Darkdawn

DARKDAWN (Nevernight Chronicles #3)

Written by Jay Kristoff

Published by St Martin’s Press, September 3, 2019

My star rating: 5 stars…….. of course it’s 5 stars!!!

THE SYNOPSIS:

The Republic of Itreya is in chaos. Mia Corvere has assassinated Cardinal Duomo and rumors of Consul Scaeva’s death ripple through the street of Godsgrave like wildfire. But buried beneath those same streets, deep in the ancient city’s bones, lies a secret that will change the Republic forever.

Mia and her brother Jonnen must journey through the depths of the ancient metropolis. Their quest will take them through the Godsgrave underdark, across the Sea of Swords, back to the library of the Quiet Mountain and the poisoned blades of Mia’s old mentors, and at last the fabled Crown of the Moon. There, Mia will at last discover the origins of the darkin, and learn the destiny that lies in store for her and her world. But with the three suns now in descent, and Truedark on the horizon, will she survive? Find it on Goodreads

MY REVIEW:

Over the years I’ve come across many reviews that were difficult to write. Some were because I didn’t enjoy the book, some were due to the emotional impact (and how do you properly convey your emotions without spoilers??), and some where because they were so good it was hard to not repeat “This book is amazing!” over and over again. Then I come to this book. My favourite author on the planet writes the perfect concluding novel in a series…. and I’m at a loss for words!

I only write spoiler free reviews so there isn’t a whole lot that I can actually say. Things start with a bang and waste no time getting back into the plot. Basically, anything that I say will spoil at least something! Especially when the first plot twist happens before we even reach the 50 page mark…….. don’t worry! No one dies that early…… I know he’s brutal but not THAT brutal! It’s just something that will get your heart racing and start brining together books 1 and 2 in a way that will make the lightbulb in your head explode. I think that was the turning point for me where I began to appreciate the first 2 books even more; as if that were possible!!! The way that he brought together these three books in the finale was pure genius. I mean, unique beyond words!! I was so stunned by it that my husband thought something was wrong and persistently asked me if I was ok. “I’m fine! Now shut up, I’m reading!!!”

What I loved about this series is that, at their core, the characters never change. The goals they had in book one remain the same. Their personalities and loyalties never wavered. You knew exactly who you were dealing with and decided to either love them or hate them as they are. Mia is the same brutal bad ass bitch, Mercurio is still the same mysterious and conniving old bastard, Solis still needs to die a brutal death (jerk), and so on. Their vendettas only get stronger, their drive and determination only gets more desperate, and their love only grows deeper. I felt that I literally followed them the whole way through this journey. I became so emotionally attached to them that I just cried continuously for about an hour while reading towards the end. I was a mess! My breathing was off and my lip was trembling. I basically read the last 100 pages of this book with tears in my eyes (which is really hard to see by the way!). As brutal as these characters are forced to be, it’s their love and loyalty that shines so bright. Prepare your heart – you’ve been warned!

I also love that this book took a turn towards mythology! Yes, mythology has been ever present from book one, but in book 3, it’s a focal point. Obviously we have Aa and Niah, dark and light. They have 4 daughters. There are multiple suns….. so on and so on. A lot of this was talked about in the footnotes actually…….. which are most definitely important and explained in this book (I will say NO more!). But the way the the mythology ended up tying together with Mia personally, along with Godsgrave and their lives as a whole, was really well done!

I don’t normally share quotes from books, but this one was a goldmine! There were so many that made me snort laugh and scare my dog. And there were others that made me cry like a baby with 4 simple words. I’ll share two quotes with you that will sum up Jay Kristoff in a nutshell. One funny, and one totally badass. Please remember that this is coming from an advanced copy so the final copy may have changed.

“I am a daughter of the dark between the stars,” she replied. “I am the thought that wakes the bastards of this world sweating in the Nevernight. I am the vengeance of every orphaned daughter, every murdered mother, every bastard son.” Mia leaned forward and looked the man in the eye. “I am the war you cannot win.”

The next quote is a snippet of a conversation between Mia and Mr Kindly:

“The deed is done. And all things considered, nothing went too badly tits up.”
“What difference does is make the direction your breasts are pointing?”
“Spoken like someone who’s never owned a pair.”

I’m trying to come up wth more to say but it would just be me gushing about how perfect this book is and how much I think Jay Kristoff is a genius. I loved this series before the finale. I thought it was perfect even then. But I had no clue just how amazing it was until this book tied everything together. It was messy, dirty, bloody, brutal, heartwarming, and mind-blowing. The true definition of a rollercoaster read. Mr Kristoff sir, you have my heart. Never Flinch. Never Fear. And never, ever forget.

Thank you so much to Raincoast Books Canada and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and are uninfluenced.

Until next time, happy reading!