Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow – Jessica Townsend

Release date: 30 October 2018
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Book 1: Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #2) blurb:

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…

OMG!! This was the sequel I wanted and didn’t even know. It was everything that Nevermoor was and more.
OK, so we join our beloved characters as Morrigan (Mog) is allowed to enter WunSoc. (It’s not really a spoiler, because if you didn’t think Mog got into WunSoc then what exactly did you think was going to happen in the following 8 books?) And if you thought that the trials in ‘The Trials of Morrigan Crow’ was over for Mog, then you can think again. I mean, they’re not trials, like the first book had them. They’re just trials as in, this is Mog’s life now. Mog is in Unit 919, and they are about to have an interesting first year together.
We meet some fairly horrifying new characters, and some really sweet ones too. Miss Cheery is the Unit’s conductor (it’s explained better in the book than I could ever do it justice – also, just read the book). She’s got such a beautiful soul that I really wanted to just hug her for how she treats Mog. Then there’s some of Mog’s teachers: Professor Hemingway Q. Onstald (basically a human tortoise), and Henry Mildmay (who treats Mog so kindly). And then there’s the Scholar Mistresses, Dearborn and Murgatroyd, neither of whom turn out how you think they might.
Of the students in the Unit, not all is what they seem (it’s actually a bit of a theme in this book), and they have their own mysteries and challenges along their way. I really liked how the tension was played out throughout the story between the characters – and I am finding that I quite like Cadence more than I thought I would originally. (Although her patron is still an ass.)
This book had a really interesting story to tell about judging people by stereotypes and how they treat you, which then sort of evolved into a teaching moment about good and evil. Sometimes, and as was the case with Wormtail in HP as well, being “evil” is just about being weak. I can’t really say too much in the open, because SPOILERS, but this is definitely a huge part throughout this book.
I know I said it in the first book, but the world building really is something else in this series. The amount of time and effort and imagination that Townsend must have put in just blows my mind. And it’s the little details, like the differences in the alleys, and the museum of still life, and the tower made of water that really give this book so much of its magical qualities. It’s that attention to detail that makes you feel like you’re in Nevermoor with Mog, tagging along with whatever stupid, harebrained plan they are coming up with next.
Just as in book one, I really enjoyed this story. I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series (although there is no date or title set as yet), as I so desperately want to go on another adventure with Mog and Jupiter and Hawthorne again!
Until next time, happy reading ??