Book Review: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Title: Nimona

Author: Noelle Stevenson

Genre: YA Graphic Novels

Number of Pages: 272

Rating: B+

Recommended?: Yes

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I’m a little bit suspicious of webcomics but I’d heard such good things about this book I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did. Nimona is a lot of fun and the characters are great. The worldbuilding is weird because the combination of high fantasy and science fiction motifs seem a little random, but for some reason they just work together.

The book follows the adventures of career villain Ballister Blackheart and a fun-loving shapeshifter Nimona, who work together to take down Ballister’s former gay lover and much-renowned hero Sir Goldenloin (seriously, this author has a hearty enjoyment of dick jokes.) Nimona and Ballister are far from heroic but Sir Goldenloin isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, and it’s easy to root for the two outcasts even as they wreck havoc on ‘law-abiding’ citizens.

I loved their relationship with Ballister as the more serious and ‘moral’ of the two and Nimona as a cheerfully chaotic up-and-comer. The storyline kind of reminded me of things like Despicable Me, Megamind, and Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog but it was not derivative of any of these stories. The ending was surprisingly sad and I wished there had been a little more closure, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’d like to see a sequel or other graphic novels set in the same universe.