Nocturne gave a great start of a new series called the Fourth Talisman. Once again, I was able to meet my old book friends named Nazafareen and Darius. Thank you, Miss Kat Ross, for bringing them back again and letting me experience another fascinating story.

In this first installment of the Fourth Talisman, Nazafareen enters a new yet dangerous journey. She couldn’t remember something about herself before she comes to Nocturne, which led her to seek what those memories were. Darius, on the other hand, tried to protect her by not telling her everything, but because of it, Nazafareen started to slip away from him. Searching for answers that she has been looking for and when the dangerous enemy arrives, she fled to Delphi, an unsafe place for someone like her. Discovering something about herself and also about the place she fled to are the start of an exciting and enjoyable story.

Everything is so great that I want to re-read the previous series where I met Nazafareen and some of the old characters. They are still interesting to me, and the new characters added more fuel to my desire to continue reading their journey. The plot is… oh I don’t know how to explain it, but the author made me read a fantastic story once again. I really love how she wrote this book and how she knitted together great ideas into one story. All I could say do right now is to give a thumbs up to her for giving me a splendid time reading this novel.

I am recommending this book to everyone, especially if you wanted to read Fantasy with a unique plot and interesting characters. Reading the previous series is not necessary, but I really do suggests that you do it. This new series means a new adventure that I can enjoy and also a new area where I could meet old friends again.

Disclaimer: I received a readers copy of this book from Xpresso Book Tours. ( )

Nocturne by Kat Ross is a new series following characters from the Fourth Element Trilogy. Here we have a whole new world to play in. Nazarafeen, still reeling from battle with Neblis, has come to Nocturne, land of eternal night, and home of the powerful daeva clans. She is a guest of House Dessarian, of the Danai.

Missing a hand, and struggling with amnesia, Nazafareen is desperate to recover her memories and learn who she was. Her Danai companion, Darius, knows more than he's willing to tell. After an assassination attempt, Nazafareen flees the Danai lands, heading to Solis. Stowing away on a wind ship heading into the Umbra, she hopes to elude her Valkirin hunters, and make her way to the Marakai in hopes the water daeva can heal her. Little does Nazafareen know an implacable foe now dogs her steps, relentless and without mercy.

Desperate to help his one-time bond partner, Darius sets off in pursuit of Nazafareen, against his family's wishes. And Darius, too, must wrangle with the same fell creatures that hunt his partner. Meanwhile, Culach of the Valkirin, scarred and blind after battle, is slowly learning to live blinded in more ways than one. He dreams of fire, deadly to the daevas, and of a red-haired daeva clan who wielded fire and ripped the world asunder. As the days pass, Culach’s dreams become more and more intense. Are his dreams a link to the past or a portent of what is to come? Or perhaps a warning that the Valkirin are in danger of becoming extinct and forgotten, like the prideful flame daevas?

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Nocturne is an action-packed thrill! I devoured this book, and am eager to read Solis. I fell into this world of night and day. I'm interested to read the preceding series. The author herself notes that it is recommended, but not necessary to have read the previous trilogy. There is enough subtle background information regarding her 'accident’, and the event of the previous series that it's easy to understand.

The description is just brilliant. This is a world divided into a half that is perpetually day, and one perpetually night. As to be expected, much of each respective half is either too cold or too hot to live in. Cities and settlements on either side are clustered along the borders of the Umbra, a twilight region dividing the world halves, a type of equatorial region, if you will. This seems to be a planet whose rotation has stopped. The mortal half, sunlit Solis, is patterned after ancient Persia and Greece. Javid, the wind ship captain, is Persian, from Samarqand. We don't actually visit there this book. The pair accidentally end up in Delphi, a place less than friendly towards Javid’s people, and the daeva alike.

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I loved Nazafareen and Darius! We only get to see them together in this book briefly, though we do follow each separately. The story thread with Culach and Mina was equally interesting. Culach is my favourite character. I usually have an immediate liking for characters who are blind, or have some other eye issue. In his case, he’s true-blind. I'm impressed by how quickly he seems to relearn how to navigate around, once he's roused out of his broodiness.

The daevas’ natural magic was neat, with each clan having a dominant element. It's interesting that there was a physical consequence to the Danai using earth magic, and I wonder if the other clans have similar consequences. There wasn't really a time when we got the perspective of a Valkirin doing lots of magic, and we met no Marakai in this story. Daeva magic isn't the only magic either. Humans can use what they call spell magic, assisted by spell dust and the recitation of spells. Magic isn't an inherent part of their being like with the daevas. Then there's Nazafareen's breaking magic, an incredibly rare power that can nullify other magic. It’s natural, to her, and like the daevas’ magic, comes with physical consequences.

If you enjoy fantasy stories, with neat magic concepts, or stories influenced by exotic ancient cultures, be sure to check out Nocturne!

***Many thanks to XPresso Blog Tours and the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

The Fourth Talisman series picks up the story of Nazafareen and Darius from the Fourth Element trilogy (See my reviews of books 1 & 2 here and book 3 here.) While it's not necessary to have read them first, I recommend doing so because Nocturne will have a much bigger emotional impact.

Nazafareen has lost her memory and her homeland. Coming to the strange world of Nocturne, a place in perpetual twilight. Sharing this strange world is Solis, a place in perpetual sunlight. In between the two is the formidable Umbra, a place of unpredictable storms and harsh terrain.

Nazafareen is an odd duck in the community of immortal, elemental working Danai. Her relationship with Darius is strained because of his reluctance to tell her of their past together. As the saying goes, "secrets have a price." In this book the secrets pile up and the price keeps rising.

Along side the story of Nazafareen and Darius is the story of Culach. Once the handsome prince of the Valkirins, this dashing leader has been reduced to a pitiful state after his run-in with Nazafereen. The Valkirin army was decimated and Culach returned to his mountain top home defeated, blinded and crippled. To top off this disgrace he may be loosing his mind, and his father's attempts at vengeance aren't going well.

All of the characters are so rich, with deep motivations, real conflicts (both internal and external) and complicated relationships. Set in a world of magic and mystery that feels lived in, but is foreign to the reader and strangely familiar at the same time, add to it the layers of secrets and intrigue all of which make Nocturne a fantastic fantasy read.

This story started out much slower than some of the other Kat Ross books, but then when it picks up steam... watch out! I couldn't put it down for the last half of the book, and then it left off at an impossible place or at least the characters seemed to be in impossible situations. It couldn't have left off there. Could it?

(Luckily for me I had already signed up for the ARC tour of Solis, the next book in the series, and I knew it would be coming shortly.)
Bottom Line:
BINGE WORTHY! I suggest reading the Forth Element trilogy and then picking up both Nocturne and Solis at the same time. Trust me at the end of Nocturne you won't want to stop, you'll NEED to read on.