Nocturna: Das Spiel des Fuchses

A Forgery of Magic #1

by Maya Motayne

Wenn Tag und Nacht aufeinandertreffen, beginnt das Spiel des Fuchses – und es ist tödlich.

Es ist Jahre her, dass Finn zuletzt ihr eigenes Gesicht erblickt hat. Denn die Gesichtsdiebin verfügt über Magie, die es ihr erlaubt, ihre Erscheinung beliebig zu verändern. Doch nicht nur sie weiß, wie nützlich dieses Talent Ein finsterer Unterweltboss hat Finn in seiner Gewalt. Sollte die Gesichtsdiebin daran scheitern, einen Auftrag für ihn auszuführen, wird sie ihrer Kräfte für immer beraubt werden. Der gutmütige Prinz Alfehr, Thronfolger wider Willen, wendet ebenfalls zwielichtige Magie Er will seinen verschwundenen älteren Bruder, den Kronprinzen, finden, obwohl alle glauben, er sei tot. Als sich Finn und Alfehr gegenüberstehen, ist es, als würden Kräfte so unterschiedlich wie Tag und Nacht aufeinanderprallen. Und diese Wucht setzt eine ungeahnt böse Magie frei...

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Romance, Audiobook

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2019

About the author

Maya Motayne decided to be a writer when she was four years old and hasn’t stopped writing since. She lives in New York City where she pursues her passions of petting as many dogs as possible and buying purses based on whether or not they can fit a big book in them. Nocturna is her first novel.

Reviews

[Teodora · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 ⭐

Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺

Pretending I am on a gorgeous Caribbean beach, drinking coconut water and listening to some distant bachata music while reading this book and not actually reading it in my room far away from any beach within reach.

Well, now I’m glad I didn’t have it with me on any beach (or, truth be said, I didn’t go to any beach whatsoever).
The main reason for my affirmation: I DNF-ed this.

Yep, that’s right. Maybe it’s a surprise, but not a shock. The ones who have already read that know what I mean.

Nocturna is my first DNF of the year. I am truly sorry to say that.

At first, I thought it had so much potential, I really wanted it to be good. I was making myself think that it will be good and I am going to like it. Unfortunately, I’ve encountered stuff that couldn’t let me enjoy it.

To imagine how exactly I felt, picture me as a cute little girl with long braids and an airy skirt jumping up and down with a basket in my hand, ready to pick some flowers and berries. I am even whistling. After a while, I stop: I think I see the flowers in the meadow! Oh, happiness! But, when I am so close to them, suddenly from nowhere a huge fence erects, standing between me and the beautiful flowers I want to pick up. I want to climb up the fence, but I see it is electrified. And also a storm is coming up so I might very well go home. It is not worth it.

This is exactly how I felt after reading not even half of it. Disappointed.



I thought the action was very slow.

I felt like that amazing page-turner effect wasn’t there. It felt a bit "in the tree" as we like to say in Romanian. Somehow it felt unfinished.

And also, I found the chapters agonisingly long.

The world construction wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t good either.

Maybe at this part, I felt the feeling of the whole plot trying. Trying to go somewhere, to do something. Fighting to go better. But it felt too much as a struggle and it made the reading a bit uncomfortable (for me! I don’t generalise!).

Even the characters seemed to struggle too much to find their own personalities. And this is not quite okay, even though I know this is a YA Fantasy book and the characters tend to have changes of personalities every 10 pages. It is okay to change the personality throughout the book but at least set the right basis for it.

It breaks my heart to say this so, but it is true.



The best thing about this though?

It actually helped me gain a bit of vocabulary in Spanish so for that I will totally give out an extra star.

It was a really well-thought thing to blend the Spanish words in (or at least this is coming from the trashy language learner inside of me). It is a very good way to make people aware of one’s culture and also educate the population a bit. Ignorance kills, children!

My only problem now is: if Spanish speakers wanted to read this book in Spanish without knowing the words for magic are said, originally, in Spanish, would anyone notice the aspect of Spanish-words-used-in-the-book as I did (me, a non-native Spanish speaker)?

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

April Fairyloot Box. Click on the link under picture to see all of the goodies!



THE GOODIES

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!! I was hoping to love this book!! It’s so pretty inside and out, the pages had their own special magic BUT I didn’t like it much!! And I hated that one of the main characters name was shortened to the nickname of Alfie! Felt like I was reading the movie A Christmas Story but with Alfie instead of Ralphie. Don’t ask, I’m weird.

I’m sure this book will be for lots of people just not for me 😕

Happy Reading!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

ugh. this is the third book in a row where i am just feeling so uninvested. is... is this what a reading slump feels like? im not quite sure how i feel about that, or this book, tbh.

from an objective standpoint, theres a bit going for this story. the latinx culture is fun and exciting and something i havent read a lot of (even if the plot is one i have - *cough* a darker shade of magic *cough*). the writing is impressive for a debut and the pacing is good with decent world building.

from a subjective view, gosh, i just couldnt fully immerse myself into the story or deeply care about the characters and their actions/motives. again, im pretty sure this a problem with me, not the story itself.

also, im not quite sure how i feel about this being a series. i mean, the story is pretty well resolved. i dont see how it can be drawn out unless the following two books deal with different stories set in the same world, because theres nothing really to be continued from this particular book.

anyway, even if this isnt quite everything i wanted, i know this is a story that a lot of people will enjoy and have good reason to.

↠ 3.5 stars

[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ A review to check out: Johely's!

"Magic could not speak, yet interacting with it felt like a conversation, a dance, a story shared with a friend with the ending left up to interpretation."

This was our September 2020 pick for the Dragons & Tea Book Club, and I loved it so much. This is a story about identity, classism, privilege, freedom, honoring your culture and the past regardless of who tries to erase it, and respecting boundaries unapologetically.

This is a story about a boy named Elfie, who is the crown prince and can wield water magic in this world. He has been away for three months, grieving a brother who everyone thinks is dead. But now that he is back in his city, he meets Fin who can change appearances and maybe help him become someone else, too. It turns into a spy mission, involving stolen books, black magic, and erasing a language that still belongs to them. And Finn and Alfie realize they are both harboring an immense grief and trying to heal from abuse and their past.

This is such a beautiful book that I feel like is so underrated, which is an actual crime because the layers of this story render me speechless alone. Everything is also a love letter to Latine / South American culture and a mirror to the erasure still from colonization today. My heart was extra full at the way Spanish is also woven into this story constantly. I truly recommend this fantasy to everyone, and I am so honored that we picked it for a book club pick! Also, that ending? I need book two immediately!

Trigger & Content Warnings: anxiety, loss of a loved one, grief deception, talk of slavery, blood depiction, drinking, vomiting, gore, murder, torture, slavery, controlling, and abuse.

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This was our September 2020 pick for the Dragons and Tea Book Club! 🐉☕

[Angelica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had hoped to love this book. And yet, somewhere deep in my little heart I knew, knew almost for certain, that I wouldn’t. That it was almost too good to be true.

Now I’ve read it and lo and behold, I did not, in fact, love this book.

Some of you may or may not know this about me, but I am Dominican. I was born and partially raised in The Dominican Republic, a small, Spanish speaking island in the Carribean, where the sun always shines and the beaches are always blue. So, to hear that an author was going to write a fantasy novel based on her Dominican heritage I was nothing if not completely on board.

So, you can only imagine how disappointed I was when this book was only superficially Latinx and could have otherwise been set in any generic European-esque kingdom.

The book talked about some Hispanic foods: sweet plantains, which I love, the adobo seasoned chicken, and some other things. It used Spanish words for magic, which I gotta say, doesn’t sound as magical when you actually speak the language. Alfie would say magic words like, “Alargar” and “Parar” and magic would happen, except that these are the Spanish verbs ‘to elongate’ and ‘to stop’ and those don’t sound all that magical when you think about it. But it can’t be helped, I suppose. It’s not the book’s fault that I’m not impressed by Spanish words. Overall culturally, there wasn’t much to distinguish it from every other fantasy out there.

The bible says that there is “no new thing under the sun”. So, I don’t so much look for originality in plot lines but rather for the execution of said plots because let’s be real, most books fall under the same plotlines and the same tropes, and character outlines, and still, we read them.

That said, there has been an overwhelming amount of people comparing this book to A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, to the point that they claim that Nocturna is nothing more than a blatant rip-off.

I read ADSOM a few years ago and didn’t love it. It was an ok book for me and I really didn’t like Laila Bard. I had barely remembered that book while reading this one if I’m honest. It wasn’t until I started reading some people’s reviews that I began to think back on the other story and point out some similarities. And trust me, there are many similarities in plot, characterization, magic, and even the ending.

But, as I mentioned, there is no new thing under the sun. Had this book executed that plot in a more enjoyable way, I wouldn’t have minded as much. But alas, it did not.

The writing in this book is pretty decent. It’s not amazing, but it was easy to read. There were some moments that felt a little info-dumpish but that’s the way it is with fantasy sometimes. The characters are alright. I found that their motivations shifted rather quickly though. They also made a lot of questionable choices, but what YA character doesn’t.

There is a shift in the plot that I didn’t expect. It started out as being about one thing, mostly Alfie finding his brother, but then that takes a back seat and the plot became about something else. This is also a thing that happens a lot in books and doesn’t really bother me so long as the change in the plot is engaging and it all connects in the end. I’m not sure how well this book pulled that off.

Overall, I liked that this was a Latinx fantasy, or that it tried to be. Latin American culture is extremely diverse. The Carribean Islands have a culture unlike Central America, which is different in culture from South America and all the individual countries are so rich with history and culture and traditions and it’s beautiful. We’ve seen a lot of Asian fantasy lately, and African fantasy is on the rise and I’m so happy about it. Now I want to see some Latin American fantasy take the stage. I want a book that fully throws you into the culture it’s depicting, not just brushes the surface as I feel this book did.

So yeah, there you have it. I don’t think this book lived up to what it could have been. But maybe I’m just a hater? Oh, well.

Also, y’all gotta check out this book trailer. No offense, but it’s actually kind of ridiculous how cringy it is. It’s like a bad video game upload, but with overly dramatic yet anticlimactic narration.
To see the trailer click HERE



**I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

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[Jessica McKenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Any unabashedly good reviews of this book must be from people who either have never read V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic Trilogy, or who do not care when a book's entire plot is lifted from another source.

Several sources, in fact. Because beyond the egregious ripping-off of Schwab's trilogy, even the tiny, different details are often easily traceable back to other sources, from which they have just as blatantly been stolen and cobbled.

I've been annoyed at books before for stealing basic plot from popular series. Wicked Saints, for one, reminded me too much of Bardugo's Grisha series, as did Red Queen. There were dozens of teen vampire books that flooded bookshelves after Twilight, and after the Harry Potter series there were yet more dozens of magic school books.

But those books, while sometimes coming too obviously close to the line, for the most part were "inspired" by the worlds they copped from. The plot as a whole tended to be new, or the characters were different, or the magic system had been very changed, or the whole thematic point of the book had been shifted.

Nocturna not only steps right up to that line, it barrels across it in ways that are just unforgivable.

I have never read a book that stole so much from its source material. It's not just that the main characters, Alfie, Finn, and Luka, are essentially copy-paste Kell, Lila, and Rhy. It's not just that the magic system is eerily similar, except for a few teensy tweaks. It's not just that the dark magic villain comes to power in exactly the same way, moves through human hosts in exactly the same way, and is defeated in exactly the same way. And it's not just that the thematic points of the book are overwhelmingly the same. It is all of these and much more.

And it's absolutely deliberate. I spent over half the book dreaming of having a PDF version where I could search-and-find and count all of the many, many times this novel uses the phrase "shades." "Shades of magic." "Different shades." "Darker shades." Over and over and over, as if Motayne wanted you to know that she plagiarized from another author's series. But yet couldn't, apparently, be bothered to even mention that series in her acknowledgements (I checked, not that I expected her really to admit it).

As for the rest of it? The stuff that's not copped from Shades of Magic?

Well, you have a prison breakout scene that could be straight out of a Bardugo book.

You also have a relationship between two main characters that is almost exactly Jessica Jones and Kilgrave.

Other than that, there's not much different to be honest. And it got to the point where those things that were, I did not trust to be unique from Motayne's mind either. If I didn't recognize it immediately from another person's work, I started assuming it must just be because I hadn't read the work it was stolen from yet. It's that bad.

And the worst, truly the worst, part of all of this is...Despite lifting things from so many sources, not perfect ones of course but ones that nevertheless got the literary job done...

This book was legitimately terrible.

The character motivations constantly shifted for no reason: "I want to find my brother who maybe isn't dead, but then again I guess he's dead and I never have to think about him again womp;" "I want my daughter to be dead for what she did to me but then I guess I want her to be alive and love me again but then I guess I want her dead but maybe also alive." It was nearly impossible to keep track of anyone's arc in this thing because no one had a clear one, and the backgrounds of every character became so jumbled and lost that you started just expecting to have nothing be satisfying at the end by about a third of the way through.

The plot was also an incoherent mess. The main characters all had what I can only describe as a Harry Potter complex - the need to do everything by themselves, because they were the only ones who could stop the evil!...but, in fact, literally none of them had even the basic qualifications for fighting off the "evil," and there were I assume hundreds of actual military members and powerful magic-users who would have been much better suited to helping. The whole thing took place over what actually seemed to be 2-3 days, and felt that quick, too, as the characters mostly just jumped from plot-contrived scene to plot-contrived scene. Nothing felt earned, nothing felt connected, and by the end I was literally rolling my eyes as I read it because I could not believe that the reader could be expected to actually believe anything that was happening or care.

At the beginning of this book, I was fine with it. It was refreshing to see a YA fantasy world from a Latinx author, based on her Dominican heritage. It was quite cool to have the magic system work with Spanish words, instead of the typical Latin. It was clearly similar to Shades of Magic, but wasn't a blatant ripoff.

But by the middle, everything I had liked was gone. The world-building becomes shoddy at best, with mentions of sangria and sugarcane really the only things that separate it from any other typical fantasy world. By the end of the book, the references to these actually seemed out of place and jarring, that's how directly like Shades of Magic it had become. The Spanish continues throughout, which is fine, but without a rich culture to back it up, it starts to feel more like a gimmick than anything else.

The back of my ARC has a picture of Motayne, smiling. When I turned to look at it, that's when I really knew how much this book angered me. Because all I could think was, You haven't earned the right to smile. This isn't your book. It's other people's books. And I hope you don't earn a cent more for it.

Kirkus Reviews has already commented that getting a second book out of this world will be difficult, because of the lack of culture and world-building.

But I think I can tell you exactly how Motayne is going to pull out a second book. And a third.

There's going to be a magic tournament. And then the dark magic is going to come back from the void.

Maybe after, they'll all go to Red London for drinks.

[Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora) · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Who you are when you’re angry is still you. It doesn’t have to be all of you, but it’s a piece of you all the same. If you deny that, you might as well deny your whole maldito self and be done with it”.

(3.75)

A decir verdad, no tenía idea de este libro hasta que empecé a leerlo. Y sí, soy culpable de haberlo comprado por culpa de la portada porque es preciosa. Sin embargo, en Nocturna me encontré con una historia bastante sorprendente, fresca, divertida y ligera de seguir. Así que, a pesar de que este libro es fantasía, se los recomiendo si quieren leer un libro como para principiantes en este género.

En Nocturna tenemos a dos personajes principales. Por una parte, Alfie, el heredero al trono de Castellan que, sin embargo, ha estado viajando por el mundo buscando respuestas a la misteriosa muerte de su hermano, hecho que él se niega a aceptar. Y, por otra, tenemos a Finn, una chica que siempre ha tenido la habilidad de cambiar sus rasgos gracias a su destreza mágica y, por eso, es una de las ladronas más reconocidas de todo el reino. A pesar de sus dificultades, las vidas de los dos transcurren con una relativa calma hasta que sus caminos se cruzan, Finn pierde sus habilidades y Alfie libera accidentalmente a una fuerza oscura que podría significar el fin de Castellan y todo el mundo. A partir de ese momento, Finn y Alfie van a tener que trabajar juntos para atrapar a este ser oscuro, pero solo lo lograrán si son capaces de enfrentar los traumas y fantasmas de sus pasados.

Como les dije antes, no conocía este libro y no esperaba nada de él, pero la historia de Finn y Alfie me atrapó instantáneamente. Adoré la dinámica de príncipe y ladrona y, más que eso, la capacidad que tenían para dejar de lado sus diferencias y encontrar un punto en común para intentar salvar sus vidas y las de los demás. ¡Ah! Además, el sistema de magia que plantea Nocturna me pareció súper interesante, pues en realidad cada persona tenía habilidades únicas, sombras que representaban su poder y una magia de un color distinto.

Quizás unas de mis cosas favoritas del libro fue el hecho de que esa oscuridad que liberaron no solo amenazó el presente de Finn, Alfie y Castellan, sino que los obligó a recordar momentos difíciles del pasado y traumas de diferentes clases y a enfrentarlos, sino superarlos, para poder avanzar en esta lucha contra el mal. Creo que fue un gran recurso que nos permitió conocer esos momentos íntimos de los personajes y que los volvió mucho más humanos y tridimensionales. Muchas veces, en los libros de fantasía, los personajes actúan como si lo supieran todo y pudieran enfrentarse a cualquier cosa, pero Finn y Alfie tuvieron que dejar al aire sus debilidades y sus miedos y, a pesar de eso, seguir adelante. Eso me gustó muchísimo.

Es raro que yo diga esto, pero, en este caso, sí me gustó que el romance fuera súper slowburn. Y es que, en realidad, no pasa absolutamente nada romántico, pero los personajes sí que van bajando sus barreras poco a poco. Y a Nocturna esta dinámica le pega un montón, y por eso no me quejo, porque precisamente Alfie y Finn tienen muchos traumas que superar y muchas heridas que sanar antes de pensar en amor romántico. Pero de todas maneras yo los amé y me fascinó el progreso que hicieron. Me muero por leer la segunda parte de esta trilogía porque, por lo que leí en la sinopsis, nos vamos a encontrar con un enemies to friends to enemies to lovers, así que… wow.

[Emily May]

ARC provided in exchange for honest review 🔮

[helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

i always wanted to read a latino-inspired ya fantasy. there are lots of fantasies inspired in europe or the us. even arabic-inspired. but i searched and searched for something latino, something like nocturna, and i never found it.
thankfully, maya motayne exists. and her book is AMAZING!

the world-building is incredible. i’m gonna be honest with you: when i started reading it, i couldn’t stop thinking that nocturna is actually a darker shade of magic, but in south america. but, as the story progressed, the more the world was well-built and it completely showed for what it came for.

the characters were well-written and flawed. i loved all of them. period. except the villain, of course, i wanted him to choke.

the writing was lyrical, metaphorical and deep. i am a huge fan of metaphorical writing and, not only she gave me what i always wanted, maya delivered it in That Writing!!!! ICONIC.

the plot was perfectly sewed. everything happened for a reason. and all this events were tied in the end, even stuff that happened pre-book. just amazing.

the main characters had such chemistry. the romance—or the start of it—was soooooo good. i want them to marry and have babies.

the light-dark duality was so interestingly built. there is a plot in this book about light and dark, and it works around showing was that we are actually built with both inside of us. i just love it.

That Latino™ Stuff. WOW. that’s what i’m talking about. castallan is a country that is clearly a mixture of south american countries. including brazil. i said in an update that it’s very common for foreign stuff to talk about latino countries and completely ignore brazil in that matter. we are mostly not considered latinos because we don’t speak spanish. but maya included us and i couldn’t be more thankful.
the characters speak mostly spanish, but castallan had sugarcane fields. the magical words were in spanish, but there were dueños (spanish) and bruxos (portuguese). i think you get my point.

reading this book was a delight. an embrace. i highly recommend!

[Cinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to San Cristobal, a Latinx kingdom laced with magic and grappling with homegrown treachery and a colonial past. When the true heir to the throne is assassinated, reluctant Prince Alfehr joins forces with a chameleon of a street thief to save the kingdom from an ancient evil. In the process, they may find a way to save each other.

Fantasy fans will embrace the creative worldbuilding and welcome these flawed and multi-layered characters into their hearts.

[Romie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been emotionally destroyed by the softest boy and the baddest girl to ever grace this earth. and I'm not fine. where is my emotional support Luka when I need one?

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this was a realy boring book😣 , the beginning is great , you meet fin and she is also great but ugh I just couldn't stand alfie and the plot of the book is a great idea but it didn't worked in this book it was to long and so boring towards the end I just skipped some parts , had realy high hopes but this book didn't deliverd that , 2 ⭐⭐

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A face-shifting thief, who steals more than just food and coin to survive but also the faces of those she meets, and a prince, with a magical doorknob to lead him directly to wherever he wants in the world, combine in an unprecedented interweaving of fates.

The former, Finn Voy, seeks to escape the dark shadow dominating her past but finds herself with a new foe to duel with, when she aligns her plight with the Prince's. Prince Alfehr is not concerned with ruling the kingdom but only in seeking the brother who was stolen from him and now considered dead. He disbelieves these rumours and searches for answers in dark and forgotten magic. But instead of finding a brother returned he unwittingly unleashes an ancient magic, which seeks to take the kingdom and his people for its own.

This magic system is the most inventive and unique I have experienced for such a long time. The initial portion was a little dense, because of this, but Motayne ensured her readers were provided a proper basis in which to understand this complex system, before the action truly started.

I also loved both central characters. They were disparate in personality but both were aligned in the instant adoration I felt for them. Finn is an unapologetic badass whilst Alfie is a precious little cinnamon roll, and seeing these polar opposites interact provided some hilarious incidents that nicely offset the surrounding tension. Their dialogue was sarcastic as they continually sought to test their wits against each other and both proved stubborn and spiteful, at first. These feelings slowly thawed, as the novel progressed, and this was one of the best instances of enemies to lovers I have seen documented.

The only slight mar in this otherwise stellar read was the slightly stodgy pace, I have already mentioned. However, the unique magic system, intriguing world, and authentic characters all made this undoubtedly one fantasy book to keep on your radar, for 2019, and ensured Maya Motayne a future auto-buy author for me, from now on.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Maya Motayne, and the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, for this opportunity.

[Laura ☾ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nocturna revolves around Prince Alfehr (Alfie), who has become crown prince after his brothers disappearance, and Finn, a shapeshifting thief. When an ancient evil threatens to destroy the Kingdom, they must band together to fight it.

I feel like Nocturna had promise in its premise, but the execution left much to be desired. The writing was overly descriptive without saying much, the world-building took a backseat, and the characters felt very superficial. While I liked the Latin American inspired elements, and the hints at the exploration of the effects of colonialism, these aspects could’ve been more developed.

I have seen other people comparing this to A Darker Shade of Magic, and while I can see some parallels, Schwab's writing is far superior.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3rd time read & review.

Since this is the third time around, I'm not sure if I have anything new to say about Nocturna. I will admit that I still enjoyed the audiobook but that's because the narrators did amazing. Seriously, they did. It's also interesting to admit that my rating changed once again. I don't really remember what it was the first time around, but the second time it went to 3 stars. This time it's up to 4 and everything feels right once again.

The characters are still entertaining and giving me GOT and HP vibes. I'm still excited to dive into the sequel because it hasn't happened yet. Luckily, for me, I have it within reach and can't wait to see what happens next. I need more from everyone, and I need more vibes as well.

In the end, I hope it doesn't break my heart because I'm not prepared for that outcome.
__________________________
Definitely loved diving into this re-read because I'm super excited for the sequel. After diving in my physical book, I was really excited to do the audio version today. I'm not going to lie, the narrators did an amazing job. There's just something about Alfie and Finn that always sucks me in. I mean Finn is basically Arya in disguise. The girl who has no name and no face. I loved it.

So when they started working together, well.. I was fangirling a bit here and there. The last time I read this was in 2019, so I was really happy that I remembered a lot of things this time around. Doesn't mean that I wasn't surprised at others or have answers to all my questions.. because that will never happen.

Never.

All I want is a damn reunion in the next book. Oh, and happiness. For them.
___________________________
Ugh another book that I never reviewed or rated.

Nocturna was a book that I got from my Fairyloot box. I was really excited because the synopsis sounded amazing. Heck, I even got a buddy to read this with and yet - I feel like something was missing.

In it, you will meet Alfie and Finn. Alfie is the crown prince who goes into detective mode because he doesn't believe his brother is dead. Nope, so he goes out on an adventure to find magic and stuff. Then there's Finn, who is a thief and kind of a bad ass. She has zero regrets about what she does because she needs to stay alive.

It doesn't hurt one bit when these two teamed up. If I'm being honest, it probably made the book a bit better in my eyes. I liked these two character but I wasn't obsessed or in love with them completely. They were just enjoyable to read about and I wanted to see where this book was going to take me.

In the end, these two definitely have some stuff that they need to work on. I need more scheming to be done in the next book. Heck, I just need these two period and more schemes. Definitely more schemes.

[Renee Godding · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars

Rounded down for the complete lack of originality. This was very (very )standard tropish YA fantasy and I was a little disappointed. Nothing quite wrong with it but nothing special either...

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get exactly what I was expecting going into this book: a very standard, middle of the road YA-fantasy, that is entertaining enough but ultimately adds nothing new to the genre that we haven’t seen a million times before, if not better. That could pretty much be my one sentence review of this book unfortunately.
We follow our two magically inclined protagonists, a face-shifting thief and a prince with the ability to create and travel through portals, on their quest to rebind an ancient magic that wreaking havoc on the kingdom. Add in a Latinex setting, a one dimensional villain, and a lot of elements from different YA books and you get Nocturna. I respect that it is very hard to be wholly original in this day and age where media is so widespread and influential, but when I say it borrows “a lot of elements” from other books, I mean a lot! The main inspiration seems to have been A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, as the similarities are just very hard to overlook. Female heroine Finn is basically a clone of Lila Bard, male hero Alfehr has the same doorknob/portal magic as Kel does, and large parts of the plot play out along pretty much the same beats as ADSOM. Other influences seem to include The Grisha verse by Leigh Bardugo (mainly in the magic system, as well as the heist-parts), Harry Potter (the direct lifting of the vanishing cloak), and some other very well known YA series in lesser parts. Again: I don’t expect every book to be world-shatteringly original, but in this case, the book felt like it just had too little of its own to offer to compensate.

In the end, Nocturn feels like a perfectly decent read to pass the time, but unfortunately not one I’ll remember for years and years to come. If you just want a new YA-fantasy, especially with a summery setting to entertain you over the summer break, this is a fine choice. If you’re looking for something wholly original that you’ve never read before, I don’t think you’ll find that here.

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out more reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

The Buzz

LATINX WORLD! Yeah, so I've lived among Latin people for years and love the food, culture and language. It really excited me to read that we'd get a fantasy world inspired by a rarely seen culture. And come one... how can I not be excited for a character that can change their face!?


The Premise

When I started Nocturna I had totally forgotten what the premise had said about it. The only thing I remembered what that it was Latinx!! Right away I was captured by Prince Alfehr's passionate desire to save his brother. This totally captured me!! How would he obtain the magic he needed?! And when we met Finn I wondered how she fit in... How would being able to change her face help the prince find his brother?! I was so excited for Alfie to find this big brother and be his rescuer...

Yeah well that was all just a gimmick. Turns out the story is really about this face changing thief and the mess she gets into by being greedy! So a little suspicious I reluctantly settle back to follow her on the job... And its all trouble of her own making.

This kind of story makes me really mad. Not because these two are being true to their age but because I don't believe that teenagers suddenly overnight (the book only covers a couple days) do what's right when before they were verging on morally grey (and actually professing to be a serial murderer!) It feels like a story crafted because the author knows what readers like to read about. The plot smacks of things arising because of contrivance rather than from the character's fears and motivations.


My Experience

As we get to know Finn I really appreciated that the Prince for all his soft ways gave as good as he got from her. I really appreciated that Motayne tried to flip the typical tropes on their head. And I found the magic system super intriguing. And then I got to 25% and I realized that all the setup with the brother was for naught. It had nothing really to do with the story contained in Nocturna. It was incidental back history that was presented as if it had bearing on the plot.

This really annoyed me. I signed up for one book and got a totally different one!! And at this point I really started to recognize the story. It's really an odd feeling. I don't make connections between different books easily but I started to feel like I've read this story before. Then the little bit of Latin culture that was flavoring the first 25% also fell away. The world went totally flat and felt like any other generic fantasy world. I wouldn't have minded the similarities so much if Nocturna really gave me a flavor of Latin culture.

The one piece of culture that I could see is the story of Sombra. I did appreciate how it related to events and how the villain arose from it. I do wish that the plot against the royal family would have tied into present circumstances better. Because I REALLY appreciated Xiomara. She was my favorite character!! I would have really loved to read her POV too. She made the end not such a sour taste in my mouth because I totally related to her teenage angst and redemption.


Cover & Title grade -> B-

I really love the red mosaic tile cover design. It's gorgeous, authentic and gives the flavor of what a Latinx world should feel like. I liked a lot! The title though became very confusing for me. It references a state the world would fall into if certain criteria are met... Except that criteria isn't met in Nocturna... So uhhhh why the name?! It's just odd to me. And was rather anti-climatic as a result.


Why you may enjoy Nocturna despite its flaws?

-Alfie and Finn are REAL TEENS!
By the time the real story got started I also realized that Alfie and Finn read like REAL TEENS! They make seriously dumb mistakes and don't think about the consequences at all. As a teen I actually thought about the costs and benefits of my actions so I don't relate well to this kind of selfish stupidity. But real teens very well could understand and make the same choices.

-There is no place to stop, its GO GO GO!
The action was non-stop though! The pacing was just so speedy. They'd get into trouble but slip right out of it. Never once did the Prince think to go to his teacher who had handled this trouble before. His reasoning though does fit the stupid teen mold so I went with it.

-A cliffhanger free ending is a TOTAL YES!
Oddly this reads as a standalone! Just like the story that it reminds me of Nocturna ends without a cliffhanger. Their plan has a few hiccups but for the most part is executed flawlessly. I did feel like this hate to love romance felt a little more organic between our Prince and thief. It isn't my favorite OTP but I did feel like the feelings between them developed over time and not suddenly.

-An emotion based magic system is a MEGA-WOW!
I REALLY loved the magic system. While the face changing felt a bit of a contrivance just to get Finn into trouble the Prince's magic was really neat. I loved how he could see magic through its colors and adapt to anything because of that knowledge. I totally don't regret reading Nocturna just to have experienced it.


Sure Nocturna reminds me of another fantasy I've read, and you too may find a lot of parallels, but it is full of action, daring-do and romance. I'm interested to see where the A Forgery of Magic series goes in the next book. But please... Will we finally get back to the brother?!

⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐⭐ Authenticity
⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐⭐ Writing Style
⋆ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot & Pacing
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⭐⭐ World Building

Thanks to Edelweiss and Balzer + Bray for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my special perspective at the bottom of my reviews under the typewriter...

Please like this review if you enjoyed it! *bow* *bow* It helps me out a ton!!

[julia ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

read the full review on my blog : here!

"Magic could not speak, yet interacting with it felt like a conversation,
a dance, a story shared with a friend with the ending left up to interpretation."

2019 is just full of beautifully diverse fantasy releases, and Nocturna had been on my TBR since the beginning of the year. Imagine my delight when I received this book in one of my April subscription boxes (and this gorgeous special edition no less!) Of course I had to immediately dive into this book!

What is Nocturna about?
Set in a Latinx-inspired world, Nocturna centers around professional thief, Finn Voy, who uses magic to take on many faces but her own. But, when she is caught by a mobster, and the only way out is a heist of something valuable in the Castellan palace, she is faced with the danger of losing her magic forever. Finn teams up with prince Alfie, who is grieving the loss of his brother, and is desperately trying to find a way to get him back. However, the two of them accidentally unleash a horrific power, and, in order to contain it, Finn and Alfie are forced to work together. Will this unlikely alliance work?

“She'd always imagined the weight of someone's hand in her own to feel like an anchor, tugging her into a forced stasis when she only wanted to run, to be free.
Yet now, she wanted nothing more than to stay.
She felt more freedom in this moment than all her years combined.
Freedom, she was coming to understand, could be found in a person instead of a place.”

What did I think of Nocturna?
Reading Nocturna was such a pleasant experience: I found that the writing and characters immediately pulled me in. The world-building was rich and the Latinx-inspired universe was very refreshing within the YA genre. I enjoyed the little Spanish phrases plastered about in the text, seamlessly switching between languages, as well as the non-white cast. That is right, all of the characters are latinx!

The premise for both main characters is what initially drew me in. The concept of a face-stealing thief is very original. Her past abuse and trauma has resulted in her never wanting to look like herself again, which adds such a great layer to the character of Finn. I also like how versatile and dynamic she's portrayed. The way in which her confusion between the affection she seems to feel for Alfie and her usual apathetic side seems to conflict, and how she switches between 'Prince' and Alfie's name supplies yet another interesting tier. In addition, I also really liked Alfie as a character, which for me, isn't very surprising considering we know I have a thing for princes. Alfie's grief for his brother, and the issues he has with magic really made the character feel alive.

The witty dynamic between the two is reminiscent of Kell and Lila from A Darker Shade of Magic, but not overly so. (Also, I've seen a lot of ADSOM comparisons in previous reviews, but I feel that comparing books often sells them short, in the sense that essentially they are all their own universes and characters!). Additionally, it was refreshing to see the relationship between the two develop not too quickly. I've read a lot of fantasy debuts this year that featured a rapidly growing relationship (sometime too quickly). And, while that's not so much of a turn-off for me when it comes to books, I prefer the slowburn Motayne has going on between her characters! In the end, the characters and their interactions ended up being what made the book so enjoyable for me.

Another interesting dynamic was the one between Finn and Ignacio, her previous father-figure/abuser who uses his magic to manipulate her into staying with him and acting like his 'daughter'. The fact the villain seems to have a close personal connection to the protagonist added that extra bit of dramatics, and made the villain a lot more interesting to read about. I find myself often bored when YA fantasy includes a very black-and-white two-dimensional villain, and while Ignacio seems to still be portrayed as pure evil, the fact that Finn has a connection to him made the stakes higher for readers of the story.

The plot in itself was interesting and I see where the writer wants to go. However, it sets up for a climax that unfortunately doesn't succeed when it comes to the height of its impact in this first book. The climactic events are resolved rather quickly, which was kind of a shame because, as a reader, you're anticipating more than you're essentially getting. Although, aside from this fact, the pacing of the book didn't feel either too rushed or too slow, and overall provided a very enjoyable reading experience.

Motayne, then, has definitely captured my attention with these characters when it comes to future books in the series. The characters, setting and universe all promise great things for the sequel that is inevitably coming soon! 4.5/5.

[Zoe Stewart (Zoe's All Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I liked this a lot, but nothing really stood out to me. I'm curious about what's going to happen in the next book, though!

It would've been four stars, but it set off my anxiety a WHOLE LOT because of how often dead parents were talked about. It wasn't enough to make me consider DNFing my first book ever, but it did take away some of my enjoyment. Since getting pregnant for the first time, and especially because I'm expecting again, it's just a lot for me to read about it.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nocturna is by far, BY FAR, the worst book I have read this year. Granted, it's only March, but even if another book displaces this as my most despised of 2019, it will remain amongst the top three at the very least.

Basically, this book is just a Latinx , poorly written copy of the far superior A Darker Shade of Magic. WARNING: Spoilers ahead for both books, so beware!

Seriously, Finn is basically Lila Bard, Alfehr is a whiny amalgamation of Kell and Rhy, and Alfehr uses 'magic doors' to get through to different parts of the world. Additionally, Alfehr can see magic in a way no one else can (Kell-esque), he would do anything for his cousin (I'm so feeling an inferior Kell/Rhy relationship here), to the point where he bloody well releases the darkest evil magic into the world, which has the colour black and controls people. Seriously? How Motayne has managed to get this published is beyond me, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a legal battle on her horizon for an infringement of V. E. Schwab's copyright.

I actually got so annoyed that I flipped through, just to see how it ended. AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW??? They save the day (basically in love) where Finn goes off on her thieving way - JUST LIKE BLOODY LILA AND KELL!

OH MY GOSH I AM SO ANGRY! And considerign the amount of caps used in this review, I think it's time for me to end it. If I keep going, it will basically be a furious rant in caps with me just going "Why? Oh tell me Why!?".

Recommend: Noone. Not a soul. Read A Darker Shade of Magic instead. And if you don't then you're a damned fool.
Age: I don't even care. It's YA. Make your own bloody decision.
Warnings: This is seriously beyond me now. If you've read this far, I apologise, but maybe ask someone else these questions.

Note: I received this ARC for review purposes only.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on Happy Indulgence Books. Check it out for more reviews!

As someone who loves fantasy and diverse reads, the premise of Nocturna really interested me: a Latinx inspired world, a faceless thief and a prince with dark magic. I was definitely intrigued and really keen to pick this up for The Name of the Book club.

The beginning of the book starts with a bang, as we first meet Finn, the faceless thief who can mould her face into anyone else's and whose goal is to break into the palace to steal an invisible cloak. She's wiley, snarky and street smart and definitely someone we could root for. There's also the crown Prince Alfehr (aka. Alfie), who is grieving the recent loss of his brother. With a dragon talisman on his body and magic that he's only coming to terms with, I was definitely curious about his story.

I liked the Latinx inspired elements in the story, as the Castellan throne rose up after the Englassan rule, but there wasn't too much more world-building past this point aside from the food, fashion and Spanish phrases thrown in here and there. I know it's not the purpose of an #ownvoices author to educate about their culture, but it honestly felt like it was barely there throughout the story and could've been fleshed out a lot more.

I can definitely see why there's a lot of comparisons between this book and A Darker Shade of Magic, because Finn felt like a similar character to Lila Bard. However, I think there were enough differences to set the two apart, with the Latinx-inspired elements and the propio magic system. While the banter between the two characters was definitely my favourite part of the story, there were one too many plot conveniences that limited my enjoyment for the rest of the book.

Trigger warnings: parental abuse, blood and gore, torture

I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Valentina Ghetti · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5

Il principe Archie è appena tornato da un lungo viaggio che l'ha portato lontano dalla sua famiglia, ancora sconvolta dal lutto per la scomparsa del figlio maggiore ed erede al trono.
Finn Voy, ladra e mutavolto, non ha mai lasciato Castallan ed è ben decisa a continuare a vivere in città, truffando e rubando oggetti comuni ma anche artefatti magici.
La vita farà incrociare le loro strade a palazzo, quando Finn, nel tentativo di rubare un mantello dell'invisibilità, incapperà in Archie, impegnato in un'evocazione magica per salvare dall'avvelenamento Luka, il suo migliore amico.
Archie, in preda al panico, libererà una forza distruttrice che Finn e Archie dovranno intrappolare nuovamente.

E fin qui il potenziale c'è: una storia interessante, un worldbuilding ispirato all'America latina, poteri magici intriganti, un mistero.
Però resta tutto nel campo del potenziale.
Per quasi tutto il libro i protagonisti rielaborano lo stesso piano arrivando a metterlo in atto nelle ultime 100 pagine; nelle quali, peraltro, la descrizione degli avvenimenti è confusa e prolissa, troppi i dettagli che si ripetono.
Dovrebbe esserci una storia d'amore. Dico dovrebbe perchè, a parer mio, i protagonisti hanno l'intesa di due mattonelle.

Non mi dilungherò oltre, semplicemente questo libro mi ha fatto provare la più pura e limpida noia.
Mi spiace solo di aver trascinato 120 povere anime con me proponendolo nel gruppo di lettura (solo i più tenaci sopravvivranno, io no).

[mina · Rating 2 out of 5]

↠2-
started buddy reading it with Laura but I decided to just DNF it
DNF @57%


I wasn’t enjoying the first five chapters; there was just something missing or something. And now I wonder would I even notice it’s so much “A Dark Shade of Magic” if I hadn’t been told that and how much that affected how I feel about the book. To be honest I don’t think it did something (I think it was somewhere around half of the book when I compared the characters and was shocked that they are the same, before that I was thinking more about the situations) as I already didn’t feel anything while reading it.

The story being set in a Latinix world would’ve been interesting if the world was developed. Besides some things being mentioned and dropping some food names this could’ve been set anywhere… so yeah not a job well done. One other thing that annoyed me was the words for magic are nothing magical it’s just Spanish verbs! The writing was okay, nothing special at least to me.

The characters… oh, boy. Would it suffice if I said they annoyed me a lot, especially Alfie? (Gosh, I really didn’t like his nickname)

[Xandra (StarrySkyBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

why did I love this so much?? 💕

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

DO. NOT. MISS. THIS.

“This searing, magical Latinx-inspired fantasy pulled me in from the first page and did not let me go. I loved adventuring with brave Alfie and brash Finn, and I held my breath until the end. NOCTURNA is a magnificent debut, powerful and true.”
- Julie C. Dao, author of FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS

[Sea Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 35%.

Over-the-top similarities to A Darker Shade of Magic with a writing style I could not get into (loads of awkward and poorly placed info-dumping, telling instead of showing, etc.), and a Celaena Sardothien style female MC who swears all the time and that's how you're supposed to know that she's fierce. If I had a dollar for every time Finn's narration included "She'd be damned if..." in the first 35% of the book, it would probably be enough to buy the hardcover edition.

Huge pacing problems, too--this book is enormous and really doesn't get into the main plot until you're at least a quarter of the way in. For a book that's 480 pages, that means you're reading over 100 pages of setup.

UPDATE:
From reading other reviews, I've come to think the second half of this book likely is pretty good, plot-wise. IMO Motayne's editors failed her by not encouraging her to significantly edit down and restructure the beginning of the book. There's no good reason for this book to require 160+ pages to really start digging into the main plot and the action. This probably should have been at least 50 pages shorter.

[♠ TABI⁷ ♠]

DNF @ p.183 because I'm learning when to accept that a book just isn't good enough.



So I was getting a sense of "I've read this kind of book before" along with noting how I wasn't getting the fierce, Latinx-soaked fantasy I was promised. Then I did some review reading and realized that I HAD read this before: A Darker Shade of Magic. And thus the woke realization that this was basically a fanfic version of ADSOM that wasn't even a GOOD fanfic, well, I decided to just stop boring myself and put this aside.

Here are some longer reviews going further in depth about the issues I had with this book:

Jessica McKenna's review & Lea's review

[Pine tree leaf stick]

This book has been on my shelf for almost a year.

This is problematic.

I suppose this is what happens when you read Six of Crows 3 times instead of reading your new books.

[Vivianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoiler free mini review

Actual rating: 2,5 stars!

Overall I think this book had potential it was just very unoriginal and predictable. There wasn’t anything that really got me annoyed but there also wasn’t something that made me love it.

Was it just me or was this book VERY similar to V.E. Schwab darker shades of magic series? And then I don’t just mean similar plot with creepy dark magic on the loose, but also the characters, their stations, the magic, traveling through portals, the pov, the world, even the ending was the same! Could it be a coincidence? What was the point in me reading this if I already read it in another book?

What intrigued me most about this book was definitely the fact that Finn was a shape shifter. And I found it quite well done in the beginning, how smart she was with keeping a face journal and writing down the crimes. However since her magic is partly blocked in the beginning she can’t shift anymore meaning we don’t see as much of this fact as I’d wished.

I was also very invested in the background of Finn and “her father”, I really liked the tension that it gave throughout the story, he was a very creepy villain, and especially with the magic; great!

I was so annoyed with once again these two teenagers trying to save the world. Even though help was right there with Paloma who had experience with the magic!

Furthermore I don’t really have much to say about this to be honest, everything was quite fine but not excellent or rememberable. Just like every other fantasy book out there.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me an age to read but I’ve done it! I’m not really sure why it took me so long because I can hands down say that I really really enjoyed this!

One thing I found very appealing that the “bad guy” was legit evil and sadistic with no redeeming features what so ever. One of my favourite things about a villainous character is how evil they can be, and this character really is everything I could of hoped for!

Then we have Alfie and Finn, the tease is real with this! I am on the edge of my seat wanting more! How on Earth can it be left like this?! The friendship and brooding-ness was so so so good!

Finally on the front of characters we have Luka who is also a great character! He’s charming and funny and also tried to do what’s best

I want to know more, and I’m pretty sure there’s another book (I should check this) but if there is I think I know what’s going to come in the form that there will be a search but the ting I don’t know is the how!

Overall a good read and I’d absolutely recommend this to all of my friends!