Nightbirds by Kate J Armstrong

Title: Nightbirds

Author: Kate J Armstrong

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 28^th February 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: In a dazzling new fantasy world full of whispered secrets and political intrigue, the magic of women is outlawed but three girls with unusual gifts have the chance to change it all.

‘A luscious, sumptuously woven and totally addictive fantasy.’ Amie Kaufman, New York Times’ bestselling author of These Broken Stars, Illuminae and Aurora Rising

Magic may be illegal in Simta, but you can find it if you know which whispers to heed. None as tantalising as the ones about the Nightbirds, Simta’s best kept secret. These privileged girls have the ability to gift their magic to others with a kiss – something the church would have them killed for. But protected by the Great Houses, their identities safe behind masks, the Nightbirds are well-guarded treasures.

Matilde, Æsa, and Sayer spend their nights bestowing their unique brands of magic to well-paying clients. But this Season’s Nightbirds find themselves at the heart of a political scheme that threatens their secrets and their safety. When they discover that their magic is far more than they were ever told, they see the carefully crafted Nightbird system for what it is: a gilded cage.

Now they must make a choice – to remain kept birds or take control, remaking the city that dared to clip their wings.

Filled with sumptuous, cinematic writing and dazzling details, Nightbirds is a fiercely feminist fantasy debut where the most potent magic lies not in a kiss, but in the truth.

~*~

Matilda, Sayer and Æsa live in Simta, a place where magic is illegal, but sought after and found – as long as you know where to look. And the girls known as the Nightbirds have the magic that everyone wants, that everyone is tantalised by. They are Simta’s best kept secret – privileged girls including Matilda, Sayer and Æsa, who can give the gift of their magic to others with a kiss. Yet having this magic and the ability to give it as a gift with a kiss has them targeted by the church who would kill the girls if they could. But Matilda, Sayer and Æsa, and the other Nightbirds are protected by the Great Houses and the masks they were as treasures to be guarded. The three girls at the heart of the story – Matilda, Sayer and Æsa – spend their nights bestowing their magic to clients willing to pay for the privilege – until this Season, the Nightbirds are pulled into a political scheme not unlike the witch-hunts of the seventeenth century that threatens their secrets and safety – and one of these threats seems to be Teneriffe Maylon, but then – he could also be an ally – it felt like nobody was sure. And so, the Nightbirds are forced to make a choice – to remain birds and stay safe or take control of their fates and Simta – and change the world they live in forever.

Matilda, Sayer and Æsa are at ease with the lives they lead in Simta, conferring magic in secret onto those who can pay, and all they know of it is the whimsy and wonder, the illegal nature, and the thrill that it gives them, and they know the world they live in exists to keep them safe. Yet slowly, their world begins to fracture as they discover what their bestowed magic can really do, and that all the magical Nightbird system has been a gilded cage to ensure the Nightbirds follow the rules.  But Matilda, Sayer and Æsa are the first to break free with their generation of Nightbirds, and to seek freedom beyond the confines of the Great Houses, and their grandsires. Yet as they explore the truth behind what they have been through and their magic, and what they can really do, Matilda, Sayer and Æsa will face many dangers as their identities are revealed – what will happen to them, the other Nightbirds, their enemies and their allies. And most importantly – who can they really trust?

Kate J Armstrong’s debut novel takes us off to a new world. We are drawn in slowly and deliberately – as though she is trying to lull us into a false sense of security. When we begin, we know that Simta is a place where magic is illegal, apart from, it seems, very few people – the Nightbirds, who are in effect, prisoners of a complex political system, and those who can afford to go to parties and events with the Nightbirds, who wear masks to conceal their identity when out of the confines of their gilded cages. But of course, with characters like Matilda, Sayer and Æsa at the heart of the novel, it doesn’t take long for them to start to see that something is not right – and what follows is a decidedly feminist, female-powered narrative that celebrates sisterhood, friendship, and the power of young women finding their way in a world that doesn’t really like them. It is also a story about how frustrating it can be as a girl – Matilda, Sayer and Æsa do not like being told what to do and once they find out they can fight back, they encourage others to do so, ensuring that they empower those around them and question the world they know. Because the only way they can find their own identity and power is to find their way through the world.

At first, I thought things moved quite slowly through the first few parts, but once I realised this was going to be part of a series, it started to make sense. This is the second book I have read this year that has used this tactic – to slowly build and build the world and its conflicts through growing action and then ramping things up in the last third or quarter of the book so it leads -hopefully seamlessly – into the next book. We’ thrust into the world, like any good fantasy book should do – but at the same time, as we begin, we’re allowed to dither, and wonder at what the world is, as little pieces of literature and history are dangled in between chapters, and we weave between the male and female characters as their motives are slowly revealed. I did like that Matilda, Sayer and Æsa and other female characters were given the crux of the story. Though the first person we meet is Teneriffe Maylon, he seems to fade into the background until much later on and I think he may become important later on, though his real role to me felt yet to be determined – as though he is the kind of character who could go either way. Nightbirds is another Young Adult book that is presenting itself as a slow burn or slow-release plot – and so far, there is no romance – at least that I could see – and I quite liked this. For a book or series like this, the friendships between the girls and the role of feminine power is the important thing and the most empowering thing that can be explored.

I do hope we continue to see the strength of the female characters in this story and their relationships, as I think these are worthy stories and much like other stories that look at other types of relationships, I feel that there will be a place and readers for all of these. And female friendship empowered stories are just one aspect I would love to see more of.