Sean Gursky reviewed Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
Review of 'Darkdawn' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
"Godsgrave," he muttered.
"Follows on from the first," Aelius nodded. "I think I liked this one better, actually. Less fucking about at the start."
This was nicely done. The critiques I had on the previous books with the italicized chapter intros and never ending footnotes had an explanation and were a punchline for characters who had problems with earlier instalments of the Nevernight Chronicle. For whatever reason Kristoff used this to critique his earlier work I thought this was an interesting approach and did end up being relevant to the story later.
Unfortunately I feel a bit underwhelmed by this book. The story balanced on liked it and it was okay but feel it was more deserving of okay status.
At the mid way point of the book I wondered what had happened with the story. It seemed like it had lost steam and direction. The characters had stalled …
"Godsgrave," he muttered.
"Follows on from the first," Aelius nodded. "I think I liked this one better, actually. Less fucking about at the start."
This was nicely done. The critiques I had on the previous books with the italicized chapter intros and never ending footnotes had an explanation and were a punchline for characters who had problems with earlier instalments of the Nevernight Chronicle. For whatever reason Kristoff used this to critique his earlier work I thought this was an interesting approach and did end up being relevant to the story later.
Unfortunately I feel a bit underwhelmed by this book. The story balanced on liked it and it was okay but feel it was more deserving of okay status.
At the mid way point of the book I wondered what had happened with the story. It seemed like it had lost steam and direction. The characters had stalled out and nothing was happening with the plot. A grand plan was devised but it didn't seem like anyone was working towards it.
In Nevernight Chronicle #2 the story was extreme with the gladiatii but I understood how each chapter and character was needed to reach Mia's final goal. Mia was creating knots and working to undo them. With Darkdawn the reader didn't get that insight or the story spent more time focusing on mythos and legend to help provide a support for the story to land on.
For the first half of the Darkdawn I wondered if something was amiss because we were treading water. And then pirates were added to the mix because why not?, throw something at the story and see what sticks.
But how many Mias had she helped create?
Amidst all of the blood and death I do appreciate when characters have a moment to reflect and wonder "am I the bad person?" Self assessing your destruction is something I enjoy reading characters go through and there is a period where course correction can occur. Mia asked this at such a late stage in the game it showed she had a single focus and consequences be damned for the years she spent working towards her ultimate goal.
Kristoff has written a pretty decent trilogy with enjoyable action, an obscene amount of gore, a splash of smut but at times the scope felt needlessly large (ie: pirates).
