This is the second in a series of middle grade books. There will be no spoilers for this book, but beware there may be some for the first book. Read at your own peril. If you would like to read my review of the first book, The Trials of Morrigan Crow, you can find it here.
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow
by Jessica Townsend
Read By: Gemma Whelan
Publication Date: October 2018
Summary from GoodReads:
Wunder is gathering in Nevermoor …
Morrigan Crow may have defeated her deadly curse, passed the dangerous trials and joined the mystical Wundrous Society, but her journey into Nevermoor and all its secrets has only just begun. And she is fast learning that not all magic is used for good.
Morrigan Crow has been invited to join the prestigious Wundrous Society, a place that promised her friendship, protection and belonging for life. She’s hoping for an education full of wunder, imagination and discovery – but all the Society want to teach her is how evil Wundersmiths are. And someone is blackmailing Morrigan’s unit, turning her last few loyal friends against her. Has Morrigan escaped from being the cursed child of Wintersea only to become the most hated figure in Nevermoor?
Worst of all, people have started to go missing. The fantastical city of Nevermoor, once a place of magic and safety, is now riddled with fear and suspicion…
This second book in the series was better than the first. I continue to love the world the author has created here, and there is always something new about it lurking around every corner. The Wundrous Society’s school is so amazing and fun sounding. I would love to attend some of the classes that Morrigan’s friends get to attend. They sound amazing. Some of the knacks that the other students have are interesting as well. Morrigan’s little unit of nine is made up of a cast of characters so different from each other, yet all likable. They go through a lot together, and even though they all dislike and mistrust Morrigan, they stick together and have each other’s backs.
Morrigan now knows her knack. She is a Wundersmith, but she has no idea what this really means. She struggles throughout the book with being told that most Wundersmiths are considered mad or evil and are not to be trusted. She constantly worries that she will be too, but struggles always to do the right thing. The Society is not helping either, keeping her away from any instruction that might bring out the Wundersmith in her. Despite all of her misgivings and doubt, she does have a good heart and tries her best to be good even when being tormented by others. Plus she always has the support of Jupiter North and Hawthorne and the many residents of the Hotel where she lives. She and Jack are also finally getting along which I was happy to see. Morrigan goes through a lot of growth in this book, she is finally beginning to believe in herself as much as Jupiter has always believed in her.
The plot of this book was just as good as the first, and perhaps at times even better. We see a lot more of Nevermoor and learn about some of its secrets and surprising wonders. I loved many of them. Morrigan does have many new adventures in this book, some fun, others dangerous. But you end up just as excited and amazed as Morrigan and her friends are. This was a very hard book to put down as I just knew there was some delight coming up that I didn’t want to miss.
The audiobook was fantastic. I loved Gemma Whelan’s voice. She captured Morrigan perfectly. And she does some fantastic voices for many of the other characters in the story. She does a really good job of totally immersing the reader in this fantastic world.
I know that there is at least one more book in the series, but I’m hoping for many more. This is such a great series, one that I hope doesn’t ever end.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 