Title: Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle #3) by Jay Kristoff

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Published: September 3, 2019

Read as: Audiobook from Audible

Average Goodreads rating: 4.5

My rating: 3 (generously)

The greatest games in Godsgrave’s history have ended with the most audacious murders in the history of the Itreyan Republic.

Mia Corvere, gladiatii, escaped slave and infamous assassin, is on the run. Pursued by Blades of the Red Church and soldiers of the Luminatii legion, she may never escape the City of Bridges and Bones alive. Her mentor Mercurio is now in the clutches of her enemies. Her own family wishes her dead. And her nemesis, Consul Julius Scaeva, stands but a breath from total dominance over the Republic.

But beneath the city, a dark secret awaits. Together with her lover Ashlinn, brother Jonnen and a mysterious benefactor returned from beyond the veil of death, she must undertake a perilous journey across the Republic, seeking the final answer to the riddle of her life. Truedark approaches. Night is falling on the Republic for perhaps the final time.

Can Mia survive in a world where even daylight must die? (from Goodreads)

You never know what can break you until you’re falling apart. You never miss your shadow until you’re lost in the dark.

I’m going to try to keep this short. I wasn’t over the moon about Nevernight and Godsgrave, both of which I also read as audio. However, when you are that deep into the series you just feel the need to finish it. Despite my middling opinions on the first two books, I still had hopes that this final installment would blow me away in spectacular fashion and let me glimpse into the wonder that so many other people have seen in the series.

Unfortunately I found this look little more than a lackluster conclusion.

The romantic aspect of this story was, how do I put it? Complete garbage. I haven’t read such a trash romantic subplot since Caraval. Neither potential love interest was worth the time of day. However, since Mia is garbage as well I don’t know what I expected.

Do not even get me started on the blatant predictability of the story, either. Every scene, every moment you could see coming from a mile off. One of the things I found enjoyable from the first two books was that I was always surprised by what happened next. I expected deaths but the manner of those deaths always caught me off guard and the timing left me on the edge of my seat. I loved that. However, even those moments of surprise and tension were missing in Darkdawn. Instead every death was painfully obvious and expected. It got to the point where we would meet or be reintroduced to a character and I would go, “Yup, they are going to die soon.” Yawn.

The great big battle at the end, which I so very much longed for, also seemed to drag out into eternity. Truly, it felt like that final battle actually began around the three-quarter mark of the story and quickly lost its fizz. By the time it was actually over the only thing I could think was, “Thank God!”

And Mia’s actual conclusion of the book? Give me a break. What a depressing way to send off our violent assassin.

All in all, I gave this book a 3 instead of 2 because despite my displeasure with the story at least Kristoff tied everything up. No loose threads, no character’s story lines left flapping in the breeze. I may not like how this all wrapped up but I am not left feeling like there was a story left to tell. Honestly, I’m not sure there was a story to tell to begin with but that is neither here nor there.

Will I read more from Kristoff? Likely. Am I going to be waiting on pins and needles for his next release? Probably not. Maybe his writing just isn’t my cup of tea.

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