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A review by celia_thebookishhufflepuff
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
3.0
I plowed through this one to finish for class, listening to the audio on 2x speed and then finishing the print copy even though I started with the ebook (this might be the first book where I've read all of it for the first time using all three formats).
I’m not really sure how to feel about this as a whole. I feel like my 8-10 year old self would have been crazy about this book, but now it seems like it’s a bit of a Harry Potter knockoff with slightly more complex (initially, HP gets complex characters after the first few books but not necessarily at the same age as Morrigan) characters and a much more complex plot.
This plot complexity is what really throws me off. There’s so much going on in this story. I love a good twisty plot but there’s almost too much to follow here, and a lot of it isn’t explained until the end, and even then it’s hard to follow. There’s a lot of foreshadowing that seems pretty obvious as an adult reading this. However, it would be difficult for most kids in the target age demographic to follow without a lot of scaffolding.
The characters were interesting but very reminiscent of Harry Potter characters. Morrigan is equal to a female Harry, and Jupiter could easily be seen as a Hagrid-Dumbledore hybrid (more on the Hagrid side and without all the flaws of Dumbledore). It still features the "girl and two male sidekicks" trope which I'm kind of tired of in middle grade fantasy, but there are other characters and elements mixed in that make this more interesting. Also, one of these relationships is enemies to friends and I'm kind of hoping that in the later books it turns into a romance.
I'm not going to actively seek out an opportunity to read the sequels, but if they fit a challenge or anything I might consider. I do not think they would be appropriate in my future classroom unless I end up teaching fourth or fifth grade, but they are good to keep in mind.
I’m not really sure how to feel about this as a whole. I feel like my 8-10 year old self would have been crazy about this book, but now it seems like it’s a bit of a Harry Potter knockoff with slightly more complex (initially, HP gets complex characters after the first few books but not necessarily at the same age as Morrigan) characters and a much more complex plot.
This plot complexity is what really throws me off. There’s so much going on in this story. I love a good twisty plot but there’s almost too much to follow here, and a lot of it isn’t explained until the end, and even then it’s hard to follow. There’s a lot of foreshadowing that seems pretty obvious as an adult reading this. However, it would be difficult for most kids in the target age demographic to follow without a lot of scaffolding.
The characters were interesting but very reminiscent of Harry Potter characters. Morrigan is equal to a female Harry, and Jupiter could easily be seen as a Hagrid-Dumbledore hybrid (more on the Hagrid side and without all the flaws of Dumbledore). It still features the "girl and two male sidekicks" trope which I'm kind of tired of in middle grade fantasy, but there are other characters and elements mixed in that make this more interesting. Also, one of these relationships is enemies to friends and I'm kind of hoping that in the later books it turns into a romance.
I'm not going to actively seek out an opportunity to read the sequels, but if they fit a challenge or anything I might consider. I do not think they would be appropriate in my future classroom unless I end up teaching fourth or fifth grade, but they are good to keep in mind.