Godsgrave

I read the first book yesterday and had to read this one immediately. It is now 3 in the morning and you can wager I’m about to start the next one immediately. I would say more but I’m a very impatient person and I need to read it now.

There’s a very specific kind of disappointment that comes from a sequel that’s still good, still engaging, still absolutely worth reading… and yet never quite reaches the high of the book that came before it.

That’s exactly where Godsgrave lands for me.

Coming off Nevernight, I expected more of the same razor-sharp tension, the intimacy of the Red Church, and that feeling that every move Mia made was calculated, dangerous, and personal. Instead, this book widens the lens. The story trades shadows and secrecy for spectacle, shifting into the brutal, public world of the gladiator arenas.

On paper, it’s a fantastic move. In execution, it’s more complicated.

The biggest strength of this book remains Mia Corvere. She continues to be one of the most compelling protagonists in modern fantasy, walking that delicate line between ruthless and vulnerable. What I appreciated most here was her evolution. She’s no longer driven by revenge alone, even if she refuses to admit it. There are moments where doubt creeps in, where she questions the cost of what she’s doing, and those moments give her character a depth that elevates the entire story.

At the same time, she’s still reckless, still making decisions that range from brilliant to wildly questionable. That tension, between who she is and who she might become, carries the book even when the plot stumbles.

The gladiator setting brings a different kind of energy. The scale is bigger, the stakes are louder, and the action is undeniably cinematic. There are scenes here that feel tailor-made for adaptation, vivid, brutal, and easy to picture in motion. The introduction of the gladiatii and the found family dynamic adds emotional weight, and as expected with Kristoff, getting attached to anyone feels like a dangerous choice.

Because it is.

However, this is also where the book begins to show cracks. The structure starts to feel repetitive, with cycles of training, fighting, and scheming that begin to blur together. What should feel like escalating tension sometimes feels like revisiting the same beat with slightly higher stakes. It never becomes boring, but it does lose some of the sharpness that made Nevernight so gripping.

Another point of friction is how Mia navigates this new world. She approaches the arena like an assassin, relying on strategy, manipulation, and, at times, bending the rules. While that fits her character, it occasionally undercuts the premise of the gladiatorial setting. There’s a sense that she’s playing a different game than everyone else, which is interesting, but also makes some of the conflicts feel less grounded.

The romance is likely to be one of the more divisive elements. There are moments of genuine emotional connection, but the progression feels rushed. Given the history between the characters, I expected more tension, more resistance, more time spent unpacking what came before. Instead, it moves quickly, and while it works on a surface level, it lacks some of the emotional weight it could have carried.

What continues to stand out is Kristoff’s voice. The prose remains sharp, the humor lands, and the footnotes, while still unconventional, add texture and personality to the world. The balance between darkness and wit is one of the series’ defining strengths, and it holds steady here.

In the end, Godsgrave feels like a bridge. An ambitious, often entertaining, occasionally uneven bridge between where the story started and where it’s ultimately going. It expands the world, deepens Mia’s character, and sets the stage for what promises to be a much larger payoff.

It may not hit as hard as Nevernight, but it still has enough bite to keep you invested.

And if nothing else, it leaves you exactly where it wants you:

Needing to know what happens next.

The author jus HAD to make the character gay. Why? She was fine the way she was. I’m not down for reading that, thanks but no thanks.