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A review by lbarsk
Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff
3.0
BUCKLE IN KIDS, I'VE GOT SOME THOUGHTS.
CONS
1. I'm so annoyed that there is woman/woman sex in this book because now it has to go on my Queer bookshelf [according to my own self-imposed rules] when it is DECIDEDLY NOT A QUEER NARRATIVE. The "queerest" this book gets is when Mia is like "Wait, does it matter that I'm attracted to Ash because she's a girl or because she's a murderer? Oh it's the second thing" and even then I was rolling my eyes the whole goddamn time. Otherwise, this book feels *as* Super Extremely Straight as Nevernight did, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE IS W/W SEX IN IT. Like, GOD, has Jay Kristoff ever... met... bi women? Has he ever met... lesbian women? Does he realize that Sapphic 18-year-old murderbots probably don't talk the way he wrote them in this book? I get that everyone's coming out narrative is different but MY GOD this one wasn't different, it was bungled and tripped over and felt like it was thrown in as a fun, titillating afterthought.
2. The """""sex""""""""""""" that the two women have in this book could not have felt MORE written by The Epitome Of The Male Gaze, and if I ever have to read the phrase "kneaded her breasts" or "she sank her tongue deeper into Ash's petals" again with my own two eyes I will pull a Mia Corvere and COMMIT MURDER. Do not let Jay Kristoff write any more sex scenes. If Darkdawn has any sex scenes like the ones in Godsgrave I will THROW A FIT. PETALS, JAY KRISTOFF????? P E T A L S?????
3. Once again, the stark difference in tone between the footnotes and the actual text is jarring.
4. After a while it got kind of tiresome reading about gladiator battle after gladiator battle. I feel like the fight scenes could've been edited?
NEITHER PRO NOR CON
1. Mia Getting Woke About Social Justice™️. On the one hand, it was nice to watch her progression from "only cares about self" to "starting to care about wider society" and I'm legit curious to see what character growth she undergoes in Darkdawn when it comes out. On the other, it felt kind of heavy-handed. But it's not like these books are particularly subtle?
2. Kristoff still loves his flashbacks, boy oh boy. But there seemed to be fewer of them this time?
PRO
1. I still want to know what the hell happens! Despite like... The horrifying treatment of queer women's sex and my continuing issues with the actual prose of the book. So once again, Kristoff gets props for weaving a story that I want to see through to the end. I am genuinely curious what's going to go down in the final book!
2. The twists in this book were also well-executed!!! Some of them I saw coming and, like last time, some of them I did not. Especially the last few pages of the book -- I was like OH SHIIIIIIT and then it was over.
3. Wow it's been nice to see Mia grow more of a heart/conscience.
4. Once again, really really solid worldbuilding and world-history-creation.
CONS
1. I'm so annoyed that there is woman/woman sex in this book because now it has to go on my Queer bookshelf [according to my own self-imposed rules] when it is DECIDEDLY NOT A QUEER NARRATIVE. The "queerest" this book gets is when Mia is like "Wait, does it matter that I'm attracted to Ash because she's a girl or because she's a murderer? Oh it's the second thing" and even then I was rolling my eyes the whole goddamn time. Otherwise, this book feels *as* Super Extremely Straight as Nevernight did, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE IS W/W SEX IN IT. Like, GOD, has Jay Kristoff ever... met... bi women? Has he ever met... lesbian women? Does he realize that Sapphic 18-year-old murderbots probably don't talk the way he wrote them in this book? I get that everyone's coming out narrative is different but MY GOD this one wasn't different, it was bungled and tripped over and felt like it was thrown in as a fun, titillating afterthought.
2. The """""sex""""""""""""" that the two women have in this book could not have felt MORE written by The Epitome Of The Male Gaze, and if I ever have to read the phrase "kneaded her breasts" or "she sank her tongue deeper into Ash's petals" again with my own two eyes I will pull a Mia Corvere and COMMIT MURDER. Do not let Jay Kristoff write any more sex scenes. If Darkdawn has any sex scenes like the ones in Godsgrave I will THROW A FIT. PETALS, JAY KRISTOFF????? P E T A L S?????
3. Once again, the stark difference in tone between the footnotes and the actual text is jarring.
4. After a while it got kind of tiresome reading about gladiator battle after gladiator battle. I feel like the fight scenes could've been edited?
NEITHER PRO NOR CON
1. Mia Getting Woke About Social Justice™️. On the one hand, it was nice to watch her progression from "only cares about self" to "starting to care about wider society" and I'm legit curious to see what character growth she undergoes in Darkdawn when it comes out. On the other, it felt kind of heavy-handed. But it's not like these books are particularly subtle?
2. Kristoff still loves his flashbacks, boy oh boy. But there seemed to be fewer of them this time?
PRO
1. I still want to know what the hell happens! Despite like... The horrifying treatment of queer women's sex and my continuing issues with the actual prose of the book. So once again, Kristoff gets props for weaving a story that I want to see through to the end. I am genuinely curious what's going to go down in the final book!
2. The twists in this book were also well-executed!!! Some of them I saw coming and, like last time, some of them I did not. Especially the last few pages of the book -- I was like OH SHIIIIIIT and then it was over.
3. Wow it's been nice to see Mia grow more of a heart/conscience.
4. Once again, really really solid worldbuilding and world-history-creation.