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agigliotti758 's review for:
Nocturna
by Maya Motayne
This is an okay book, but I never fully felt the urgency or investment that a story like this usually evokes in me.
While I liked most of the characters, especially Finn, something felt disconnected to me. While alfie’s motivation should have really been an emotional draw, it fell a little flat. Finn was the most interesting character with her troubled backstory and her growth from a lone thief to a part of a team trying to save the country.
I felt the world building was a little disjointed, while the Latinx elements, especially with the magic usage, was unique, the city and country were underdeveloped. I also didn’t really see the Latinx influence in the world aside from its use in language, tossing in mentions of drinking tequila and things being sangria colored (apparently it’s a thing? It’s also a little weird) the Latinx culture felt under used.
The pacing of the book was nice, there never really felt like a lull in the action and there was very little “info dumping,” although with how I felt about the world building maybe some info dumping would have helped. I was also impressed with the writing style, it felt very natural and flowed.
That all said, I’m not sure that this book leaves anything open ended enough for a sequel, let alone a trilogy/series. With the exception of “romance” everything else was resolved in a satisfying way.
While I liked most of the characters, especially Finn, something felt disconnected to me. While alfie’s motivation should have really been an emotional draw, it fell a little flat. Finn was the most interesting character with her troubled backstory and her growth from a lone thief to a part of a team trying to save the country.
I felt the world building was a little disjointed, while the Latinx elements, especially with the magic usage, was unique, the city and country were underdeveloped. I also didn’t really see the Latinx influence in the world aside from its use in language, tossing in mentions of drinking tequila and things being sangria colored (apparently it’s a thing? It’s also a little weird) the Latinx culture felt under used.
The pacing of the book was nice, there never really felt like a lull in the action and there was very little “info dumping,” although with how I felt about the world building maybe some info dumping would have helped. I was also impressed with the writing style, it felt very natural and flowed.
That all said, I’m not sure that this book leaves anything open ended enough for a sequel, let alone a trilogy/series. With the exception of “romance” everything else was resolved in a satisfying way.