Nevermoor: The World I Never Knew I Was Missing

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

Utterly enchanting from start to finish.

The premise is simple: Morrigan is cursed. But in this return to the childhood nostalgia of special, talented, or "chosen" children, Jessica Townsend absolutely shattered my expectations. I went in hoping to be caught up in something comforting and familiar, something reminiscent of when I discovered the Harry Potter books or picked up Artemis Fowl for the first time. What I received, however, was a brand new world of magic and wonder. At 31 years old, I found myself desperate to delve deeper into Nevermoor, the Hotel Deucalion, and the mysterious Wundrous Society.

It has been a long time since I so eagerly returned, page after page, to a fictional landscape I hopelessly dreamed of being a part of. But what made it so special? What sets Morrigan Crow and her adventures apart from other tales of youthful quests and found families?

1) For starters: everything felt magical. What at first seems like it might simply be a Victorian-esque setting very quickly morphs into something much more ... well, wonderous. With a strange mix of tech -- new, old, imagined, actual -- and the mysterious something known only as Wunder, the arcane and the mundane seem to live in beautiful harmony. Buildings have personalities. People have special talents, vampires and witches are commonplace in Nevermoor, and even St Nick makes a jolly old appearance as a fantastical figure. But, none of it is jarring. Everything makes sense, in a way I can't explain but that made me positively giddy.

2) The characters. Are. CHARMING. Jupiter North is just curious enough, keeping secrets as any fantasy mentor would, but laying MUCH more out in the open than some school headmasters we've all read about in the past ;) They're characters that are easy to love, and easy to trust. And, as such, the twists and turns of unexpected revelations hit that much harder. I found myself wanting to sit down in the Smoking Parlor with the lot of them. Not a single major character felt one-dimensional, and I do so hope to see more of them in the rest of the series.

3) The curse. I could go on and on about the unique and delightful way Jessica Townsend spins the "cursed child" idea in Morrigan Crow, but I'd rather you discover it for yourself. Instead, I'll simply say this: the journey of the curse took me on a roller coaster of emotion that often left me breathless. Time and time again, I thought I'd figured it out myself. But, just as Jessica is a clever writer, Morrigan was a clever protagonist. Every question I had, Morrigan Crow asked for me. There was no sitting around, wondering how the main character could be so stupid as to not realize the truth. No screaming at the book "CAN'T YOU SEE IT?!" as I have done so many, many times ... Morrigan was with me the entire way. Along for the ride, asking the right things. At the right time. A clever protagonist, especially a cursed and fantastical one, will absolutely keep me reading until the bitter end.

I was gifted this book by a friend two years ago. I only regret that it took me until this year to finally open it, and lose myself in Nevermoor. Now, I cannot wait to rejoin the Wundrous Society in the rest of the series. Hats off to you, Morrigan Crow. And Jessica Townsend? You've got a fan for life. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to dreaming about getting my little W pin in the mail, as I once dreamed of getting my Hogwarts letter.

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