Name: Nightingale
ISBN: 9781534465787

Deva Fagan

After twelve-year-old Lark, determined to escape her squalid life, steals a magical sword from the Royal Museum, she reluctantly becomes the next Nightingale, destined to vanquish an ancient evil.

Nightingale

Katrina White

Nightingale is a dystopian fantasy about a young girl who is the thief. While trying to rob a museum (for her daily room and board), Lark, comes across a prince doing a ritual to try to become the next Nightingale. The Nightingale is a famed savior of the people in the past. The sword that chooses the Nightingale chooses Lark and from there hijinks ensue

This middle grade superhero story does not speak down to the reader. There are many serious topics addressed such as poverty, children's hunger, children's labor, corporate greed , nationalism, workers rights, and the military industrial complex.

I also loved how the chosen one trope was turned on its head. The prince was the one who was supposed to have the sword (or so he thought) and become the hero however he becomes the sidekick Lark. 

I like how flawed Lark is. She is young girl who is struggling to figure out how to balance work and her friends and now this new thing-- being the Nightingale. She is cynical, she is a smart Alec, but she's not entirely unlikable. This author found a way to make her spunky and spicy without being unlikable and that made for a better reading experience.

This was a fun book that could have benefited from shorter more tight storytelling and it would have been much more enjoyable because of that.

Thank you NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Nightingale

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