Godgrave is the second installment of The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff. It continues to follow Mia, the dark assassin from the first book. I don't really want to give a summary in case anyone hasn't read Nevernight, but if you haven't read Nevernight, you need to STOP reading this post and go hole yourself away and read it!!!

The rest of my review will have some spoilers.

So I'm not going to lie. It took me a lot longer to get into Godsgrave than Nevernight. The beginning for me dragged to the point that I ended up putting it down and grabbing a short holiday book before I was ready to continue. I understand the need to have gone back and explained what happened in the time between when Nevernight ends and Godsgrave begins, but I had a hard time staying focused. Since I read them back to back, I'm wondering if it's because it's a little bit heavier than other things I'm used to reading. But, do you see? I still gave it 5 stars!

So once I got passed all of the back story that needed to happen and was left in the present, I really started to like this book better. I liked the new characters introduced, especially Sidonius and Belle, and the other gladiatti. I personally am more inclined to like a main character if they are making judgments that I don't necessarily agree with, because they then feel more like a "real" person. Mia is that character. She is continually doing things that even she is unsure of, and continues to question everything she has ever known about her entire world. I think that Kristoff has amazing character development, no matter how big or small the character is to the story.

I really enjoyed how different this book was from the first, as it was entirely different from what I had expected. This may be because I never even read the synopsis on the inside flap of the cover, I just dove right into it after finishing Nevernight. I really like that the story is following Mia's growth and not just what regular Blades for the Red Church would do. I also liked the return of Ashlinn, as I ended up really hating her at the end of Nevernight, but feeling some return love for her within Godsgrave. I also liked the added banter of Mister Kindly and Eclipse, as well as Mister Kindly's banter with Mia. I think the addition of Eclipse was just what this story needed, as we couldn't see as much banter between Mister Kindly and Mia when she was in the collegium. It felt like the characters continued to have a relationship with each other even if the story wasn't directly focused on them.

That ending though!!! I was ready for everything to go the way it was all planned and then was happily (and a little frustratingly) flipped. I really enjoy how Kristoff also adds a little bit to the end of the story voicing that he understands the reader's overall feeling at the end of total shock and awe, and he apologizes for it, if only on the surface. That is one of the main things I really liked about Kristoff's writing, is it seems the reader gets to have a special relationship with him within the footnotes throughout the book, as well as the little bit at the end.

I would highly recommend Nevernight and Godsgrave to anyone who likes high adventure, lots of gore, and a sardonic undertone. Kristoff has created an entire world full of crooked people, crooked systems, and those that are just trying to survive.