Hachette

OCT 30, 2018 | 9780734418227 | RRP $16.99

Imprint: Lothian Books

Morrigan is back! The eagerly anticipated second instalment of Nevermoor is no disappointment and the many readers who are bursting at the seams waiting to get their hands on a copy will be delighted.

Now that Morrigan has passed her trials she becomes part of Unit 919 with her fellow successful candidates and is admitted to WunSoc as a scholar. However, her personal troubles and doubts are far from removed as her unit for the most part are wary, if not hostile, about her Wundersmith status as are the very Elders who are in charge of the youngsters’ education.

Barred from participating in the fullest range of classes by the suspicious and stern Scholar Mistress, Morrigan’s misery deepens especially as Jupiter is so often away and she has no one in whom to confide, aside from her friend Hawthorne.

Things go from bad to worse when Unit 919 begins to receive blackmailing notes and everyone blames Morrigan as the target, Mog is bullied by some very nasty scholars and discovers a rather disturbing secret power, and Wuns are disappearing without a trace. Mog’s frustration and unhappiness are unwittingly the conduit for the dreaded and exiled Ezra Squall to manipulate her gathering Wunder. Will she be able to resist the temptation to accept help from unwanted and dangerous sources?

When Morrigan is finally able to attend at least one other class besides the dreaded `History of Heinous Wundrous Acts’ with Professor Onstald she is thrilled to be part of the ‘Decoding Nevermoor’ class with the rest of her unit and certainly their tutor Henry Mildmay is a vast improvement on the dreary Onstald. Mog’s connection with Nevermoor as a living organism is both intense and personal despite not having grown up in the city and she excels in the class, thriving on Mildmay’s praise.

But Nevermoor is not always the brilliant and exciting city that Morrigan has grown to love. It also hides dark and dangerous places, people and secrets – like the Ghastly Market and the Museum of Stolen Moments and Morrigan has to learn not only to navigate around the city but to resist and defeat the perpetrators of such evil as well as learning to summon and control her Wunder.

Despite her troubles and doubts about her place in the Society and the resistance she faces from others, Morrigan rises to the challenges with the support of her friends and proves herself equal if not more to the honour of being part of the Wundrous Society and at last a valued member of her Unit.

If anything I loved this more than the first as there is so much within the plot that is fresh and original. The characters continue to develop and grow along with new important secondary cast members strongly introduced. Significant themes carry over from the first volume especially self-belief, integrity, loyalty and compassion.

I really don’t need to endorse this one because the series has already garnered so many followers but I do thoroughly recommend it and I have many readers, young and old, who are literally gasping until they get their copy.

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