34696801Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church hierarchy think she’s far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she’s no closer to ending the men who destroyed her familia; in fact, she’s told directly that Consul Scaeva is off limits. But after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia suspicions about the Red Church’s true motives begin to grow.

When it’s announced that Scaeva will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end him. Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold within the collegium walls, and the body count rises, Mia will be forced to choose between love and revenge, and uncover a secret that could change the very face of her world.

Source Format Pages Publisher Genre Publication Date
HarperVoyager paperback 437 HarperVoyager Fantasy September 7th, 2017

First of all, many thanks to the publisher for running the Twitter giveaway some yonks ago and many thanks to Lady Luck for pulling my name out of the hat to win an ARC of Godsgrave.

Some books are best to be dissected every which way, their characters and plot analyzed and shredded… Godsgrave? Nah. Godsgrave is hard-core and the book can stand on its own without me sitting here with a Thesaurus, trying to find the best words to use in the review. So, I am going to keep this short and snappy!

If fantasy is your thing, you best get your finances in order and just get on with buying the book already… oh, and start with Nevernight, book #1 [my review].

Even better if you like your fantasy filled with bloody murder, some shags and foulmouthed shenanigans, because Godsgrave is the right kind of RICH! The whole gladiator vibe is great stuff, peoples… It made me think of the TV series ‘Spartacus’, which I loved. What Kristoff created, though, in Godsgrave was better with its fantastical creatures, addition of female gladiatii and proper political intrigue/corruption. Bang on perfect, if I do say so!

If Vengeance has a mother, her name is Patience.

The conflict-points in this book just keep on presenting themselves… they’re popping off the pages since the first page of Nevernight and they continue that sticky-ickyness throughout to the last page of Godsgrave… I mean, goddamn, but Book #3 (yet to be titled) is going to cause some kind of a paradigm shift, I think! Boom! Pop-pop!

Anyway, the conflicts… There’s no shortage of them to keep the reader barreling through this revenge story. Ah, sometimes, when you pull a thread on your sock, you’ll end up without a sock because you just unravelled a whole pile of miniature knots and ended up with a big problem and thus end up bouncing around the place like a circus clown, spinning multiple plates… True, some of those conflicts in Godsgrave remain unanswered providing some cannon fodder for Book #3, but the main, the most important questions around who can you trust and how far are you willing to go for your goal, are answered… this far, anyway 😉 Never know what lies ahead in Mia’s future…

There’s plenty of corruption, conniving bastards, snakes in the grass to go around in this book to keep your blood pressure slightly above the normal. And the SECRETS that come out into the dyalight… oooooh!

But anyway, if the mean and evil (and secret stuff) doesn’t do it for you, some of those sexy times will… Wasn’t too keen on those myself in this book… for some reason… maybe because <spoiler>my loyalty lies with Tric.</spoiler> But yeah, detailed tutelage there of some highest quality.

Mia… the badassest of badass assassins ever in the history of ever. Clever, quick, foulmouthed, darkling… With a multitude of skills in her special bag of tools, she did not let me down. I just KNEW she would not disappoint me with her actions and I was ‘happy’ to see that even with her murderous eyes firmly set on the ‘prize’, she still had her weaknesses (what would she even be and do without Mister Kindly and Eclipse? I’d bet on ‘not what’s she’s currently at!’) but also the qualities you can admire in the best of people which shone through at most pivotal moments.

The choice between looking plain and pretty isn’t really a choice at all. But any fool knows looking dangerous is preferable to both.

And that ending? Read the book but be prepared to throw a hissy because man does the plot thicken! So… All that’s left now is to wipe the sweat off my brow and take a chillpill; let life go back into relevant routine with normal heartbeat until Mia graces our lives with her shadowy presence again. #stabstabstab

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