Stevenson, Noelle

About the Author:

Noelle Stevenson lives in Los Angeles, USA.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

4 out of 5

(1 book)

Nimona

(Art by Noelle Stevenson)

The supervillain Lord Ballister Blackheart finds himself reluctantly taking on a new sidekick in the form of the incorrigible shapeshifter Nimona.  They then set about trying to bring down the Institution whilst matching wits with Blackheart's arch nemesis Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin.

To begin with this is a fairly shallow affair, with humorous little sub-adventures in which Blackheart plots some (not actually that evil) scheme and Nimona's impulsiveness and penchant for chaos turns everything on its head before they head home for pizza and a movie.  It's fine but not terribly engaging, revealing this book's origins as a series of webcomics.

However, partway through the book you begin to realise that you've become really invested in the unlikely but honest friendship of Blackheart and Nimona, not to mention the lovers-to-enemies-and-maybe-back-to-lovers dynamic between Blackheart and Goldenloin.  The story then begins to take a very dark turn and the emotional stakes jump way up the scale.  By the end of the book you feel like you've really been through the emotional ringer and that's a pretty impressive achievement for a book which could've been dismissed as just a compilation of funny webstrips.

4 out of 5

Read more...

Fantasy (here)