Nimona by N.D. Stevenson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Confession: Yes, I picked this up because I’ve seen the TRAILER for the movie on Netflix. But I haven’t actually watched the film (I know, breaking with my usual pattern of getting the worse version over with first).
M. Stevenson had me from the first few panels, I won’t lie. Not that this is any kind of surprise to anyone who knows me (Nimona is the kind of character I love). Grey zone villains and heroes? Sheer brilliance! And, of course, the wit and humor fit perfectly into a world that also straddles the divide between fantasy and science fiction. (The refusal to fall into a box is so beautiful)
But the complex questions lurking beneath the surface rise so gradually, you can almost convince yourself you won’t have to face them. It’s handled with such a deft genius, and even when the climax was staring me in the face, I had to sit and re-read the panels over and over, positive I’d overlooked something – some tiny hint or quirk M. Stevenson slid into a corner. The story is exactly what it’s supposed to be, with no characters behaving as they shouldn’t. And that raw and brutal honesty is what crawls into your brain to deliver a punch to the gut (and heart).
Will I watch the movie after this? I don’t know, to be honest. Shattering this perfection would be hard to cope with.
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Review of ND Stevenson’s NIMONA
