Happy book birthday to Nocturna and thank you HarperCollins Canada for an advance copy of this book!

YA fiction seems to gravitate towards trilogies/series - standalone books are kind of rare. The weaker stories tend to follow the same pattern: the first book is all filler, with the important plot points happening late in the story. This results in no resolution and the inevitable cliffhanger. Basically, it’s not a complete book, and it’s a lazy way to write a series.

But in this case, Motayne gets it right - Nocturna is the first book in a series, but it is also a self contained story with a fantastic plot arc and very satisfying conclusion. It could easily stand strong as a stand-alone, but it also manages to start out the series on solid footing. So well done!

Nocturna is an #ownvoices Latinx fantasy epic that reminds me a lot of A Darker Shade of Magic (Schwab). That’s definitely a good thing - I really enjoyed that series. And to be honest, I think Motayne has surpassed ADSOM in terms of quality. This book is just fantastic, featuring a vibrant and beautifully described world that was very easy to envision in my head.

The central characters were wonderfully complex and flawed; Finn was particularly memorable. Alfie’s personality got under my skin a fair bit, but I think that made him an even more solid character. And like I mentioned earlier, the story ended with a satisfying conclusion, but also invited some questions that will lead quite nicely into book two. I look forward to reading the next one!