Nevernight

Starred review from July 18, 2016
Launching the Nevernight fantasy series, Kristoff (the Lotus War trilogy) creates a splendid world of corruption and violence. Mia Corvere is the last survivor of her family’s fall from grace in the capital city of Godsgrave. After witnessing her father’s execution as a traitor and her mother and infant brother’s imprisonment by the consul of the Itreyan Empire, she dedicates her life to bloody revenge. She escapes her own murder and has nothing left but shadows and the help of a pitiless tutor. Making the most of these meager treasures, she sets out to become a weapon fit to shatter an empire, though she may destroy her own world with it. Kristoff portrays a world as rife with villains and treachery as the ancient Italian civilizations it echoes. Absorbing in its complexity and bold in its bloodiness, this beginning promises (and delivers) equal shares of beauty and decay. With a delicate balance of the ancient and the magical, this tense and brutal tale is unflinching, thrilling, and satisfying.

A dark and bloody fantasy about a young woman bent on revenge--at almost any price.Mia Corvere was 10 years old when she watched her father be hanged as a traitor, saw her mother and infant brother hauled away to die in prison, and escaped death herself at the hands of two trained Luminatii soldiers. She's darkin, which means she can control shadows, and her constant companion, a cat made of shadows, drinks her fear. But even that won't be enough to get the revenge she craves on the powerful men who destroyed her family. That's why she's traveled out to the ends of civilization to gain entry to the Red Church, where "the greatest enclave of assassins in the known world" worships the goddess of night, Niah, "Our Lady of Blessed Murder." If she can get inducted into the Red Church, she'll have the skills she needs to exact her revenge. She just has to survive her training--at the hands of the world's most deadly, amoral assassins. Kristoff (Illuminae, 2015, etc.) comes on strong from the start, creating a shadowy world dripping with blood, in which our feisty, determined heroine must claw her way to the top of a deadly pecking order. Mia manages to find connection and even caring in the black pit of the Red Church--but how long can it last? A sensuous, shades-of-moral-gray world; a compelling, passionate heroine; a high-stakes quest for revenge--this is a fantasy fans won't be able to put down. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2017

At the age of 10, Mia Corvere was forced to watch as her father was hanged from the city scaffold, her mother and baby brother were marched off to prison, and her precious cat's neck was broken by the man who was planning to kill her. Mia has wanted nothing but vengeance from that day forward, and now she is finally ready to train as an elite assassin for the Red Church. Her unique affinity with the shadow world gives her an edge. But competition is fierce, only a small number are chosen, and notwithstanding her deadly skills, Mia is not the sociopath that many of her fellow students seem to be. Murder, she believes, should be deserved. Kristoff has created a medieval-style world lit by three suns, where true night is a rare occurrence, magic is shunned as evil, and religion is derived from belief in a family of gods whose love has turned to hate. The first in a new series, this violent, nonstop science fiction/horror story is an intense read from start to finish. It's hard to imagine that Kristoff didn't intend this as a young adult book, but a few graphic consensual sex scenes explain the adult designation. VERDICT Older high school and college fans of speculative fiction will appreciate this addictive title.-Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016
Murder, magic, sex, and humorthe first installment in Kristoff's new fantasy series is off to a rollicking start. Ten-year-old Mia, after watching the very public death of her father and the imprisonment of her mother, discovers she has a powerful talent, and a mentor to help her control itas a trained killer. Six years later, she sets off to join the Red Church to continue her lessons and ultimately be chosen as a Blade, an elite assassin. Of course, the path to one's goals is never free of obstacles. Kristoff has created a rich, vibrant world for readers, borrowing heavily from historical Italian political structures, which provide a base of stability and familiarity to the new creations. Footnotes accompany the story, at first on nearly every page and then slowing as the action increases its pace, embellishing and further developing the world, and providing a welcome and often biting wit. Dense and measured, this will appeal to fans of traditional and political fantasies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2015

Set in a world of multiple suns that make daylight almost continuous, this follow-up to Kristoff's high-profile "Lotus War" series sends Mia Corvere to a school for assassins. All the better to prepare herself for vengeance, as her father was executed after leading a squashed rebellion.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016
A dark and bloody fantasy about a young woman bent on revengeat almost any price.Mia Corvere was 10 years old when she watched her father be hanged as a traitor, saw her mother and infant brother hauled away to die in prison, and escaped death herself at the hands of two trained Luminatii soldiers. Shes darkin, which means she can control shadows, and her constant companion, a cat made of shadows, drinks her fear. But even that wont be enough to get the revenge she craves on the powerful men who destroyed her family. Thats why shes traveled out to the ends of civilization to gain entry to the Red Church, where the greatest enclave of assassins in the known world worships the goddess of night, Niah, Our Lady of Blessed Murder. If she can get inducted into the Red Church, shell have the skills she needs to exact her revenge. She just has to survive her trainingat the hands of the worlds most deadly, amoral assassins. Kristoff (Illuminae, 2015, etc.) comes on strong from the start, creating a shadowy world dripping with blood, in which our feisty, determined heroine must claw her way to the top of a deadly pecking order. Mia manages to find connection and even caring in the black pit of the Red Churchbut how long can it last? A sensuous, shades-of-moral-gray world; a compelling, passionate heroine; a high-stakes quest for revengethis is a fantasy fans wont be able to put down.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 29, 2016
This is an unusual new fantasy novel. Told in a mixture of third- and second-person narrative, it’s the story of a young woman who goes from noblewoman to outcast before joining a cult-like group of assassins, told by an as-yet-unidentified narrator. This is darker than Jay Kristoff’s earlier work and while his previous book Illuminae (co-written with Amie Kaufman) was an all-ages title, this is not. There are sex scenes and profanity, though neither are gratuitous and both are in keeping with the ‘grimdark’ feel of the book. The action is dynamic and bloody, and the magic is interesting, though also quite visceral. The setting has a vaguely renaissance feel, and there’s some good world-building; I particularly liked the city built into the massive bones of a dead god and the strange time structure brought about by the fact that this world has not one but three suns. The copious footnotes in the first half of the book mix backstory titbits and wry humour in the manner of a cynical Terry Pratchett, but tended to throw me out of the story, so I was pleased that there were far fewer of them in the second half, when the tension is at its peak. This is one for fans of Scott Lynch and Brent Weeks and a worthy addition to the fantasy section. Stefen Brazulaitis is the owner of Stefen’s Books in Perth