Wundersmith
The Calling of Morrigan Crow
by Jessica Townsend
read by Gemma Whelan
Hachette Audio (Little, Brown), 2018. 12 hours on 10 CDs.
Starred Review
Review written November 6, 2019, from a library audiobook
First, how did this review get buried so long in my unposted drafts? I’m not sure, but here, at last, it is.
Wundersmith is the sequel to Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, or I should say the second book in the series, because the story isn’t finished yet.
All her life, Morrigan Crow has been told she was cursed, and any misfortune that happened to anyone around her was blamed on her. In the first book, she learned that she’s actually a Wundersmith – an amazing gift with the ability to manipulate Wunder, and she’s brought to Nevermoor, a magical place that folks on the outside don’t even know about, and she competes to become part of the Wundrous Society.
In the second book, she’s officially part of the Wundrous Society and ready to begin her classes with the eight other members of her unit. They’re supposed to be like her new brothers and sisters.
But things don’t go like the reader expects. Suppose in the Harry Potter books that Voldemort had a particular powerful gift and was still in power outside Hogwarts. And then suppose Harry was the first wizard to have that exact same gift in one hundred years. Would people be willing to actually train him in his gift?
That’s the situation for Morrigan Crow. The “most evil man who ever lived” was a Wundersmith, and he has been banished from Nevermoor and his name is mentioned to frighten children. Morrigan is the first person to have this gift in a hundred years, and no one in the Wundrous Society wants to teach her “the wretched arts” that a Wundersmith uses.
The only class she’s assigned is a history of Wundersmiths, taught by an instructor who goes over and over how evil or stupid every single Wundersmith has been.
Meanwhile, her unit is told that if they tell anyone that Morrigan is a Wundersmith, they will all be expelled from the Wundrous Society. But someone starts blackmailing them, one by one, or the secret will be revealed. Do they care enough about Morrigan to keep her secret?
At the same time, various people and creatures start going missing. Is Morrigan to blame? Her patron, Jupiter North, is spending all his time working on the problem – so he’s not around for Morrigan to confide in.
The situations all work to a dramatic finish, but with hints of more problems to come.
This book is delightful, and I especially enjoyed listening to it, the narrator’s accent adding to my enjoyment. Jessica Townsend has a vivid imagination, throwing fun tidbits into the story – tricksy lanes that do strange things to you as you walk into them, a smoking room that generates different flavors of smoke, a building made of water, and so much more. I didn’t want to think too hard about how some of the things would actually work, but they were great fun to read about.
Now, there were many places in this book where, like the Harry Potter books, I firmly wished they would just tell a teacher! As with those, various motivations were given for why they didn’t, and it did all work out in the end. There was also a huge coincidence that Morrigan ended up stumbling on something that ended up being a major plot point, but all things taken together, it didn’t ruin the book.
So if you want to read another saga set in an imaginative, magical world, where a young magic user must learn how to use her power to fight evil, in the company of loyal friends – look no further! This series would also make great family listening. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/wundersmith.html
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