A review by annalisaely
Nocturna by Maya Motayne

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the magic system (three different types of magic, based on book learning, elemental affinity, and individual magic that manifests when you have need of it in childhood) and Finn's character. Alfie was only interesting for his relationships with other people, being Luka and Finn. I wasn't very interested in the plot, but that's a personal preference thing. I didn't like that the YA/MG Parent Problem (parents need to be either absent/dead or terrible people in order for young characters to get into life-threatening situations) by having the parents be perfectly lovely people and Alfie just not wanting to tell them the horrible trouble he has put the entire world into just because it would be embarrassing. It made it a lot harder to connect to his character. But, the world building and the actual conclusion of the story as well as dealing with past trauma of Finn's life really well up this book to a 4 star.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief

the suicide is not related to mental illness but a sacrifice to save the world, is very near the end and easy to skip, a page or so when Xiomara reveals she has a wound in her stomach after the final confrontation.