Nevermoor
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Congratulations! You have been selected by one of our members as a candidate for entry to the Wunderous Society. —Front cover, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow
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Nevermoor is a series of Urban Fantasy books by Australian author Jessica Townsend initially published in 2017 by Little, Brown and Company. All books are available as an ebook and audiobook. Townsend has planned for nine books in the series, and a musical film adaption of the first book has been announced.
The series follows the journey of supposedly cursed eleven year old Morrigan Odelle Crow, and her journey into the world of the Free State. Morrigan is labelled as a cursed child, destined to die at her twelve birthday, and blamed for all the misfortunes occurring around her. She is spirited away to the titular city of Nevermoor -- a place where both humans and talking animals (referred to as Wunimals) coexist, where magic is commonplace and used for amusement -- by the adventurous and outgoing Jupiter North. There, she meets new friends with both the children of Nevermoor and the staff of the Hotel, and form strong relationships.
The series deals with Morrigan slowly losing the habits and stigmas she formed living as a cursed child, and finding acceptance in her new city. She does this by trying, and succeeding, for a position in the Wunderous Society -- a prestigious organization of the most talented individuals with powerful magical abilities -- and interacting with other members of her unit. The overarching conflict in the series revolves around Big Bad Ezra Squall, a Walking Spoiler and powerful person who is destined to make Morrigan his apprentice.
The series consists of the following works:
- Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (October 2017)
- Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (October 2018 in Australia, November 2018 in USA)
- Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (September 2020 in Australia, October 2020 in USA)
- The upcoming Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow (Scheduled release in October 2023)
Of course, there is a Nevermoor wiki.
The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the Nevermoor franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.
- Arc Number: The number nine:
- Morrigan joins Unit 919 at the Wunderous Society.
- There are nine new recruits each year.
- Wunsoc has nine floors, the ninth used to train Wundersmiths.
- Nine books are planned in the series.
- Affectionate Nickname: Mog, given to Morrigan by Jupiter, used throughout the entire series. Jupiter states that he likes giving people nicknames and tries hard to find one for Morrigan.
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Jupiter North: Oh, just thinking about what we can do with Morrigan. You know, for a nickname. Morrie ... Moro ... No. Moz. Mozza. Mozzie? |
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- Alternative Calendar: In the series, time is divided into Ages. Each Age starts with Morningtide and Eventide, and usually lasts for twelve years. The first book is kickstarted when Eventide comes a year early, and Morrigan, being a cursed child, is destined to die on the year, setting the events for Jupiter North to come and spirit her away to the Free States and Nevermooor.
- Aura Vision: The power granted to Jupiter North and his newphew Jack. Jupiter, through practice, is able to control this ability, and turn it off as well as share it with others. Jack, on the other hand, is not so lucky, and wears an eyepatch to turn it off, initially leading Morrigan to believe that he is actually blind in that eye.
- Blessed With Suck: Being one of the only two living Wundersmiths, the other being the feared Ezra Squall, Morrigan is feared and rejected by her own unit, who are bound together via an oath. During the second book, her unit is reclusive towards her, her only friends being Cadence and Hawthrone. In the third book, when Wunsoc reveals to the public that she is a Wundersmith, the Hotel Deucalion's doors are flooded with reporters trying to catch a glimpse of her abilities, made worse by the bounty placed on a demonstration of her performance caught on camera.
- Big Bad: Ezra Squall, responsible for almost all the bag things happening in Morrigan's life. He repeatedly tries to make her his apprentice, influencing the events around her to do so.
- Born Unlucky: Sure, you might be cursed with bad luck, or be destined to never accomplish anything because you're the eldest of three, but at least you won't die on your twelth birthday. Morrigan, on the other hand, not so lucky.
- Cats Are Snarkers: The Magnificat Fenestra inserts some sort of sarcastic phrase or remark into every other sentence.
- Character Title: Morrigan Crow herself appears in the title of all the books in the series.
- Coming of Age: A literal coming of age at the start of the book on Morrigan's eleventh birthday, then she gets "whisked away" to Nevermoor. The series deals strongly with her psyche, and her maturing and learning to control her powers as a Wundersmith while growing up and making friends.
- Compelling Voice: This is Cadance Blackburn's ability, referred to in universe as being a mesmerist. She can steal, then make the policeman that comes handcuff themselves. This does lead to a Blessed With Suck situation, where no one remembers her except Morrigan and the rest of Unit 919 once they receive the proper training, so she struggles to make friends. In addition, this ability makes her mistrusted among her peers.
- Cover Drop: All books in the series so far uses Scene Covers, depicting events that seem cryptic when one glances at the cover, but actually takes place within the context of the story.
- The cover of the first book shows people jumping down the Hotel Deucalion with umbrellas for their Eventide celebration, saying "step boldly".
- The second book depicts Morrigan surrounded by a bunch of magical orbs. It turns out that these orbs are actually memories, and that the cover takes place in the Museum of Stolen Memories.
- The third book's cover depicts the climax of the novel, where Morrigan works with Fenestra to eradicate the Hollowpox from all the infected Wunimals.
- Dragon Rider: Hawthrone Swift's knack is this.
- The Gift: Everyone in Unit 919 has this, and their prestigious gifts grants them admission into the unit. Cadance is a mesmerist, Farncis is a gastronomist, Mahir is a linguist, Anah a healer, Thaddea a fighter, Hawthrone a dragon rider, Lambeth a short-range oracle, and Archan a pickpocket. In fact, a Gift is required to even attempt the trials to get into the Wunderous Society. The more elusive gift of being a Wundersmith is granted to Morrigan.
- Hidden Elf Village: An entire country, in this case. The Free States, where Nevermoor is located, has decided to cut themselves off from the Wintersea Republic, to the point where few people in the republic have actually heard of the city. Despite being neighbouring countries, the two engage in almost no diplomatic relationships. Strict border controls are present in the entire country to the point where a major plot revolves around the potential for Morrigan to get deported.
- The Jinx: Everyone in Jackalfax believes Morrigan to be this, being born as a cursed child. She is blamed for all the misfortunes happening within the town, and is frequently forced to write apology letters. She has to get private tutoring, and some of her tutors stand outside of her door because they don't want to get jinxed. It turns out that the Jinx was all fabricated and that Morrigan wasn't cursed at all.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Cadance Blackburn posses this ability, even if it's involuntary. Being a mesmerist, she is forgotten by the people who she meets.
- Mad Lib Fantasy Title: All books in the series use at least one magic buzzword in their title, such as trials, calling, and mystery. The constructed words, such as Hollowpox and Wundersmith all draws attention, leaving enough information for audiences to have a vague idea of what the concept represents, but never giving away too much information -- the perfect way to create viewer intrigue.
- Magic by Any Other Name: Wunder is reflective of magic and electricity in the real world. It powers homes in the Wintersea Republic. It can only be manipulated and harvested by Wundersmiths — only two of them exists at the current time period in the novel — who use it to achieve glamorous effects such as construction and spectacle, or negative effects such as war.
- Masquerade: This is the one of the roles of the Wunderous Society. They refer to it as C&D, or containment and distraction. There are many supernatural monsters which inhibit Nevermoor, and the 'containment ' aspect means that these threats should be controlled so they do not get out of hand. The 'distraction' part is where the masquerade comes in, as the society puts up spectacles such as fireworks or a parade so people won't find out more about these threats while the society is undergoing the containment aspect. A unit can only know about C&D once they pass the loyalty trial. Unit 919 does so by the end of the second book, and is told about C&D in the third.
- Mega Neko: The Magnificats, described as being the size of an elephant, and as the largest cat that Morrigan has seen. One Magnificat, Fenestra, works at the Hotel Deucalion, and her growl can make people faint. Before the events of the plot, she is a cage fighter, and became the champion for three years in a row. She even agrees to be Morrigan's steed for the chase trial, and is considerably faster than the other mounts.
- Phantasy Spelling: Wunder, the in universe version of magic, as well as the correspondingly named Wunderous Society and Wundersmith.
- Portmanteau: The Wundrous Society is shortened to Wunsoc.
- Short Title: Long Elaborate Subtitle: All of the books in the series are named like this, with a single word followed by The (verb) of Morrigan Crow.
- Superpower Lottery: Some people in Nevermoor are born with knacks, which can either make them be able to accomplish supernatural feats, or them incredibly skilled at an everyday task. Some of these knacks, like dragon riding and the ability to manipulate time, are more useful than others, like being agile and painting. This can lead to some Blessed With Suck moments as some knacks, like being a mesmerist, are downright harmful and makes their possessor feared and rejected.
- Try to Fit That on A Business Card: If you use a size three font, and carefully budget your space, you might just be able to fit the Great and Honourable Captain Sir Jupiter Amantius North, Esquire on a business card without it being the only thing on there. This is even lampshaded:
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Morrigan Crow: "The Great and Honourable Captain Sir Thingy" takes about a year to say. |
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- Walking Spoiler: The central conflict of the entire series revolves around a set of spoilers. It's hard to discuss it in any depth without mentioning the fact that both Morrigan and Big Bad Ezra Squall are Wundersmiths.
- It's even harder without mentioning the fact that Morrigan herself is a Wundersmith, and how she learns to master her abilities while being subtly manipulated by Squall.
- Wizarding School: The Wunderous Society, or Wunsoc for short. It only accepts nine new students each year out of around 300 candidates, who has to pass rigorous trials. The school is divided into two fields of study, each occupying a different set of floors. A third class, designed to train Wundersmiths, occupies the ninth floor.
- World of Snark: Where do we even begin?
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Dear Jackalfax Jam Society, |
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[Jupiter North:] "And Miss Crow is a resident of Barclaytown in the Seventh pickpocket" |
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