Nevermoor is wonderful. It will thrill, captivate and delight any young reader and did all of that and more to this older one. This will be why it won the Waterstones Children’s Book Award in 2018 for younger fiction and gets a glowing review from me now.
Middle years fantasy books are ten-a-penny and many employ tropes, tricks, narratives, and characters that the reader quickly recognises as thin copies of famous antecedents. It’s hard for any new book to muscle its way onto the shelf alongside His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings without looking like a poor cousin. Not Nevermoor. This book and I’d hazard a guess this series, is no scrappy distant relative to the greats. It makes its own space and will find its way into many hearts. It’s already in mine.
If you are looking for a wonderful fantasy for children that has a cast of diverse characters, then look no further. Jessica Townsend is inventive, masterfully seeds the plot and builds the tension to create a story that feels familiar, like a friend, and yet is utterly new and keeps you guessing. Nevermoor is a pleasure to read, Townsend’s use of language is sparing but on point, she balances pacy storytelling with character and world-building, spices it up with well-timed injections of humour to counter that darkness (I loved the barrel of frogs) and this fantastic story is all told in handsome prose.
If you are looking for something to restart your reading mojo, then I think this book might be it. If you want something to magically whisk you away from a life in lockdown, well this worked for me. You certainly close the cover with the immediate intention of reading the second book… which I’m off to do right now.
UPDATE: I have now enjoyed books two and three, Wundersmith and Hollowpox. I am delighted to discover that the author hopes to write nine books in this series and that her publisher has bought at least the first six, so that’s three more books to come! Hooray!