5 stars for this amazing children's book.

What can I say about this novel? It gets better and better the further you read, as you begin to know the world and characters that burst out of the pages. The main character is 11-year-old Morrigan Crow, black-eyed, pale-skinned, unloved. She knows, for she has always been told, that she is a Cursed Child, bringing destruction upon all with whom she comes into contact, causing everything from bad weather to heart failure. Her cold, grasping family appear more than resigned to the fact that, like all Cursed Children, Morrigan is due to die before the age of 12. But then Bid Day happens and everything, every certainty in Morrigan's life, changes; she outruns death - escaping the terrifying Hunt of Smoke and Shadow - and is whisked away from Jackalfax to Nevermoor, where she is offered the chance to compete against hundreds of other children to become a member of the Wondrous Society. It is an opportunity that involves magical trials and perilous tasks as well as the chance to make friendships and be accepted for the first time in her life. There are secrets, dilemmas and mysteries aplenty; there is bullying, danger and really scary moments; and there is a magical, dazzling world to explore.

The world and characters created here are vivid, vital and breath-taking. My first comparison would be with a sunnier-minded Frances Hardinge, in terms of depth and breadth of imagination and sheer playful inventiveness. The world of Harry Potter also comes to mind - and personally I pictured Jupiter North as Gilderoy Lockhart as played by Kenneth Branagh, but with real abilities underpinning his enormous, sunny confidence. Yet the world of Morrigan Crow is an authentic world all of its own - and it is a world that I hugely look forward to returning to when the next book in the series is written.

I received this ebook free from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A fun-filled, charming, LOL-funny adventure, that is whip smart and blisteringly original. This is MG fantasy at its best. PLUS, Morrigan is such a fabulously witty protagonist. This book is utterly marvellous.

As Eventide draws near, the last thing cursed eleven-year-old Morrigan Crow expects is for a magical and magnificently dressed Captain called Jupiter North to offer her a chance to escape the fate she thought she'd been resigned to long ago. Exciting and rhythmic but not overstuffed, the plot is one of discovery and cleverly placed detail. It doesn't reinvent the literary wheel but almost every page features something interesting or memorable. Townsend's use of familiar tropes, like the whisking away of a downtrodden child hero to a secondary world or the appearance of an unconventional pseudo-father figure, is highly effective. There are requisite foes in a compelling conflict with a Big Bad called The Wundersmith and some lesser enemies made at a very intense garden party. While the final showdown is a bit anticlimactic (it's cut short and the stakes don't quite make an impression), there are some suitably spooky, atmospheric moments in the build up which show the shadowy side of the Republic and even of the otherwise glittering Nevermoor.

It is in worldbuilding that this book really shines. Startlingly inventive and entertaining, the sheer imagination and delight at play is astonishing. There are hints at the workings of a broader fantasy world - it is, for example, run on Wunder, a mystical medium few truly understand, and opens in the gothic 'Great Wolfacre' - but much of the novel spills over with inexplicable and varied magic simply because it can. Because it's fun. There's a logic and yet an immense expressiveness to it. There are rooms that redecorate themselves for different occupants; carriages built like nimble metallic spiders; shadows that can wander on their own. Violinists who pickpocket entire audiences while playing; a clock with a sky for its face. Fireblossom trees and mesmerists and snowhounds and a gigantic talking cat. 

Plunged into a city where the impossible seems positively ordinary, self-effacing, black-clad Morrigan is startled to realise that it is a place in which she might be able to feel she belongs. The Hotel Deucalion is full of colourful, eccentric characters. The charismatic, gregarious Jupiter North was undoubtedly my favourite, but trouble-making dragon rider Hawthorne was a close second. Even minor characters like Martha and Dame Chanda have their moments. One of the finer details of the book is that many of the core cast feel like they could be the hero of their own story, and one imagines there are thousands of untold escapades just waiting to spill from the mysterious Wundrous Society.

The best of the book's prose comes from its descriptions as the writing is fairly undemanding, but it's accessible and surprisingly funny ("the first day of Morningtide, Spring of One, Third Age of the Aristocrats. Weather: chilly but clear skies. Overall city mood: optimistic, sleepy, slightly drunk"). I would've liked a positive female friendship for Morrigan or more useful guidance from Jupiter rather than seeing her be kept in the dark, but these are small quibbles. A lack of hugely expansive explanation leaves this one feeling very much like a series opener, but then it is a story readers will likely be thrilled to return to. There is tremendous potential in this energetic, appealing piece of storytelling.

A full version of this review will appear on my blog closer to publication.

This is a delightful novel set in a world that at first is only as lightly different from our own.

The mystery of Morrigan Crow, at first obvious, become more intriguing and pulls in the reader easily. The humour that Jupiter North adds makes it less scary than it could be for this age group.

Ideal for those who prefer a short read or the classroom with so many aspects of childhood considered.

I was pleased that there were more adventures planned for Morrigan as this could be an excellent gateway novel into the world of fantasy.

Born on Eventide, Morrigan Crow is a cursed child. Everything that goes wrong in Jackalfax can be traced back to her. She is feared by the townsfolk, and despised by her family. And, destiny dictates she will die on her 11th birthday.

However, the mysterious Julian North interrupts her final meal to introduce himself as her patron, and with Death on her heels, she is spirited away to Nevermore to begin her trials for the Wundrous Society. Trials for children with unique and extraordinary talents. But Morrigan doesn’t have one, other than cheating death.

To stay in Nevermore, she needs to complete her trials and win her place in The Wundrous Society. If she doesn't, her destiny may just have been delayed...

Morrigan is self-doubting, determined and daring. Julian North is confident, caring and charismatic. With an abundance of enigmatic characters, both loveable and loathsome, and the wonderously whimsical and inventive settings, Nevermore is a place that once you enter, you will never want to leave.

The Trials of Morrigan Crow is a sublime fantasy with a huge heart that left me dreaming of a life in The Deucalion Hotel and yearning for a Brolly Rail to transport me to school.

I will be breaking my strict “no buying hardbacks for my bookshelf” rule for this one (I have a child who needs food, or so he tells me). There is no way I can wait for the paperback to share it at school. I need to be surrounded by people who’ve ventured to Nevermore so we can talk bedrooms, smoke and shadows…

It’s gone straight into my top 9 reads for 2017!

ebook proof courtesy of Hachette Children's Group via Netgalley.

Magical and original, this is a classic story of unappreciated child gets whisked off into a magical world where people actually see her true worth. Super funny, and I have so many feelings about Jupiter. Can't wait to see what's coming up in the next book for Morrigan.

The best book I've read in 2017.
I was utterly absorbed into this new world and only wish I could explore it myself.

I cannot wait to follow on with more of Morrigan's adventures.

Billed as the next Harry Potter, this book does have very similar features. A magical world totally unknown to the youngster who is taken there to save her life, quests to overcome with magic and logic, strange creatures walking freely. Morrigan had thought herself cursed and was accustomed to being blamed for everything. But all that changes on her 12th birthday. Magic and humour, combined with vivid description makes the new world for the reader and Morrigan herself come alive.. This book will gain many fans.