I’m not a part of the webcomic scene (no particular reason, I just never fell into it), so I had never heard of Nimona until the graphic novel was published a few months ago. I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday and, having heard nothing but good things, this is one of the books I bought with it.
It’s awesome!
The back cover advertises “NEMESES! DRAGONS! SCIENCE! SYMBOLISM!” and that pretty well sums it up.
I’ve never understood why the sci-fi and fantasy genres always get mashed together. They’re two completely different genres. Obviously.
Growing up I always preferred fantasy and tended to stay away from sci-fi (I’m trying to incorporate more sci-fi into my reading list now, but it’s a conscious effort). Nimona is the only book I’ve read that I would classify as both sci-fi and fantasy. There’ s a king and a castle and a villain and knights and all the people wear medieval-type clothes and they have markets with market stands.
But they also have TV and press conferences and a futuristic-looking form of Skype. Noelle Stevenson created a world all her own, but it’s so engaging and so much fun that you just don’t question it.
Nimona is a shapeshifter who wants to become the sidekick of the evil Ballister Blackheart, “the biggest name in supervillainy.” Because Stevenson has thrown us into an entirely unfamiliar world, we just assume shapeshifters are a thing here and move on.
Turns out, that’s not the case at all. Nimona is completely unique and no one is entirely sure where she came from. She claims she was born that way, but it’s possible something happened to her when she was young enough she doesn’t remember. Human nature being what it is, there are always going to be people who want to capture Nimona and study her. It happened when she was young and it happens again in this book.
Ultimately the story is about friendship, betrayal, choosing sides, and trust. The whole thing is injected with humor and there were several times this book had me laughing out loud. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it to absolutely everyone.
What did you guys read this week? Anything that was entirely new to you? I want to hear all about it!
Photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3597273574/”>JD Hancock</a> / <a href=”http://foter.com/”>Foter</a> / <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>CC BY</a>