Nevernight (2016)
Nevernight is a 2016 revenge book written by Jay Kristoff.
Under three suns that almost never set, Mia Corvere walks a city built from the bones of a dead god. The daughter of an executed traitor, she survives her father's failed rebellion carrying one talent, an ability to speak with the shadows, and one aim, revenge. That gift leads her to the Red Church, a school that trains the deadliest assassins in the Republic. Blades, poisons, and betrayal fill its trials, and passing them means killing well. Jay Kristoff writes it with black humor, footnoted asides, and a heroine who never pretends her hunger for vengeance is noble.
Quick answers
What is Nevernight about?
Under three suns that almost never set, Mia Corvere walks a city built from the bones of a dead god. The daughter of an executed traitor, she survives her father's failed rebellion carrying one talent, an ability to speak with the shadows, and one aim, revenge. That gift leads her to the Red Church, a school that trains the deadliest assassins in the Republic. Blades, poisons, and betrayal fill its trials, and passing them means killing well. Jay Kristoff writes it with black humor, footnoted asides, and a heroine who never pretends her hunger for vengeance is noble.
When was Nevernight published?
Nevernight was published in 2016.
Who made Nevernight?
Nevernight was written by Jay Kristoff.
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A few thoughts on Nevernight
Its lethal apprenticeship and cold appetite for revenge echo Dishonored, the game where a betrayed protector stalks a plague-struck city with blade and shadow. For the same single-minded vengeance carried out with style, Kill Bill sends a wronged assassin down a list of names she means to cross off one by one.
Deadly training grounds for assassins seeking revenge
Mia trains at the Red Church to become one of the deadliest killers in the Republic, and this cluster shares that same cold competence: Assassin's Creed II's hooded killer, Dishonored's supernatural revenge, the real swordsman's discipline behind Gorin no Sho, Kill Bill's blood-soaked reckoning, and Elden Ring's brutal trial-and-error combat schooling.
Beautifully drawn dark fantasy that isn't afraid of horror
Kristoff writes a city built from the bones of a dead god, and that same lush, unsettling dark fantasy design fills Made in Abyss's beautiful descent into horror, Dororo's grim demon-haunted feudal Japan, Black Butler's gothic bargains, and Hollow Knight's ruined insect kingdom.
Morally messy antiheroes who earn every scar
Mia never pretends her hunger for vengeance is noble, and neither do the antiheroes in this set. Watchmen's deconstructed vigilantes, The Boys' violently unglamorous superheroes, Peaky Blinders' ruthless crime family, and Vikings' warriors chasing plunder and glory all earn their scars the same unflinching way Nevernight does.
A dark, aggressive soundtrack for a killer-in-training
Under three suns that almost never set, Mia's world runs on black humor and blood, a mood this heavy, aggressive shelf matches note for note: Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast and Piece of Mind, Judas Priest's Painkiller, IX Equilibrium's symphonic darkness, and The Spectre Within's brooding weight.