Genre: Fantasy / Friendship / LGBT / Drama
Year Published: 2015
Year Read: 10/27/2016
Publisher: Harper Teen
Introduction:
Now, when I heard the rage
that was going on with Noelle Stevenson’s
graphic novel, “Nimona,” I just knew
that I had to check this baby out as soon as possible and oh man, I was not
disappointed by the awesome results!
What is this story
about?
The story starts off with a young girl named Nimona who
wanted to become a supervillain and a sidekick to Lord Blackheart, a former
knight who started his road to villainy several years ago. So, after Blackheart decided to take in
Nimona as his sidekick, the two friends started causing mayhem in the kingdom,
but the reason why they are causing all of this mayhem is because Lord
Blackheart wanted to prove to everyone that the Institution of Law Enforcement
and Heroics is hiding a terrible secret that could harm the kingdom. Meanwhile, it turns out that Lord Blackheart
has a nemesis in Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his rivalry with Sir Goldenloin
is personal due to Blackheart and Ambrosius being “very” close friends a long
time ago and their friendship had ended bitterly due to Ambrosius cutting off
Blackheart’s arm during a jousting tournament and now Sir Goldenloin has it out
for Blackheart!
Will Nimona be a good sidekick and will Blackheart repair his
relationship with Sir Goldenloin?
Read this book to find out!
What I loved about
this story:
Noelle Stevenson’s writing:
Wow! I was seriously amazed at Noelle
Stevenson’s brilliant writing as the characters are well written and the
action sequences beautifully balance out the dramatic scenes! I loved the way that Noelle Stevenson balanced out the dramatic scenes with the action
scenes as we get to see tons of fight scenes between Nimona and Lord Blackheart
and the guards of the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics and we also get
to see some dramatic tensions between Nimona, Lord Blackheart and Sir Ambrosius
Goldenloin. I also loved the way that Noelle Stevenson wrote the mystery
segment of this story as the reader has to figure out what Nimona’s true nature
is all about and why she is so hesitant about telling Lord Blackheart about it,
despite the fact her relationship with Blackheart keeps improving throughout
the story. I loved the way that Noelle Stevenson developed the
relationships between the characters, especially between Nimona and Blackheart
as they have a father / daughter relationship with each other as Blackheart
tries to protect Nimona the best way he can, while Nimona confides in
Blackheart with her desires to become a villain. I was also interested in the relationship
between Lord Blackheart and Sir Goldenloin as I was trying to figure out why
they seem to care for each other throughout the story and once you realized
that they were once friends who ended their friendship rather bitterly, their
relationship becomes extremely tragic and I was hoping throughout the story
that they would find a way to make up to each other. For me, Nimona was one of the best characters
in the story because I loved her cheerful personality as she constantly tries
to get Blackheart to take her out on their schemes, but I also loved her dark
and mysterious side as I was trying to figure out what Nimona is really hiding
and what is the real truth behind her shapeshifting powers. Noelle
Stevenson has done a brilliant job at creating this unique world where
medieval culture combines with modern day technology as you see the characters
wear medieval style clothing and have events such as jousting tournaments, but
you also see the characters use various technology that are quite modern such
as super computers that help the characters contact each other.
Noelle Stevenson’s artwork: Noelle
Stevenson’s artwork is truly cute and dramatic to look at as it is
reminiscent of the designs of “Adventure
Time” and I loved the images of Nimona transforming into various creatures
such as a dragon, a fox and a rhinoceros as it shows how versatile Nimona is
with her shapeshifting powers. I also
enjoyed the images of Blackheart having a mechanical arm as it makes him look
so awesome, especially when he is fighting his foes and once you learn the
tragic backstory regarding his arm, it just makes you feel so much for his
character.
What made me feel
uncomfortable about this story:
For anyone who does not like violence and language, this
graphic novel does have some language, which involves the characters using the “d”
word quite a bit; although the word is not used a lot. The violence can also get quite bloody at
times, especially with various characters being stabbed and blood being shown
on the wounds.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, “Nimona” is a truly unique tale that discusses
about true friendship, betrayals, secrets and lies that anyone who is a huge
fan of high octane fantasy and action will seriously get a kick out of!
* 2015 National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature
* 2015 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Graphic Novels & Comics
* 2015 - 2016 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best Graphic Album-Reprint AND Nominated for Best Digital / Web Comic
* 2016 Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee
* 2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee
* 2017 The Magnolia Award Nominee for 9-12
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