Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #1) in Aussie Readers

Jan 31, 2018 Kate Forsyth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, children-s-fantasy

I was sent a proof copy of The Trials of Morrigan Crow by the publisher, Lothian Books, as part of a massive publicity drive promising a magical and captivating children’s fantasy novel. The back of my proof copy lists all the advance buzz this book has garnered – publishing rights sold in 28 territories, film rights pre-empted by 20th Century Fox, a ‘multiplatform marketing and publicity campaign like never before.’

I, of course, love children’s fantasy. It’s one of my favourite genres to both I was sent a proof copy of The Trials of Morrigan Crow by the publisher, Lothian Books, as part of a massive publicity drive promising a magical and captivating children’s fantasy novel. The back of my proof copy lists all the advance buzz this book has garnered – publishing rights sold in 28 territories, film rights pre-empted by 20th Century Fox, a ‘multiplatform marketing and publicity campaign like never before.’

I, of course, love children’s fantasy. It’s one of my favourite genres to both read and to write. And I was interested to see if the book lived up to all the hype.

The first line is: ‘The journalists arrived before the coffin did.’

The opening scene then shows a black-clad man, Chancellor Corvus Crow, reading a statement to a mob of journalists in which he announces the death of his daughter Morrigan and assures them all that – now she is dead – there is ‘nothing to fear.’

Then Chapter One begins, three days earlier, with Morrigan discovering the kitchen cat was dead and that, as usual, she was being blamed. Morrigan is a cursed child, thought to bring trouble and misfortune everywhere she goes. She was born on Eventide, and so is pre-destined to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday – which is only three days away.

Luckily Morrigan is rescued on the eve of her death by an enigmatic man named Jupiter North with fiery red hair and a taste for elegant but brightly coloured suits. He whisks her away to Nevermoor, a world in another dimension, and allows her family to think she is really dead. Here she must take part in a series of trials in order to win a place in the Wundrous Society. If she fails, she will be sent back to her own world where nothing but death awaits her.

The comparison to Harry Potter is inevitable, and indeed Jessica Townsend has a great deal of the humour, whimsicality and excitement of the first few books by J.K. Rowling.

Anyone who has read as much children’s fantasy as I have will recognise many of the tropes Jessica Townsend employs – the unwanted child, the mysterious curse, the hidden world, the secret enemy, the dangerous competition …

Jupiter North reminded me of Willy Wonka, the magical umbrella flight parroted Mary Poppins (please forgive me the bad pun), while the battle between Saint Nick and the Yule Queen had strong echoes of the rather startling appearance of Father Christmas in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Does it matter? Not a bit. The Trials of Morrigan Crow is brimming over with imagination and fun. Morrigan is a wonderful heroine – dark, moody, and wry – and the unfairness of her situation makes her very easy to empathise with. The story gallops along, and the setting is wonderfully vivid. I can understand why the movie rights have been sold. The scenes are all brilliantly cinematic and the characters – while undeniably one-dimensional – are also fresh and vital. A wonderfully assured debut from a young Australian author, The Trials of Morrigan Crow sparkles with zest, wit and inventiveness.
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Jan 05, 2018 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: series, fantasy-sci-fi, middle-grade

This was so much fun! I’d been hearing so much praise of it from every direction and I bought a copy way back in October not long after it was released. I decided to add it to my summer reading pile because it seemed like just the sort of book for school holidays. Now that I’ve finished it, I’ll be passing it on to my oldest son, who is 9.

There are plenty of comparisons to Harry Potter that I’ve heard about this one. I’m not really the biggest Harry Potter expert (only read the first book) howev This was so much fun! I’d been hearing so much praise of it from every direction and I bought a copy way back in October not long after it was released. I decided to add it to my summer reading pile because it seemed like just the sort of book for school holidays. Now that I’ve finished it, I’ll be passing it on to my oldest son, who is 9.

There are plenty of comparisons to Harry Potter that I’ve heard about this one. I’m not really the biggest Harry Potter expert (only read the first book) however I see some core similarities. Both Harry and Morrigan are maligned children – in Harry’s case treated hopelessly unfairly by his unwilling guardians and in Morrigan’s she’s claimed to be ‘cursed’ and is blamed for everything that goes wrong in her town, no matter what it is. Her father is counting down the days until Morrigan is due to die on Eventide and how it will benefit him, no longer being the father of the cursed child, especially as he is the town chancellor and no longer has to calculate how the fear of a cursed child will impact on his approval rating.

Instead of dying on Eventide, Morrigan finds herself whisked away by Mr Jupiter North to a place called Nevermoor, saving her from that fate and introducing her to the possibility of another. He wants to be Morrigan’s patron for an organisation called The Wundrous Society containing Nevermoor’s brightest and talented minds. Morrigan has never felt particularly gifted at anything and it takes her some convincing that this is something she should be doing. There are to be a series of trials in order to be accepted – only a handful applicants out of hundreds will be accepted and Morrigan spends most of the time in eternal panic because all applicants have to demonstrate a specific gift or talent in the final trial and as far as she’s aware, she has no gift at all. And Jupiter is annoying vague about it every time she asks him, merely patting her and saying it will all be fine and to trust him.

This is just so highly entertaining. I started it at the local pool one morning while my boys were swimming and was astonished to find I’d read 150p while we were there. I couldn’t put it down. Morrigan is a likable child, you can’t help but feel sorry for her given the life she has had so far. A disinterested at best, hostile at worst father and an entire community who seek to lay the blame for every little mishap at her door whether it be a flood, failing a test or falling ill. Although she believes herself to be cursed (hard for not to, I would imagine it’s probably all she’s ever heard) and had accepted the inevitability of a premature death, Morrigan still has such an endearing personality, a clever mind that is prone to bouts of self-doubt.

Nevermoor is such a quirky setting – Jupiter’s hotel is a living, breathing character all on its own, always changing and evolving. I especially loved the idea of Morrigan’s bedroom and how it evolves throughout the story. And the Wundrous Society gives Morrigan the chance to belong to something for the first time in her life. As Jupiter says, it will give her a family – her fellow candidates who are successful with her will become like brothers and sisters, a bond of which cannot be experienced another way. I think those relationships, closeness with people, a true sense of belonging and family is something that Morrigan desperately wants because she’s never been able to experience it. She’s been cheated out of that experience by a family who believed in a curse accusation and now she has the chance to start her life fresh as someone with worth and value. It’s a strong draw for anyone, that they are special and wanted. Jupiter is the sort of character who pops in and out of the story but he has this unwavering faith in Morrigan even when he won’t tell her any sort of information. For Morrigan that was understandably frustrating but I found it sort of reassuring – much is made of the fact that Jupiter has never been a patron of any candidate before, despite members being obliged to perform this role. So you know that there’s something he knows about Morrigan that everyone else does not.

I figured out what it was before he revealed it, as the author cleverly inserts the clues for the reader at various points in the story and you simply have to put them all together. It’s a fantastic reveal and sets up this story for future volumes. Count me in as being part of the ride! ...more

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Feb 05, 2018 Dee-Ann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-authors, five-star, paranormal, warm-fuzzy, fantasy, humour, movie-material, children-s-book, ya-literature, weird

What an adventure. Great story for young and old. I enjoyed the characters Morrigan and Jupiter - what is not to love about a character wearing bright green trousers and red hair. So many extraordinary sights, sounds and characters to meet.

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