Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle #3) by Jay Kristoff

I will forever have a special place in my heart for Nevernight and Godsgrave. Darkdawn? Not so much... This last book doesn't even compare in quality to its predecessors. 

Nevernight ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Godsgrave ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Darkdawn ⭐️⭐️

Darkdawn- @glimpses_of_my_books

The Blurb:

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?

The Review: 2 Stars

I don't even know where to start. The longer I sit here and stare at my computer the more negatives I find with this book and the lower I want my score to be. I debated on it a long time and the book deserves at least a 2 star rating, it did have some brilliant moments. The main problem though is this: the brilliant moments did not involve the two main characters in the book: Mia and her lover Ash. And therefore, they were few.

If you think going back into this series will feel like meeting an old friend think again. 

The rather theatrical and crass way in which Kristoff writes this series -and became famous for doing so- is way over the top in Darkdawn. Instead of finding it amusing and entertaining there was so much of it I got bored and annoyed. This book drags, it is pages upon pages of nothing but predictable fight scenes, boring and even at times gross sex scenes, a plot that got lost within the characters excessive bawdiness, and a subplot that 1- made no sense, and 2- served simply so that the author could say without saying "I am an amazing author". If you've read it, you know what I am saying, and if you haven't, you will know instantly. Hint: "the books". As another reviewer cleverly pointed out: "Kristoff lays it on a little too thick too often, and his efforts to transform nearly every observation into something either hilarious or profound yields many overwritten lines and dilutes the story’s power to persuade us."(her full review here)

Mia went from bad ass & fearless assassin to this girl afraid of everything. Her fears are understandable and make her more human I guess, but it is too big of a jump too fast. Although she is the main character in this story she is also at times too plain in comparison to everyone else, so much so that she is almost unnecessary. 

Ash came across as a petulant, jealous, obnoxious, and hurtful child. The things she did and said, specially to Tric -you know, the guy who she pretended to be friends with than killed- were painful to read, ridiculous, and heartless. She redeemed herself in Godsgrave than proceeded to destroy all that hard work in Darkdawn. Ash's love for Mia was toxic and unhealthy. I hated her with every fiber of my being every single page she was on until ... except ... (Come talk to me. I can't say more on this b*** without giving spoilers).

Tric... the anger here is intense. It does not matter if you did or did not like him in Nevernight. Either way you look at it what was done to his character in this book was unfair, unjust, cruel, ridiculous, petty, etc. What on earth Tric ever did to the author? The situation between Ash and Tric was a problem from beginning to end and took away a lot of good from the book. Poorly done to say the least.

And than there is the ending... we were promised something different, something unexpected. We get common and predictable. I genuinely had to fight the urge to throw the book against the fu**ing wall. 

Now that the rant is over lets shed some light on the brilliant moments. Mia's little brother was written well. Any kid in his shoes would feel the way he did, the way his relationship with Mia change and grew was a nice break from all the other crap going on in the book. The boy had the same tenacity both his father and sister have but without the life experiences to back it up and of-course, it is all overshadowed with the lies he grew up with.

Sid, Singer, Cloud, the pirates, were all nice additions to the story. They made parts of the book fun and pleasurable. 

The 2 stars are for them: Mia's little brother and the gladiatii. That's all.

Find the book at: Goodreads

*this book is not young adult. It is under my young adult label because that is better than under romance since the author does writes young adult as well as fantasy.