive a certain character for a certain thing rather quickly, given the circumstances. (That was really hard to keep spoiler-free!)

Still, a really good book that I’d definitely recommend!

Some quotes:

• “When you take a person out of the world, you don’t just take them, do you? You take everything they were, too.”
• “You can keep the glory. I’m just here for the blood.”
• “This is not where I die.”
• “She’d grown up inside books. No matter how dark life became, shutting out the hurt was as easy as opening a cover. A child of murdered parents and a failed rebellion, she’d still walked in the boots of scholars and warriors, queens and conquerors.
  The heavens grant us only one life, but through books, we live a thousand.”

Me before reading Godsgrave: 😭
Me after reading Godsgrave: 🤯

Please read this book so I can gush about that ending.

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Have you read Godsgrave? Do you love Jay Kristoff?
Let’s talk in the comments!

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