Review: Nocturna

Nocturna by Maya Motayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After meeting Maya Motayne along with Victoria Aveyard last month in San Jose, I figured it was high time I got around to reading Nocturna. Which proved a little more challenging than I would've hoped, since my library didn't get ahold of it and I wound up having to special order from Marin County. Though at least we got a couple of copies of this book at my work, so there's that. But as for Motayne's debut, it's a pretty good one. Though close to 500 pages long, it doesn't feel that long due to its relentlessly fast pace throughout. And as I expected after hearing Motayne in conversation with Aveyard, it's smart and on point in its #ownvoices social commentary, with emphasis on people's cultures being innately tied to them - and manifesting, in this case, through the ability to perform magic in one's native language, which is why the former colonizing forces of Englass tried (and ultimately failed) to stamp out the Castallan language. There are more countries on the map than this book takes us to, but that's okay, because there's two more books ahead to explore them. But for now, we have Nocturna, and Motayne dazzles with a lively Latinx fantasy full of piracy, royal conspiracy, and magic both to love and to fear.

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