Nightingale

Nightingale is a young adult urban fantasy romance by David Farland. It features Bron, a teenaged boy born into a third, magical human race called the masaaks who spent most of human history in hiding because of persecution in the past. Bron is one of these masaaks, though at first, he doesn't know it; he was born an orphan and raised in the foster care system. When Olivia helps him discover his true nature, Bron moves from Salt Lake City to St. George, Utah to be with her, but runs into trouble along the way with an evil class of masaaks who want to use his powers for their own benefit.

The novel opens in Utah, in a scenic landscape of colorful canyons and deserts. Bron lives in Salt Lake City, where he was abandoned as a baby and spent years living in the foster care system. Handsome and whip-smart, though rebellious and struggling with his own dark impulses, Bron often wonders about his origins. It isn't until he starts chatting with Olivia that he begins to understand his true nature. Also a masaak, Olivia talks to him about his magical abilities and their origins. After learning about his powers, Bron is moved to southern Utah to attend a special performing arts school, where he can learn more about his powers from Olivia.

From Olivia, Bron learns the history of his species, the masaaks. He discovers that during the period of evolutionary conflict between the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, a third race appeared. This race of human beings had highly developed brains, which gave them magical powers, many relating to memory. Through touch, some masaaks could store and share memories with others, including some who could share muscle memory, effectively teaching someone a physical skill they had never learned before in the blink of an eye. The masaaks tried to make peace with the other humans using their new powers, but were persecuted, and thus, went into hiding to save themselves.



During this period of conflict between humans, two sects of masaaks formed. The Ael was the more optimistic and empathetic branch, who wanted to continue to help humankind using their powers, even if it meant operating primarily underground. The Draghouls, on the other hand, was an evil branch, who wanted to destroy humankind. The Draghouls, interested in harnessing magical power, often practiced eugenics to breed the most powerful masaaks to create a race of super-masaaks, called Dream Assassins. The leader of these schemes is a dark, powerful masaak, the Shadow Master.

At his new school, Bron succeeds, showing his talents as an artist and musician, as well as attracting the attention of a number of girls in his class. Things become complicated when two different girls set their sights on Bron, and he isn't sure which of them he likes better. He has rivals, too, many who don't like his good looks or his penchant for attracting the ladies. Meanwhile, Bron's move to St. George has attracted the attention of the Draghouls. They believe Bron is a lost Dream Assassin, and they want to co-opt his powers for their own gain. They essentially want Bron to be their puppet, using his abilities to accomplish their goals.

As the story progresses, love triangles abound, and Bron struggles to make a decision between the empathetic and bright path of the Aels and his foster mother, and the dark, alluring power of the Draghouls.



David Farland is a New York Times best-selling author of young adult and adult fantasy novels, including the Runelords and Ravenspell series, among others. He also writes science fiction under the pen name David Wolverton. He has been nominated for both a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award for his books and has written dozens of novels in many different series. He published Nightingale in 2011, which won a Next Generation Indie Book Award nomination for Young Adult Fiction, and was a Grand Prize Winner at the Hollywood Book Festival Awards, among other honors. It was published by East India Press, a press that Farland co-runs.