***I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*** 
 "The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, the pages leave their marks on us. Indelible as the ink that graces them. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You're a daughter of words. A girl with a story to tell" 
 Well damn. This bloody book was freaking awesome. Murder and betrayal. Magic and mystery. A secret assassin school hidden in the dark depths of an isolated mountain. Fantastic characters. A magical, almost sentient library of words and monsters. Epic plot twists. A dangerous world of perpetual light, ruled over by three suns that almost never set. Shadow wraiths in the form of helpful cats. 
 Dark. Dangerous. Gritty. Badass. Totally epic and totally amazing. This is my kind of book. 
 With her father executed as a traitor and on the run from the nobles who destroyed her family Mia Corvere is alone in the world. Gifted with strange Darkin abilities, Mia can wield the shadows as a weapon and the shadows... well, the shadows talk back. Seeking revenge, she joins the Red Church, a dark congregation of assassins loyal to the Lady of Blessed Murder, where she trains to join their elite ranks. That is, if she can survive a series of deadly and violent tests that demand more of her than she is perhaps willing to give. 
 Nevernight is a little bit The Young Elites meets Game of Thrones; a fantasy world filled with bloody violence and intense lust. The world building is exciting and vivid, well actualised and intriguing, filled with dark magic and danger. I absolutely loved Mia's Darkin abilities and her not-a-cat shadow wraith companion. Mr Kindly was such a snarky and witty character. Mia herself is a great lead, tenacious and fiercely determined, extremely cunning and independent, strong and whip smart. Her story and personality is not totally dissimilar to that of Arya Stark. Not that this is a bad thing, I freaking LOVE Arya Stark, so you can only imagine how much I adore Mia. The actual plot kept me turning the page, it was intricate and powerful and full of epic blindsides that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Mia's story is utterly gripping. I also really enjoyed the way relationships and sexual encounters were treated and handled in this book. However, this is definitely a more mature story, despite being loosely categorised as young adult and does feature sex scenes. 
 I will be honest though and say that I think this book will be polarising. You are either going to love it or hate it and I don't think there will be much middle ground. Despite this being one of my most anticipated reads for the year I actually toyed with putting it down early on because the writing style is just so... intense. However, I'm really glad I kept reading. It probably took me about 100 pages to get sucked into the story and feel comfortable with the writing. The prose is dense and ornate, a mix of medieval language and odd slang, heavily detailed and overloaded with metaphors and similes. It is at times overwritten and wordy, repetitive and featuring every shade of purple prose imaginable. It is the sort of language that you either like or loathe. The story is also peppered with footnotes that add on to the world building and which (while often hilarious) make for a confusing learning curve when reading (though can be easily ignored if they are not to your taste). 
 For me, however, this was such an epic read. I loved the writing style, I loved the world and the characters and I adored the story. A must-read for fans of epic fantasy. 
 Warnings; sex scenes, violence, language. All that good stuff.