"I am not evil. [...] I am a Yin, but I am not evil, or vile or wretched. It is a shame that you automatically stereotype against us. Just because I'm a Yin, Lit Sek is an orc and Kardama is wearing a dark cloak, it does not mean we are evil. In fact, we are the very opposite at the moment."
—Nocte Yin (Book 4, Chapter 7)
Nocte Yin is a Fantasy series by Zhen Xue Qing
. It follows the life of the exasperated Nocte, whose family is one of Erisire’s most prominent villain clans. In the first book, she's sent to Evil Academy to learn how to follow in her parents' footsteps.
There is just one problem: Nocte doesn't want to be evil.
Despite this, she ends up adventuring and collecting several friends and Friendly Enemies, on both sides of the law.
The series currently consists of five books, two companion short stories, and a prequel:
- Nocte Yin (2006)
- Nocte Yin: How to be Evil 101 (2006)
- Nocte Yin: Confessions of a Villian-in-the-Making (2006)
- Nocte Yin: A Hero Wannabe? (2007)
- Nocte Yin: Anti-Villain, Anti-Hero and Anti-Everything Else (2008-Ongoing, Probably Dead)
- Your Lady Yin (2010)
- The Boy Emperor and His Labyrinth (2010)
- 13|thirteen (2012-Dead)
This series provides examples of:
- Academy of Evil: Evil Academy and Bane Academy.
- Action Mom: Malise Yin.
- Action Pet: Yông and Xiông are definitely Yin pets.
- A-Cup Angst: Nocte has a minor case, especially when comparing herself to her family.
- Badass Family: The Yin family.
- Badass Bookworm
- Bad Powers, Good People: Nocte’s Path is the most morally questionable we’ve seen yet and she was born with the Death Glare, but she’s adamant about being a nice person.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Nocte, especially back in the first book when no one expected it yet.
- Aman is a very sweet person, but she doesn’t have that mace because it looks pretty.
- Doctor is the kindest and most unassuming of his friends, but once you get to the fifth book…
- Big "NO!": Played for Laughs when Nocte does it at the prospect of climbing a mountain.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Savvy Deadwood.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: This line from the fourth book:Nocte: "I know I heard you, but that's so Out of Character, and this is only chapter 6, so how does that work?"
- Bucket Booby-Trap: For the casual everyday bullying. May contain leeches.
- Card-Carrying Villain: All of them. Being a villain is a career.
- Villain Cred: Is important, considering villainy is a career.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Half the cast gets a moment or two. Nocte once lampshades it in the fifth book when Farhat seems completely unbothered by the possible death of pretty much everyone.
- Child Prodigy: Dire Yin.
- Combat Pragmatist: With as many fights as Nocte gets into, it was only a matter of time.
- Cultured Badass: Bloodstone has yet to properly fight, but you can bet he will have that glass of wine with him when he does.
- Dark Is Evil: Black is always in season for villains, and Evil Academy’s uniform deliberately invokes it. Although Nocte and Pyralis, at least, count as Dark Is Not Evil.
- Deadpan Snarker: Nocte again, most notably in the third book, which she narrates.
- Death Glare: A literal example. It takes a while for Nocte to appreciate the ability.
- Depraved Bisexual: Succubus Bloodstone has shades of this. Incubus isn’t quite as bad... probably.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Combined with a prophecy, it’s much of the plot of the fifth book.
- Prophetic Fallacy: In the fifth book there is a Great Evil, assisted by the Darkness, who’s supposed to kill humanity. Some people pick up Nocte, thinking she’s the Darkness, and Nocte comes to the same conclusion after hearing the prophecy. Towards the end of Part One, we find out that Nocte suffered from another case of
Designated Villain that even she forgot to question. In truth, she’s not involved in the prophecy at all!
- Prophetic Fallacy: In the fifth book there is a Great Evil, assisted by the Darkness, who’s supposed to kill humanity. Some people pick up Nocte, thinking she’s the Darkness, and Nocte comes to the same conclusion after hearing the prophecy. Towards the end of Part One, we find out that Nocte suffered from another case of
- Enemy Mine: Happens several times, most successfully at the end of the first book.
- Enfant Terrible: Naturally, all villain children. You don’t want to meet Occult in a dark alley.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It’s what makes the Hêi and the First Family of the Yin special.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Paine is a perfect, flawless villain, so cheating is beneath him.
- Evil Old Folks: The Yin Elders.
- The Fair Folk: In the fifth book.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Xon is Erisire’s equivalent of the Far East and in the fifth book, we get an actual comparison of which place on Erisire approximates which on Earth.
- Feuding Families: Common between the Evil Clans. A good example would be the Yins and the Paines.
- Fire-Forged Friends: How Nocte acquired about half her friends and not-quite-enemies.
- Functional Magic: Just about every type is used by someone.
- Genius Bruiser: Nocte has an average of 80 in exams and it’s heavily implied that the rest of her siblings are even better.
- Genre Savvy: It’s always the basement.
- The Grim Reaper: There are enough that they have a High and a Low Council. They uniformly wear Black Cloaks and have Sinister Scythes, but Death himself is the only skeletal one.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Farhat of the Low Council becomes one of Nocte’s closest friends and in the fifth book, she also offers Death her friendship.
- Hero Academy: Carmel and Hero Academy.
- Heroic BSoD: Nocte during the second book and again during the third.
- Hot Witch: Especially Malise, Ebony and Melantha Paine.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Notably, the only person who has used one yet is Paine.
- Kraken and Leviathan: A leviathan shows up in the fourth book and becomes Nocte’s bond creature.
- Kung-Fu Wizard and Magic Knight: Depending on what the villain or hero specializes in, it is possible that they will learn martial arts, weaponry and magic.
- Lady of War: Malise, Ebony, Melantha, Xiâng Huâ and some others.
- Life Energy: Control over both Life Energy and “Death Energy” is necessary for a resurrection.
- Light Is Good: Hero Academy even has a white uniform. Funnily enough, the Yang Clan counts more as Light Is Not Good, despite the name.
- Lightning Bruiser: Several major characters, particularly Powerhouses.
- Living Aphrodisiac: Both Bloodstones, but especially Incubus. His pheromones can warp the atmosphere in a room and make girls faint just by seeing him.
- Living Lie Detector: One of the many things Nocte was trained in when she was young.
- Lovable Traitor: One of Noir’s major motivations at any given time is how much something will entertain him. Apparently, Nocte dying wouldn’t be much fun, though abusing her is fine.
- Mad Scientist: Umbra Yin
- Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Don’t mess with Malise and Umbra’s children.
- Master Swordsman: Shea.
- The Medic: Corliss
- Combat Medic: Doctor Lucent
- Necromancer: Both Great-Aunt Nox and Nocte (who’s a sympathetic example).
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Nocte has this a lot, thanks to her family.
- Old Master: The Yin Elders are feared for a reason and Great-Grandfather Tao sure didn’t break a sweat when he summoned that Xonese dragon.
- Great-Grandmother Lian only needed a split second to seal several of Nocte’s chakra points.
- One-Man Army: After her training in the beginning of the fourth book, Nocte has become this. Several other characters also count, though some have yet to properly show it.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The Noir appear to be a clan of werewolves with Super-Toughness.
- The Nose Knows: For tracking someone by smell
- Our Vampires Are Different: They’re mostly the traditional variant, but Blackthorn is always called a living vampire. This has yet to be explained.
- Portal Network: Gates exist between most cities, towns and more. There are also Gate Keys, which connect to Gates from wherever the user is.
- Pragmatic Hero: Nocte again
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: An impressive one for Nocte at the end of the fourth book.
- Sadist Teacher: Several of Evil Academy’s teachers, unsurprisingly, but especially Aadi.
- Selkies and Wereseals: The Freesia are selkies, although they have only appeared in human form up until now.
- Significant Birth Date: Nocte Yin was born on Friday, October 13th at midnight under a full moon, so naturally her parents had high expectations for her.
- Specs of Awesome: Umbra, Paine and eventually Nocte.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Nocte Yin, daughter of the greatest Evil Clan in Erisire, and Delano Yang, son of the greatest Hero Clan in Erisire.
- The Stoic: Paine, Umbra, Dire, Ohanzee and Morven. Self-control is a very valuable ability, considering their social standing and work.
- Stoic Spectacles: The first two.
- Not So Stoic: Dire has some moments.
- Theme Naming: The Hero Powerhouses (Prosperitas, Freesia, Lucent and Yang) count and villains have often both Obviously Evil first and last names (Necrosis Paine, anyone?). Often crosses over with Names to Run Away from Really Fast.
- Took a Level in Badass: Pretty much everyone, but Nocte’s training in the fourth book is most noticeable.
- Tough Love: Gets heaped on Nocte to make her stronger. It works.
- Truce Zone: Both villains and heroes are allowed in neutral places. Shops in Macella, for example, have things for everyone.
- Unwitting Pawn: In the second book, Nocte, to her own family no less!
- Villainous Friendship: Paine and Noir Type I since the fourth book.
- Villains Out Shopping: Well, they can’t plot nefarious schemes all the time.
- Wild Card: It’s sometimes impossible to tell whether Noir is on Nocte’s side or not, not to mention that he will ally himself with just about anyone.
- Wuxia: Many elements are drawn from this. It especially applies to the four great martial-art sects.
