Blog Tour- NEVERNIGHT by Jay Kristoff An Interview & Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on blog tour for NEVERNIGHT by Jay Kristoff! I adore Jay so I love to help spread the word about his amazing books!! I have an interview with Jay to share with you today! And make sure to enter the awesome giveaway for a finished copy of the book!!

Haven't heard of NEVERNIGHT? Check it out!

Title: NEVERNIGHT

Author: Jay Kristoff

Pub. Date: August 9, 2016

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Pages: 448

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

The first in a new fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author.

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

Check out the book trailer! This is a trailer made by Sarah @ The YA Book Traveler isn't it awesome?!?!

Now on to the interview!

Hi Jay! First I want to say welcome back to Two Chicks on Books! NEVERNIGHT sounds absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait to read it! And am so happy that you could stop by for a visit!

Thanks for having me J

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about NEVERNIGHT and the characters?

Nevernight is the first part of a new fantasy trilogy. It’s set on a world with three suns, which means nighttime only falls once every two and half years. The setting is a cross between ancient Rome and merchant prince era Venice.

The main character is named Mia Corvere. She’s the daughter of a traitor who tried to overthrow the Republic. Seeking revenge against the men who destroyed her family, she joins a cult of assassins known as the Red Church, seeking to be trained as one of their own. But, there are limited spaces among the Church’s chosen, and she’ll have to survive deadly trials and her fellow students in order to become the weapon she needs to be to exact her revenge.

So is there a title for book 2 yet and if so can you share???

I have a working title. But it’s not very good. I hate thinking of titles. It took me nearly 2 years to think of a good title for NEVERNIGHT. We originally sold it to my publisher with the title GIRL OF ENDINGS, which sucks a little in hindsight.

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

Mister Kindly is inspired by a couple of cats I’ve known. And the instructors at the Red Church are amalgams of various mean teachers I had over the years. But I try not to make my inspirations too obvious—that way lies lawsuits.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

Mia is my favorite. I love her. I loved her from the first scene I wrote, way back in 2013. I didn’t know who she was back then, or what she wanted, so I wrote a book to find out. But that scene (end of chapter 50 hasn’t really changed much in 3 years. Those words are the heart of her.

Least fave? I don’t know I have one. The characters I dislike the most is probably Adonai or Marielle, because they’re both such awful, soulless people. But I still enjoy writing them. I get to the let the bastard in me come out and play.

What is your favorite passage/scene in NEVERNIGHT?

Three way toss up between scenes, I’m afraid. I can’t pick between them.

1.        The opening chapter. I think that’s some of the best writing I’ve ever done.

2.      Mia’s torture scene in Godsgrave.

3.      Mia’s chat wit Tric at the end of Chapter 5.

My fave quote is probably this, though:

“The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.”

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

I’m a huge Roman history buff. If you want to have a seven-hour conversation about the impacts of the Julian dynasty on modern day global politics, I’m your guy. I’ve been a study of ancient Rome since I was a kid. Ditto Merchant Prince Venice and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. You could honestly say I’ve been researching this book for 20 years. Of course it’s fantasy, so you put your own spin on it. But the whole setting began as something of a thought experiment: “What if Julius Caesar’s march on Rome failed, and the Republic endured til the middle ages?”

Who is your ultimate author crush?

Robin Hobb. She’s too old for me, but that lady is mighty.

What inspired you to write YA?

Honestly I just write the stories as they play out in my head. Sometimes they’re YA, sometimes they’re not—I don’t go into a story with preconceived notions. I don’t know if NEVERNIGHT is YA, but then, I’ve never seen a definition of YA that I’m satisfied with. YA isn’t a genre. It’s a demographic. There are no conventions and no taboos that I can really see any more.

NN is being marketed as adult, my publisher is an adult publisher, but naturally YA readers who follow me through the ILLUMINAE FILES are going to be drawn to it and read it. I think of it as a crossover book—the protagonist is a teenager, but she’s dealing with some very heavy topics. But I like that the book is causing a discussion, and that most early readers are really getting into it J

Lightening Round Questions

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

Right now, I’m just about to start a YA SF book called TATTOO ATLAS by Tim Floreen. Very excited! I just finished a very cool YA novel called THE BOUNDLESS SUBLIME by Lili Wilkinson, about a girl who falls into a cult. Very thought provoking and powerful.

What Hogwarts House would the Sorting Hat place you in?

Slytherin 4 lyf

Twitter or Facebook?

Twitter. Does anyone use FB anymore?

Favorite Superhero?

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.

Favorite TV show?

Ever? The Wire.

Sweet or Salty?

Salty. Yum.

Any Phobias?

I am equally terrified and fascinated by great white sharks if that counts?

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

Gravedigger by Architects.

Fall Movie you’re most looking forward to?

Snowden.

Thanks so much Jay for answering my questions! I can’t wait for everyone to read NEVERNIGHT!

:D 

About Jay Kristoff

Jay Kristoff is a New York Times and international bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy. He grew up in the second most isolated capital city on earth and fled at his earliest convenience, although he’s been known to trek back for weddings of the particularly nice and funerals of the particularly wealthy. He spent most of his formative years locked in his bedroom with piles of books, or gathered around dimly-lit tables rolling polyhedral dice. Being the holder of an Arts degree, he has no education to speak of.

His LOTUS WAR trilogy was critically acclaimed in Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar and Legend awards and won the 2014 Aurealis Award. Jay’s new series, the SciFi thriller THE ILLUMINAE FILES, was co-authored with Amie Kaufman. Book 1, ILLUMINAE, became a New York Times and international bestseller, was named among the Kirkus, Amazon and YALSA Best Books of 2015 and won the 2016 Aurealis Award and an ABIA Book of the Year award. ILLUMINAE is currently slated to be published in twenty five countries, and film rights have been acquired by Brad Pitt and Plan B Entertainment.

Jay’s new fantasy series, THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE, commences with book 1, NEVERNIGHT, from St Martins Press/Thomas Dunne Books and Harper Voyager in 2016. A new YA series, LIFEL1K3 has also been acquired by Knopf/Random House Kids, and commences publication in 2018. Jay is as surprised about all this as you are. He is represented by Josh Adams at Adams Literary.

Jay is 6’7 and has approximately 13,030 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife, and the world’s laziest Jack Russell.

He does not believe in happy endings.

Website | Twitter | Facebook |Instagram | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

5 winners will receive a finished copy of NEVERNIGHT, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

8/1/2016- Dark Faerie Tales- Interview

8/2/2016- Once Upon a Twilight- Review

8/3/2016- Supernatural Snark- Interview

8/4/2016- Nerdophiles- Review

8/5/2016- The Book Cellar- Interview

Week Two:

8/8/2016- MEREADALOT- Review

8/9/2016- Ticket to Anywhere- Interview

8/10/2016- The Young Folks- Review

8/11/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

8/12/2016- Mundie Moms- Review