Review: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to be completely honest here: I picked up Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow simple because the cover looked nice, and then the peek under the dust jacket revealed something ever lovelier. Sometimes, picking something up based purely on the cover can work out as I found myself having a delightful little romp through the Free State with Morrigan. We learned about a place where Wunder was real, and magic seemed to be imbeded in every street corner.

The plot is as follow: Morrigan is a cursed child, due to die on Eventide. Her status as being a cursed child makes her the unfavourite in her own family, and generally disliked by the people around her. They don't say it, but her death date being confirmed means that their life will be easier. The fated Eventide comes, and a very ginger man appears, offering Morrigan a chance to live. Her life from then is, well, wunderful.

... Yeah, sorry, I couldn't resist the pun, even if the author could. Some of us have weaker wills when it comes to making puns and apparently I am one of them. Morrigan is a lovely protagonist. While her life could have left her feeling morose and down the entirety of the book - justifiably so - she instead does her best to look for the good in the world, allowing herself to feel happiness and joy and belonging in what becomes her new home with the people who become her new family.

The place Morrigan has ended up seems to have magic built into it, and it makes for a very interesting world that can react and change to the person who is there. This makes the setting almost a character in and of itself, and I always like when that happens. Adds a lot to a story.

Only 3 stars because... well, this did feel like a lot of set up with not a lot of pay off. Yeah, if I have to fault one part of the book, it's that the climax feels incredibly rushed and that if you blink you would miss it. I could be missing the fact that that's the point, but personally I felt it was all done too quickly - I would have liked to have seen it last maybe a page more?

Still a fun book worth picking up. I'm looking forward to seeing what other adventures Morrigan will have.

View all my reviews