Nevernight

I was extremely aware of Jay Kristoff's presence throughout this entire 427 page book. It was like he was standing over my shoulder, watching me read, and stopping me every 3-4 minutes to say, “Omg this part. I wrote that. Don't you think it's clever? Do you get the joke? I made a joke.” It made me so annoyed. Every time I saw a footnote, I'd tense and roll my eyes, knowing a super lame attempt at a joke was incoming. The whole time I could just imagine Kristoff typing out the story on his computer and congratulating himself for being so clever, funny, and edgy. It was so try-hard, and so much of it felt tired and/or forced. I recommend checking out other reviews for examples of the absurd metaphors and similes because some of them were absolutely atrocious. And holy men-writing-women, or rather men-writing-16-year-old-girls.

Despite all those things, I loved the world and enjoyed the plot. I wanted to like all the characters more than I did, but I'm basically neutral on all of them. I think they were very inconsistently written. I predicted almost everything that happened really early on, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment (the writing style overshadowed that). I really want to know what happens next and will likely pick up the second book. I've heard Kristoff improves his writing and characters, and if that's true then I think I'll love it.