For All the Monster Girls Out There

Nimona is a lively and fast read. it will make you laugh and break your heart.

Nimona appears to be a teen girl. Nimona arrives one day at the castle of professional villain, Lord Ballister Blackheart and insists on becoming his sidekick. Havoc follows Nimona wherever she goes. It quickly becomes clear that Blackheart doesn’t really have his heart in being a villain, and the purported good guys, may not be so good. Nimona challenges the way Blackheart looks at himself and his relationship with his former best friend Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin. She upends everyone’s expectations of the status quo. She also leaves dead bodies in her wake. We want to find Nimona cute, but she’s also dangerous and chaotic.

Nimona is a typical teenage girl AND a shapeshifter. She is capable of more than she seems, but is also vulnerable and fragile in unexpected ways. She challenges the way the adults around her think the world works. Every girl has moments when they think they are a monster, and moments when they are monsters, even unlikable. But never unlovable. She wants to be loved and accepted, but not seen for the monster she can be.

I would recommend Nimona to everyone as a fun read with delightful art. I would especially recommend it to teenage girls and anyone who has teenage girls in their life. We all need to remember that they are monsters, that we are all monsters at times. But they are also fragile children, cuddly cats and fearsome dragons.