Book Review - The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

A cloud of darkness looms over Morrigan Crow, a seemingly normal child, as she walks down the streets of Jackalfax. People stare away into the horizon pretending she doesn’t exist. She is not only ignored and hated, but her lifetime has been cut short to a meagre 12 years. Morrigan is a cursed child and wherever she goes something seems to go wrong. However, on the eve of Even-Tide, when she is scheduled to die, she discovers a haunting new entity: the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow. Just as they creep into her room and try to steal her away in the dead of the night, she is able to escape with an eccentric stranger to a faraway, magical land— Nevermoor. She makes the acquaintance of strange new creatures and explores enthralling cityscapes in this new world. At the same time, Morrigan must tackle the taxing trials of the Wundrous Society, an elite group of talented individuals treated as heroes. The only way she can secure her status as a resident in Nevermoor is through these trials, otherwise she will be thrown to the wolves, literally...

However, an unfamiliar title is uttered with consternation in hushed whispers on the streets of Nevermoor. The thoughts of this man’s cruelty strikes terror in everyone’s hearts. The name of the Wundersmith attracts frowns and glares for fear that it would break the ancient forces of Nevermoor which are keeping his malicious intent out of the city. Is he just an urban myth or an emerging threat to the sanctity of the city?