Georgia Kostopoulou
WHEN ALL
IS BLOOD,
BLOOD IS ALL.
―
And now, gentle friends, the time has come to talk about the final book in The Nevernight Chronicle. “Darkdawn” is what you would expect to have after an amazing “Nevernight” and an overwhelming “Godsgrave”. And then a bit more. In the first page, Jay Kristoff promises there will be no cliff-hangers in this one. And he keeps his promise. As stated in the first book, this chronicle gets through the birth, life and ending of Mia Corvere. I’ll do my best to keep it spoiler free, so bear with me.
The story begins right where “Godsgrave” left off, with a surprise that I so much enjoyed and couldn’t wait to see how it plays in this third and last book. Mia is still set on her revenge path and has made great steps on that direction in “Godsgrave”. And not only that, she found someone she believed to be lost forever, which is bringing out another self we didn’t see in the previous two books. Her character doesn’t change though; it matures.
“My name is Mia Corvere. Blade of the Red Church. Champion of the Venatus Magni. Chosen of the Dark Mother and Queen of Scoundrels. Never call me girl again.”
― Darkdawn
Mia’s story continues being told by the same unnamed narrator, one the reader finally get’s to know and is a personal favourite. This last adventure is actually a set of adventures throughout the Itreyan Republic and Mia goes through the city of Godsgrave to the desert sand, to the sea and hidden places in the Republic, gathering pieces and comrades, preparing herself for the final battle. The kind of action one would expect in every respectable epic fantasy story. Throughout this chain of adventures the reader will meet again each and every character they met since this Chronicle started, as everyone has a purpose and a role to play in the story. And not only that, but glimpses from the previous books will come back to the reader’s memory as the different mysteries are being solved. Whatever was pestering Mia’s head, riddles she could not solve, pieces of a puzzle that finally fall into place and her past actions and experiences that trigger reactions from other characters. It was so great to see the signs and recognize every single piece that found its place.
“Don’t fuck with librarians, young lady. We know the power of words.”
― Darkdawn
One of the things found in these books, but not in most fiction novels, at least not to the same extend, is the footnotes. In this last one, they were not as many footnotes as in the previous two books. They did have their meaning though and I took great delight in them, to be honest. And not only that, but in “Darkdawn” Jay Kristoff really made fun of himself by joking on these same footnotes.
“Oh, fuck me,” you were thinking, “it’s been awhile. I wonder where all the footnotes went. Maybe the author got embarrassed by everyone in his own book taking a steaming shit on them, and decided to refrain for the rest of the novel.”
Well, fuck you, gentle friends.”
― Darkdawn
Hell breaks loose in this one so many times that I was literally saying that quote on each case. I was so excited every time there was a battle scene that I couldn’t hold it inside me and I was trying not to wake anyone up, as of course I was reading this during night time. The battles are more than epic. We did got a taste of them in “Godsgrave” inside the arena and outside, but this time we have battles everywhere, full of blood and gore. To top that, Mia’s Shadowstepping is levels higher than in the previous books and with Truedark approaching, she becomes even more powerful and the reader expects everything from her. Everything but the last epic shadow battle.
This review is full of quotes I loved while reading “Darkdawn”. My favourite quote in the book though was
“What doesn’t kill me had better fucking run”
― Darkdawn
I was laughing like crazy when I read this one! And truth be told, I laughed so many times in this book as well. And if you come to think of it, it is not a funny read. Not at all.
I knew I would not have the ending I wanted to have, because if I did, this book would not have been written by Jay Kristoff. He is known for breaking our hearts and this was to be expected. My hopes were high when I finished Godsgrave and when Darkdawn started, but deep inside me, I knew I would not have the ending I wanted. Yes, I do hate Jay Kristoff for this. Yes, we do have this love – hate relationship that great authors, especially great epic fantasy authors, have with their readers. The weirdest thing of all is that, even after this unsatisfactory ending of a series I totally adored this year, I still want to read everything he’s ever written! Who would imagine? (Probably all of you reading my reviews and my fellow bookstagrammers that see his name and his books all over my feed and all over their posts talking about favourite books, favourite characters and favourite authors.)
“I denied death for you. And I’d die for you again. Kill for you. I’d tear the stars down from the heavens to fashion you a crown. You are my heart. My Queen. I’d do anything and everything you ask me, Mia.”
― Darkdawn
One last thing, a question maybe. Why there is no movie or game based on this trilogy yet? Just, why? It’s an amazing journey to go through as a gamer and a beautiful premise with lots of potential for a movie per book! I’m a bit obsessed with this trilogy, I know. Who do I need to talk to about this?
