NICNEVIN AND THE BLOODY QUEEN Suffers for its Protagonist

Teenage protagonists can be a tough sell in horror– between angst, attitude, and bad decisions it’s difficult to make them sympathetic even if they are realistic. This is the biggest problem with Humanoids’ young adult horror graphic novel Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen, which valiantly introduces folk horror concepts to a younger market but suffers greatly for its almost completely unlikeable main character.

The novel follows Nicnevin “Nissy” Oswald, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been sent to stay with her mother in rural England for the summer and who is thoroughly disgruntled by the fact. In a lot of ways Nissy is a believable troubled teenage character, but in a good number of scenes her behavior is simply too much– between constantly berating her mother (who isn’t being all that controlling in light of the situation, if we’re honest) and fawning over a man in his thirties, it’s almost impossible to root for her until the story’s climax. It would be a different story if Nissy’s arc offered her more early character development, but she remains stagnant for the majority of the book, only losing her terrible attitude once her would-be paramour spurns her advances…which he should, because he’s in his thirties. It’s clear that the book is condemning Nissy’s actions and that this is a cautionary tale, but all that could have been handled with a bit more subtlety.

At its heart, the story is meant to be an occult mystery, as someone is performing pagan ritualistic murders in the small town of Yeavering. However, the mystery is transparent from the word go as there are only so many characters who even could be the killer and only one who makes any sense. Because of this, we’re left with a very frustrating story arc for the lead, who will appear totally oblivious to anyone paying any real attention to the story. It could be that these things are being emphasized specifically so that the teen market who the book was written for will pick up on them, but the plot loses a lot of universal appeal in doing so.

Nicnevin and the Bloody Queen does course correct in the last quarter or so of the book– the climax is still powerful and Nissy is ultimately a changed character, it just takes a lot to get there. The visuals are great throughout, with a lot of intricate folk imagery peppered into the somewhat mundane pastoral backdrop of Yeavering. The very end is certainly a high point for the book both in art and story, as the Wild Hunt is a spectacular and fitting finish. It’s this last bit that gives me a lot of hope for where this series could go if it were to receive sequels: the groundwork for Nissy’s character is already out of the way (if a bit longwinded) and it would be exciting to see the character continue to engage with English folklore. There’s a lot of potential here, even if this entry is going to be a bit of a miss for readers outside of the intended age range.