Hi everyone, it's Rhiannon here, and I'm here to talk to you about another
excellent book. Today, similarly to my last video I want to talk about the whole
series instead of just one book and that series is the nether Knight Chronicles
by Jay Kristoff (please insert first book in series here I don't have it with me,
it's back home in London). So this is an adult fantasy trilogy, the first book is
Nevernight which I am inserting a picture of here, the second book is Godsgrave
and the third book is Darkdawn. Darkdawn hasn't come out yet, it's coming
out in September and I was very lucky to be sent an advance copy by HarperCollins
so thank you. When I opened the package that had this book in, I literally
screamed on the shop floor, so I think that tells you how much I love this
series. I won't be spoiling anything in this video don't worry, so if you've only
read the first one or you've read the first two and you're waiting for the
third one I'm not gonna reveal any plot details but hopefully for those of you
who haven't read it I can persuade you why this is definitely a series worth
your time. So this series is set in a fantasy world that has three suns,
as in suns in the sky, not children. I was explaining this book to my friend
and the whole time I was talking she thought I meant s-o-n instead of s-u-n
and she was very, very confused. So they are suns in the sky and because there
are three suns it means that it's never dark except for once every six years I
think all of the suns set and it's like completely pitch black. You can't see
anything. The structure of the world I would say is mostly inspired by Roman
society, you've got like gladiators, a Senate. The main city, Godsgrave, kinda
reminds me of Venice. It's like full of canals but it's a very murdery, corrupt
Venice. So our main character is Mia Corvere and she is 16 years old I just
want to reiterate she is 16. This is not a young adult series, this is very much
adult fantasy. There are graphic descriptions of violence and sex,
it's not YA, it's firmly adult. Some people put it in YA but they are
wrong. Anyway, Mia is 16, she belongs to a very, very high-status family but when
she's 10 her father tries to lead a rebellion against the Senate and it
fails and so he's executed and her mom and little brother are thrown in prison.
And she is meant to also be executed but she manages to escape and
she's taken in by this very grumpy but very lovable man called Mercurio. And she
keeps saying how she wants revenge and he's like well if you're serious let me
train you for six years and you can join the secret assassin school that I went to.
So the first book, you're basically following her as she joins this assassin
school to try and get revenge on all the people who wronged her and the people
who killed her family. But the assassin school is not a walk in the park, it's
very violent. People die basically like every other page in the first book I
think. It's very much not a school for the faint-hearted,
I would say. So the whole trilogy follows Mia as she's trying to enact revenge
upon the people who killed her family but also uncovering secrets and the
rotten heart of the world that she lives in. And to complicate matters Mia
also has a slightly strange power. There's not a lot of magic in this book
but one of the main sources of magic in the book is Mia. She has the ability to
manipulate the darkness and she can like draw a shadow over herself to hide
herself away. She also has this little shadow demon in the shape of a cat who
she calls Mr. Kindly who is one of my favorite characters and he can take away
all her fear. So when he's in her shadow she's not scared of anything and this
creates a really interesting character because she is literally fearless but
then there are times when Mr. Kindly has to go away or he's not with her for
some reason and the change that comes over her is really, really interesting.
And you see how she's been squashing this fear down and not feeling it and
how much that would change you as a person if from the age of 10 to 16 you
didn't feel fear about anything. So like I said the first book is focused on her
in her assassin school - calling it assassin school makes it sound a lot nicer than
it is, it's a very violent place - but she's in her assassin school. And then
the second and third book I'll set elsewhere but I will not spoil you as to
where but let me just say they are very, very, very good.
Mia is by far and away my favorite character although I do love Mr. Kindly.
It's just really refreshing to read a female protagonist who, yes she is a
strong female character, I mean I hate that phrase. She has a really strange mix
of being a really scary murderer but also very, very soft.
And you can tell that she has a very good heart and I find that really
interesting because yes she is a killer but she also explores the moral
implications of what she's doing and she's questioning herself constantly.
Like is this the right path I'm on, is what I'm doing justified? And oftentimes
it's yes but sometimes it's no and Kristoff doesn't shy away from showing
the full consequences of her actions. Another great thing is that Mia is
bisexual and I don't think I've ever read a fantasy book with a bisexual main
character. And it's not fussed about it's just who she is and I really like
that as well about her. If I had to pick a favourite book from the trilogy I think
it would be the second one Godsgrave. Just because of what Mia goes through in
that book and how it changes her perception of the world that she lives
in. I always feel this way about trilogies, I always like the second one
because the first one you're like getting to know everyone and then the
third one you know that it's ending and there's like no book after the one
you're reading so I always get really sad like halfway through and I'm like oh
no this is the end I'm not gonna read about them anymore. So that's why the
second one is my favorite, but they're all they're all really good and for
those of you who have already read the first two, Darkdawn is so worth reading!
It wraps up the series in such a satisfying way. I mean, it does stomp on your
heart a lot but kind of in the best way. And there were things that happen in
this book that completely took me by surprise. As you can see these books are
also incredibly beautiful. The design that goes into them is breathtaking and
it's the same with the paperbacks as well. That's why I'm definitely going to
buy me a copy of Darkdawn when it comes out in hardback. I think Waterstones is
even doing a special sprayed edge edition where these are black (TRUE!) so there will
definitely be a link in the description if you want to check those out. And also
if you're based in the UK, Jay Kristoff is doing a couple of events all around
the UK to launch it in September. So 100% you should check those out as well.
I would recommend this series for fans of Game of Thrones, Laini Taylor, Sarah J Maas.
Basically if you just like a cool fantasy world and a kick-ass assassin,
these are the books for you. So thanks for watching everyone I hope you're
having a lovely summer and I'll see you next time.