Hi there, my loves!
Today, I am bringing you a book review for my latest read, Nocturna by Maya Motayne! This beauty took me some time to get through, but boy, was it good! I am incredibly excited to share my thoughts with all of you, so I won’t say anything else!
Let’s jump in! 🥰
Set in a Latinx-inspired world, a face-changing thief and a risk-taking prince must team up to defeat a powerful evil they accidentally unleashed.
To Finn Voy, magic is two things: a knife to hold under the chin of anyone who crosses her…and a disguise she shrugs on as easily as others pull on cloaks.
As a talented faceshifter, it’s been years since Finn has seen her own face, and that’s exactly how she likes it. But when Finn gets caught by a powerful mobster, she’s forced into an impossible mission: steal a legendary treasure from Castallan’s royal palace or be stripped of her magic forever.
After the murder of his older brother, Prince Alfehr is first in line for the Castallan throne. But Alfie can’t help but feel that he will never live up to his brother’s legacy. Riddled with grief, Alfie is obsessed with finding a way to bring his brother back, even if it means dabbling in forbidden magic.
But when Finn and Alfie’s fates collide, they accidentally unlock a terrible, ancient power—which, if not contained, will devour the world. And with Castallan’s fate in their hands, Alfie and Finn must race to vanquish what they have unleashed, even if it means facing the deepest darkness in their pasts.
DISCLAIMER: This review is based on the ARC copy of this novel, and I am aware that there are a lot of differences in the finished copy of the book. If I ever read the finished edition, I will most-likely compare and contrast both in a blog post!
There has been a lot of critique surrounding Nocturna over how similar it is to V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic. Some even say it is plagiarism. This is not criticism I can personally comment on as I’ve never read the Shades of Magic series, but I will say one thing: white authors can write a million unoriginal stories of the same kind, with the same plotlines and tropes over and over again, and no one bats an eye. But the moment an author of color does it, it’s “plagiarism”. A rip-off. But here’s the thing, diverse stories like this one might have become more mainstream in recent years, but the publishing industry still prioritizes white voices in every single aspect of it.
People of color have been finally getting to see themselves represented on the page recently, in all ways, shapes, sizes, and forms, because one story with POC as protagonists isn’t and will never be enough. They finally get to see themselves be the superheroes. The royals. The witches and wizards. The adventurers. They get to experience worlds that aren’t based on whiteness and don’t erase their existence.
So yeah, maybe Nocturna holds many similarities to ADSOM. Maybe they both have protagonists who can travel through different dimensions, wear big cloaks, unleash a dark evil, and snarky female criminals. But Latinx folks deserve to write their own stories. They deserve to write about kingdoms of brown people. Brown people who deserve to be on the spotlight, and be the heroes of the story.
What am I trying to say with all this? Representation matters.
Maya Motayne’s debut is a stunning YA high fantasy set in the fictional city of San Cristóbal, a setting inspired by the Dominican Republic and its rich culture, following Alfie Reyes, crown prince and heir to the throne, after the death of his older brother, Dezmin.
Dez was next in line to be king, but after his death, Alfie is sent spiraling as he now holds the future of the kingdom of Castallan in his hands. A responsibility he’s not ready to take as he still holds out hope his brother alive. The start of the book sees him returning to San Cristóbal after three months of travels, in which he grieved and participated in illegal activities to figure out the magic he needed to rescue his brother from the dark void he was thrown in at the moment of his death.
We also follow Finn Voy, a shape-shifting thief who has the ability to change her face into that of anyone’s, who has found herself in San Cristóbal for a month. She participates in a game to win old books of forbidden magic, where her paths collide with Alfie.
These two characters had clashing personalities. They dislike each other a lot but then have no other choice but to become reluctant allies when they accidentally unleash a darkness so humongous it has the potential to swallow the world whole.
Their whole relationship was one I loved! I’m not exactly rooting for them romantically, as I personally think they’d be better off as friends, but their dynamic was full of banter and insults and it was so djjddkksjs. I truly have no words to describe how much I love them, just a keyboard smash. 🥺
The magic system was incredibly fascinating; it was divided in elemental magic (which basically every citizen had), spellwork and spoken magic, and propios, which are unique to bruxos, certified practitioners of magic. People who have propios have living shadows that represent their every emotion. Alfie’s propio allows him to see the hues of magic, to change the color of his own magic to match anyone else’s, and open pathways to travel, using the network of magic living around him. While Finn’s propio is, of course, to change her face, and shape it like clay into whatever she desires.
I was absolutely enchanted by how it all worked. Motayne’s descriptions really helped you appreciate what was going on and how it all worked. Plus, the spoken magic was basically Spanish verbs, and it really touched me to see a part of my daily life in a fantasy world.
Talking about the world, I adored the conversation surrounding colonialism and how the Castallanos took back their power after the invasion of Englass. I also really appreciated the talks of why there were still so many elements of Englassen culture in Castallan when they had hurt their people so deeply. It was beautifully done.
The food had my mouth watering and also made my heart want to beat out of my chest. Reading about so many dishes similar to the ones from my own culture. The platanitos, the skewers… Yum. Also, the fact that there was a flying chancla? Masterful!
I think my only criticism of the novel would be that I wanted more depth to the characters. I do think that the second half of the book did a great job of developing them, but I wanted a little bit more, ya know? Plus, Ignacio felt like such a caricature of a villain, and I feel like we didn’t get to know him that well.
But this was almost perfection to me. It was a beautiful celebration of Caribbean culture, a magnificent exploration of grief and the repercussions of parental abuse, with incredible writing, a charming cast, amazing action sequences, and a whole lot of brown people. The ending was magnificent, and after that, I’m longing to see where the story goes next in Oculta.
Rating: 4.75 stars ⭐
Huge thank you to Mia García for sending me this ARC!
Santana Reads 