A delightfully fresh story that first appears as a hybrid of old tropes, Nimona surprised me over and over from beginning to end.

Initially dubious about anything birthed from a "mere" web comic, I almost completely failed to anticipate that the narrative omissions were well-planned, that a small detail in an early panel would evolve later in the series. Perhaps I've been jaded by so many graphic novels which fail to have a unified narrative across their larger series. But Stevenson's "simple" cyber-fantasy government conspiracy story is more about friendship, othering, ethics, loyalty, and love.

More, the story sits in some tension to its plainly-rendered graphics. No character is static or one-dimensional and each gets their turn (though sometimes too brief) at revealing their struggles. Will all the relationships and conflicts work out by their end? Do we receive all the explanations for a "proper" denouement? Not in ways the reader is likely to anticipate, but in Nimona's resolution, we leave almost entirely satisfied. 

A terrific pre-teen read with plenty of prejudices to explode along the way.