Nightweaver by R.M. Gray

Nightweaver by American writer R.M Gray is a complicated enemies-to-lovers "romantasy" for avid readers of the fantasy genre. To assist the reader there is a decorative map of "The known world" by Srdjan Vidakovic which helps orient the reader to the geographical setting including "Dread," "The tame lands," the Western Sea and "Dire" in the fore pages. A beautifully rendered family tree ©Colin Verdi 2025 where the Oberon family are presented in silhouette is also provided at the front to assist readers in understanding the current generation of the Oberon family of pirates. As the characters'/beings' qualities and abilities are complex, more illustrations/diagrams would have been helpful. In recognition of the complexities and the tangled nature of the beings and the plot, the authorial technique of having characters clarify information by repeating information to themselves or as part of a conversation is used along with foreshadowing and flashbacks. The reader must concentrate and take note because every protagonist may not be as they appear and most have extraordinary, otherworldly powers- particular to only them (which makes it hard to know how to defend oneself and protect one's loved ones).

Nightweaver is the first book in a new trilogy published by Little, Brown and Company in the USA and Penguin Books in Great Britain in 2025 but previously self-published by R. M Gray as a debut novel in 2023.  Illustrations of daggers and roses appear as motifs that are entirely applicable to the story. The dagger art on the front cover©Deiby Vargas/Shutterstock.com sets the artistic and highly visual tone of the storyline with echoes appearing symbolically as tattoos and other visuals.

A product of R. M. Gray's active imagination, Nightweaver's action, plot and setting leaps from the pirates' ocean world (which has previously been claimed for the safety of pirates and humanity) to gothic Bludgrave Manor in the Tamed Lands (which have been claimed by the sinister Nightweavers) on the shore of Ink Haven. Our heroine, seventeen- year-old pirate Aster Oberon, has been living a pirate life safe from the Nightweavers who are mystical beings with elemental powers who rule the land. There is an epic battle at sea and the Oberon family are defeated and forced to live on land with the Nightweavers who generously offer employment on their estate. Nothing and noone is as they appear it seems... There is elemental, brutal and supernatural violence of vampire-like monsters, the untamed powers of nightweavers, the violence of villagers and medieval type princes and the ordinary, cut-throat violence of pirates. The Nightweavers have been cursed in the past and the monsters who are on the hunt are so much worse than them. In stark relief to the violence are delightful mythical pixies and unicorns who inhabit an arborial area of the manor and the love between the pirate family members. There are references to a supreme being and much reference to symbolism which is important to the plot. 

Although the setting is hundreds of years in the past (medieval aspects), Nightweaver somehow suggests a dystopian future - a world that has been plunged into chaos. Humanity are reduced to slavery to the new order of cruel beings.

The love interest is well-written. There is a sweet and powerful budding, forbidden romance between the determined female main character, Aster and Will, the morally grey male main character. It's a "dancing with the enemy" situation which is morally repugnant to Aster but strangely accepted by her proud, tightly-knit pirate family. Character development is slow burning and well written making the reader turn those pages.

Nightweaver is an absorbing and demanding read- an amalgam of characteristics of Pirates of the Caribbean, The book of Revelations, Star Wars, many books of contemporary fantasy and even the book of Esther. Aster is, like Esther, quite the archetypical brave and courageous woman who never gives up, has a special, yet-to-be-developed power and uses her pivotal role within a royal court to save her people. R.M Gray concludes her acknowledgements with a reference to Esther 4:14.

Dark and violent- sometimes almost to excess, Nightweaver is full of brutality and political intrigue. The reader is drawn close to Aster, as the story develops from her perspective. She suffers through many devastating twists and heartbreaks which test what she has wholeheartedly believed in all her life. Her belief in family, herself and the world as she knows it are severely rocked.  

R.M Gray has allowed her characters to emerge partially and incrementally in Nightweaver in such a manner that the reader will really want to know what is in store for them; for Aster and Will of course - but what about Henry... a "dark horse" and Margaret... etc. The sequel to Nightweaver will probably be full of more dangerous and upsetting twists and painful betrayals, keeping readers on their toes.

Themes: Pirates, Magic, Fantasy, Romance, Loyalty, Morality.

Wendy Jeffrey