Nocturna

By: Maya Motayne

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The first in a sweeping and epic own-voices debut fantasy trilogy - set in a stunning Latinx-inspired world - about a face-changing thief and a risk-taking prince who must team up to defeat a powerful evil they accidentally unleashed. Perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Leigh Bardugo, and V. E. Schwab.

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 face-shifter, 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 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's and Alfie’s fates collide, they accidentally unlock a terrible, ancient power - which, if not contained, will devour the world. 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.

©2019 Maya Motayne (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Loved it!

I’m loving all of the new fantasy stories set in Mexico/Latin American inspired worlds that have been coming out lately! This one was another winner released on 05/07/2019 that I’m very grateful I saved a credit on Audible for! I won’t be doing a longer review for this one but for a short & sweet version: a prince meets a thief & they go on an adventure where they find freedom, and true loyalty and love in each other.
5/5 stars for both story by Maya Motayne & narrating by Kyla Garcia!

A rare treasure

Nocturna is an amazing book and performance. I would summarize it as "inventive, beautiful, and surprising." The setting, the magic, the people are all so well-described and well thought out. I look forward to experiencing more from Maya Montayne.

Not for me

The narration is what helped me finish the book. The magic system and world are fine. I didn’t feel any real sense of urgency even though it was constantly being said how dire the situation was. Things just happened to work out so I never found myself wondering, “How will they get out of this?” The romantic interest also just happened. It wasn’t long before the two were borderline angsty with no real set up.
It would have been cool to see a truly morally gray character as well. The gray characters were just good people with bad things in their past they atoned for without much of an arc; we as the reader met them after they’d witnessed or done bad things and were already trying to be better people. There was one character I was interested in learning what would happen and her conclusion was disappointing/ an easy way to just be rid of something that no one wanted to try to make sense of or understand.
If you’re looking for an easy listen with minimal stakes, this is it. Not bad, not great, just ok. Maybe it’s also better for younger audiences. Will not be reading Oculta.

Pretty good.

I enjoyed it. I think it’s best for very young readers And I’m looking forward to more in the series to see if it matures.

amazing

Loved this story so much, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Lush world building. Wonderful character development. Narrator was amazing.

Typical YA

I was excited to read this but left disappointed. I think maybe I'm too old, if I was younger maybe I could have overlooked some elements I had issues with.
I almost DNF'd it

I was eager for some Latin American fantasy, but was left disappointed by that. The brushes with the culture are superficial at best, with random spanish words thrown in as magic words. If I was a native speaker I think that would be a huge turnoff.

The beginning of the book where Alfie is grieving his brother and coming to terms with being the future king, and Finn is dealing with some facechanging or lack there of, was really good, I enjoyed that. But then we meet our villian and there lacked the originality, that's when it went downhill. It then became the same silly YA trope, super responsible crown prince who always thinks things through refuses to ask an adult for help when he knows he is way out of his league. But yeah, that's fine, moving on. The climax is so predictable that I actually skimmed past sections.

The book is part of a series, I will not be reading the next one and am actually a bit disappointed I purchased this book.

Enthralling

Once you are hooked, you can’t escape! Love the plot twists and surprises. Can’t wait to start Oculta.

Slow to Build Magical Spanish World

There was a lot of building, it moved a little slow, but once you got into the world it was hard to put down.

good tale

I think this might be one I would like to read in print, there is a lot going on, and the story is pretty good, but the narrator was a snooze for me. There was just no life to her interpretation, I kept thinking where is her heart and emotion? Maybe in time she will improve. I'm going to read this and see how it goes.

Meh.

I saw several reviews compare this to VE Schwabs Shades of Magic trilogy. It did remind me a lot of that series, but Schwabs was league's better. Finn's character was an insufferable brat and I hated hearing all of her annoying/bratty comments, quips and comebacks. I put this on 2.95x speed around the 7 hour mark just to finish it. I do not recommend this book at all.