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Intermittent reading post
Jun. 7th, 2018 09:03 amJust finished:
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Australian middle grade fantasy, but a dead perfect mimicry of British fantasy adventure stories for young readers. Which is to say, there's a dash of Harry Potter and a dollop of the Eleventh Doctor, and it's just really, really good. Like, reading-Harry-Potter-for-the-very-first-time-good, and I know that's an overused comparison, but that's exactly how it felt.
Because I'm me, I have a ... feeling about how the most successful Australian children's book to come along in years -- international release, movie deals, all that good stuff -- isn't all that Australian in tone or setting. But that's just the way of the world and the nature of the entertainment industry, and is in no way a criticism of Townsend's work, or a disparagement of her success. (I enjoyed this article very much, and would quite like to meet her one day so I can fangirl in person.)
It's about Morrigan, a solemn goth child born under a curse that will see her dead before her twelfth birthday. On the night of her predicted death, she's whisked away bythe Eleventh Doctor as played by Domhnall Gleeson Captain Jupiter North to the city of Nevermoor, where he has submitted her for entry into the Wundrous Society. Belonging to the society will give her friends and a family for life, which she desperately craves, but if she fails her trials, she will be expelled from Nevermoor -- where she is an illegal immigrant, and the dehumanising language used to refer to such is really on point -- and left to die at the hands of the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow.
Nevermoor won a pile of awards, including the Aurealis Award for best children's speculative fiction, and as it happens, I am one of the judges for that category this year. So I'm eager to see what the sequel will do.
Reading next
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
In between the Aurealis reading that's about to land in my lap, I've set out to reread the Discworld series in publication order. But skipping the ones I don't like, because who has time for Rincewind? No one!
I've already knocked over Equal Rites and Mort, and been deeply impressed at the leap in quality between those two books, the third and fourth in the series. Wyrd Sisters was the first Pratchett I ever read, and I'm keen to see how it holds up.
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Australian middle grade fantasy, but a dead perfect mimicry of British fantasy adventure stories for young readers. Which is to say, there's a dash of Harry Potter and a dollop of the Eleventh Doctor, and it's just really, really good. Like, reading-Harry-Potter-for-the-very-first-time-good, and I know that's an overused comparison, but that's exactly how it felt.
Because I'm me, I have a ... feeling about how the most successful Australian children's book to come along in years -- international release, movie deals, all that good stuff -- isn't all that Australian in tone or setting. But that's just the way of the world and the nature of the entertainment industry, and is in no way a criticism of Townsend's work, or a disparagement of her success. (I enjoyed this article very much, and would quite like to meet her one day so I can fangirl in person.)
It's about Morrigan, a solemn goth child born under a curse that will see her dead before her twelfth birthday. On the night of her predicted death, she's whisked away by
Nevermoor won a pile of awards, including the Aurealis Award for best children's speculative fiction, and as it happens, I am one of the judges for that category this year. So I'm eager to see what the sequel will do.
Reading next
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
In between the Aurealis reading that's about to land in my lap, I've set out to reread the Discworld series in publication order. But skipping the ones I don't like, because who has time for Rincewind? No one!
I've already knocked over Equal Rites and Mort, and been deeply impressed at the leap in quality between those two books, the third and fourth in the series. Wyrd Sisters was the first Pratchett I ever read, and I'm keen to see how it holds up.
