Series Review: The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff
The Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff
I stumbled upon this series shortly after I joined Bookstagram and (finally) Goodreads in 2020. At the time, I hadn’t really seen this series anywhere on Bookstagram and my community at the time didn’t seem to be reading it either. BUT. Goodreads kept recommending the first book, Nevernight, to me as something they’d thought I’d like based on my other reads and they were NOT wrong!! I love this series so much. It took me completely by surprise. I went into it almost totally blind - all I knew was that I loved the cover and that Mia was an assassin. That’s it. I didn’t know anything about Jay Kristoff at the time either but quickly became a fan - like within the first few chapters of Nevernight alone.
This story is dark and mysterious, epic and unpredictable, smutty and snarky. There’s shadow magic, assassins, mythical gods, romance, swords, and pools of blood (literally). It’s savage and fierce but filled with humor, love, light, and hope. It is so. much. more. than it appears! So let’s review The Nevernight Chronicle.
“The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.”
A Quick Recap
SERIES: The Nevernight Chronicle
AUTHOR: Jay Kristoff
GENRE: Epic, Dark Adult Fantasy with Romance + Mythological Elements
SERIES RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
BOOK RATINGS:
Nevernight ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Godsgrave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Darkdawn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
DIVERSITY: ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽🏳️🌈💚🎗
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5
WIT FACTOR: 😂😂😂😂😂/5
ALL THE FEELS: 💧💧💧/5
Blog Contents
The Story
The Characters
Steamometer
Content Warnings
Overall Thoughts
The Series
Aesthetic
“Before I found you, I was just a shape waiting in the shadows.”
The Story
spoiler-free
The basic storyline: An orphaned girl who can convene with and manipulate shadows in a world where there are no nights attends a school for assassins to avenge her family’s death. Sounds pretty basic and straight forward right? WELL, IT’S NOT. That’s juuust the subplot so be ready to have your mind blown. This was one of the most unique series I have ever had the pleasure of reading!
In Book 1, Nevernight, we follow Mia in a unique dual-ish timeline as she apprentices to become an assassin. She's dealing with past traumas, a present time mystery, and all the usual angsts of being a young adult while attending a school for assassins in a world where there are no nights (okay so maybe NOT that usual 😂). Mia is ultimately on a path of revenge. She’s determined to avenge her family’s death and in the process, to get her to where she wants to be, she learns the art of being an assassin. It gave me slight HP vibes but in a way better way and in a way darker form. And oooooh THE FOOTNOTES!
In Book 2, Godsgrave, we are still recovering and reeling from that plot twist and ending of Book 1 - rude, Mr. Kristoff. But we continue on our journey with Mia after she’s inducted as an official assassin and continues her quest to avenge her family and get closer to the people who had direct involvement in their murder. Lines between her revenge and her assassinations become blurred and she eventually embarks on her own mission as she begins questioning the Red Church’s motives. Some of our favorites from book 1 return plus we get a whole new crew of characters AND gladiator pits. Yes, I said gladiator pits. It’s bloody and stabby stabby in true Mia Corvere style.
By Book 3, Darkdawn, our minds have officially been blown to outer space multiple times and we aren’t sure we can handle anymore — kidding, we totally can and we will. So, this is where those mythological elements come more into play and we finallyyyyy get to learn the backstory on those pesky (I’m joking Mr. K, calm down) shadows and not-cats and not-dogs we love so much AND LEARN WHO THE NARRATOR IS. The finale is EPIC and probably my favorite in the series. And the ending had me in tears. Get your tissues ready.
THIS SERIES HAS:
Snarky Wit + Sass
Bantericious Dialogue
Dark + Mysterious Tones
Thoughtful + Intricate Detail and World Building
Friends to Enemies to Lovers Romance
Love Triangle
Found Family
Fierce Friendships
Spunky Sidekicks
The Key Characters
One thing I love about Kristoff’s stories is that there are always a slew and cast of characters that endlessly get introduced throughout the tale. The Nevernight Chronicle is no different, but there are key players who stay with us the through the whole story and those are who I’ve outlined below.
Mia is our fierce and savage heroine who is (literally) also fearless and equal parts endearing in the same breathe.
Mr. Kindly, our favorite not-cat and sidekick, loves to challenge and push Mia and is ultimately a very trusted companion. He acts as her conscious while also eating her fear.
Mercurio, the grumpy mentor who’s ever so snarky and brutish, but incredibly lovable and essentially Mia’s father figure in the story.
Tric, a fellow Red Church initiate with Mia who quickly becomes a friend and is also love interest numero uno. He’s forever my favorite.
Ash, who you will love to hate but also just love in the end, she’s love interest numero dos and her treachery knows no bounds.
“Conquer your fear, and you can conquer the world.”
Steamometer
🔥🥵 - It’s getting hot in here.
Somewhere between steamy goodness and my ovaries are bursting. Think threesomes and stolen moments and self pleasure. We get progressively smuttier as the series goes on, too.
For those who unfamiliar with my Steamometer, check it out below!
❤️ nice and sweet
💃🏼 sassy spice
🔥 steamyyyy goodness
🥵 my ovaries are bursting
🖤 smutastic
Content Warnings
PTSD
Anxious Feelings/Anxiety
Trauma & Grief
Blood, Death, Murder
Smut: this is an adult fantasy, NOT young adult
Footnotes: kidding (kinda 😅), but some people were weird about these. I think his intention was to actually separate some of the world-building elements, so if readers didn’t WANT to read them, they could just breeze past. I, on the other hand, love to read every word in a story I like, so I didn’t get this memo LOL. In Nevernight, it took me a minute to get used to them and sometimes I didn’t want to read them, but honestly, the concept is really cool and they get snarkier the longer the series goes on. I ended up loving them!
Overall Thoughts
For me, the Nevernight series was such a unique read. The story is dark and mysterious, so thoughtful and intricate, and 100% oh-so-sassy.
The world building was immaculate. The story unlike anything I’d ever read.
Jay's writing is SO cheeky and hilariously fresh and I could not get enough! It definitely wasn’t a predictable series, either.
Jay is also such a creative storyteller. The way he coins terms for his world is quite brilliant in it’s simplicity and how he reimagines everyday, real world things to fit into his stories … SO CLEVER.
For example, take ‘Nevernight’. A super cool, wholly unique term you will not find the likes of anywhere else. And its origin (I am guessing) — ‘Nevernight’ because there are never nights in the world he created for Mia 🤯 Sheer brilliance. And can we just take a minute to appreciate the creative uniqueness of the bookworms in the library! 🙌🏻
But, seriously, such a unique tale and you will love Mia so much. So stop putting this series off!!
The Series
Here’s just a closer look at each book in the series. Tap on the cover to head to Goodreads for the official synopsis. Oh and watch the first book come to life in this limited YouTube series!!!
“I am a daughter of the dark between the stars.”
The Nevernight Chronicle Aesthetic
All images are from Pinterest - tap the square to see the full pin.
Have you read The Nevernight Chronicle or would you like to?
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I’m Leah. Cozy connoisseur and bountiful book buyer. I have a minor obsession with getting lost in the pages of a good book, guzzling coffee, and thriving at home. Yoga pants, wine, and essential oils are also my jam. I'm truly just a homebody at heart with a knack for content creation, flatlays & cozy shots. This is my creative space.
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