Nightweaver by R.M. Gray
Set in an alternate world that combines the Gilded Age with the Golden Age of Piracy, where what remains of humankind has been driven out to sea, R.M. Gray’s Nightweaver tells the story of 17-year-old Violet Oberon, a cursed pirate with a mysterious past.
After a lifetime of hiding from bloodthirsty monsters, Violet is captured and forced to team up with the notorious Nightweaver, Will Castor, a magic-wielding lord and heir to the estate where Violet and her family are hired into service.
Together, Violet and Will set out to hunt the shadow creature that killed her eldest brother. But when strange things start happening around the estate, Violet discovers the killer is already hunting her — and it’s leaving a trail of bodies in its wake.
We had the chance to ask author R.M. Gray more about her writing process and the world of Nightweaver.
Q: What inspired you to write this book?
A: I’m a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan, and something I’ve always loved about those movies is how seamlessly the supernatural and the fantastical are woven into the plot. With Nightweaver, I wanted to create a world that reflects a sort of recognizable but still ambiguous time in our own history, but that feels new and exciting. When I first started working on the story, I wanted to know what a world with pirates and magic would look like, and I was inspired by an idea I had for a world like Pirates of the Caribbean, but much darker, and with traditional fantasy elements that you don’t often see coinciding with pirate lore.
Q: How did you go about creating the world of Nightweaver?
A: It all started with the word, “Nightweaver.” Once I’d decided on the name of the beings that had attacked Violet’s family, the world of Nightweaver took on a life of its own. I’m inspired by everything I’ve ever loved, and I wanted to draw from bits of mythology, vampire lore and elemental magic systems, but give those things a fresh spin, so that the reader might go, “okay, so it’s like this, but not quite.” The story is grim at times, but I also wanted it to feel cozy and enchanting, and so while there might be gruesome monsters, there’s also unicorns and pixies, and playing with those juxtapositions helped me build the world of Nightweaver.
Q: What can you tell us about the main characters, Violet and William?
A: Violet is fiercely loyal, stubborn and determined. She’s brave, but not in the way that you think she isn’t afraid — she’s afraid all the time, but she’s willing to do just about anything to keep her family safe. She loves deeply, and when she loses her brother, she sets out on a quest for vengeance in which she learns about herself and what she wants for her own life.
William is the opposite of everything Violet expected of Nightweavers. He’s charming and kind, and he’s also extremely loyal to his family, which early on, even when Violet doesn’t necessarily trust him, she respects him for that. But Will is a mystery, and he has plenty of secrets to be uncovered.
Q: What other writers have served as inspirations for your work?
A: Where to begin? Gail Carson Levine, the author of my favorite book, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, wrote a book called Writing Magic that was pivotal to me when I first decided I wanted to pursue being a writer. Another author whose work I adore is Jodi Lynn Anderson, who wrote my second favorite book, Tiger Lily. She has a talent for drawing from popular lore like Peter Pan and telling the story in a completely new way, which I love. Lastly, the series Splintered by A.G. Howard is a masterpiece. The lush, dark Wonderland in those books both terrifies me and makes me want to fall down the rabbit hole and never resurface.
Q: This book is a romance, but the story is about so much more than that — mystery, myth, legends, magic and beasts. What role does family play in the story?
A: Family plays a major role in the story of Nightweaver. I come from a big family, and that’s something I don’t often see portrayed, especially in YA. But I think the dynamics between siblings are fascinating, and in Nightweaver, the Oberon family is a tight-knit group of individuals who are ready to leap to each other’s defense at the first sign of danger. Of course, after the loss of their brother, each member of the family deals with their grief in different ways, and I wanted to explore how, as it is in real life, that kind of experience can either bring a family closer together or tear them apart.
Q: What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
A: If there’s one thing I’d want a reader to take with them after finishing Nightweaver, it would be this: believe in yourself. Life is all about labels, and people will try to define you your whole life, but you have to remember who you are, and no matter what, never let anyone keep you from chasing your dream. We might not get to be pirates in a fantasy world, but even if we’re not facing monsters at work or school or at home, everyone can take a page from Violet’s book and decide to chart their own course, stay true to themselves, to love fiercely, be brave, dream big, and choose to be a light in the darkness.
About R.M. Gray:
Author and full-time mac and cheese enthusiast, R.M. Gray, hails from a quaint Texas town best known for its soda, shiplap and mammoth graveyards. She lives beside a field of bluebonnets with her film-fanatic husband and two giant dogs, where she enjoys writing stories about pirates, magic, mystery and all things fantastical. A self-proclaimed expert at whistling and a dedicated collector of lightsabers, she spends her days drinking too much Earl Grey tea, re-watching old cartoons and thinking up new ways to break her readers’ hearts.
