Dark, edgy, disturbing and wholly original, this graphic novel deals with a family of witches. Puissant and secretive (although you have to wonder how much of them is a secret when the whole town suspects them of being devil worshippers), they look out for each other. Then something attacks.
Emily (who prefers Emsy) is living a great life in California. She’s got best friends, a girlfriend, sun, sand and surfing. Then her family tells her there’s been an “incident” and they have to go back home. You have to wonder at adults who describe a savage mauling with the same word used for a fistfight at school.
Emsy is a witch, a pyrokinetic, a fact she’s known about since she was a child. When you can spark flames from your fingers, it’s not something that can be swept under the rug. Operating on the assumption that everybody in your world knows about witches and witchcraft and has magical abilities means the tale is radically different from someone who’s grown up entirely ignorant.
It doesn’t mean that Emsy’s happy about being dragged to New York. She reacts with the move with typical adolescent fury. She either pouts, sulks, shouts, argues, ignores her parents and texts obsessively with her friends back home. Her transition isn’t helped by the moody Ben, the boy who lost his entire family a suspected death witch. Ben’s hostility makes Emsy’s sullenness pale by comparison.
There’s dark magic, homework, alienation and secretive adults with their own agenda. Soon, everyone is keeping secrets from everyone else, with the usual short oblique responses that mean the opposite from what they say. People state they’re fine when they’re anything but and others say “nothing” when they’re asked what’s wrong or what they’re doing.
The various concealments (except for the magic—at one point it seems EVERYBODY knows about it!) builds to a head until the evil=doer is lured into the open…and it was a definite shock to find out who was responsible for Ben becoming an orphan.
I adored the illustrations, the realistic features of the people, the color palettes, the vibrancy of the action. I liked Kit Seaton’s work in “Wonder Woman: Warbringer” and “Brightly Woven” and I’m thrilled to experience it here. I have added her to my growing list of favorite illustrators and hope you will as well.
This is a great graphic novel for lovers of fantasy and the supernatural. It’s a standalone novel and I think we can leave it at that. No need to make it into a long, drawn-out series. Sometimes defeating one bad guy is enough.
Emily (who prefers Emsy) is living a great life in California. She’s got best friends, a girlfriend, sun, sand and surfing. Then her family tells her there’s been an “incident” and they have to go back home. You have to wonder at adults who describe a savage mauling with the same word used for a fistfight at school.
Emsy is a witch, a pyrokinetic, a fact she’s known about since she was a child. When you can spark flames from your fingers, it’s not something that can be swept under the rug. Operating on the assumption that everybody in your world knows about witches and witchcraft and has magical abilities means the tale is radically different from someone who’s grown up entirely ignorant.
It doesn’t mean that Emsy’s happy about being dragged to New York. She reacts with the move with typical adolescent fury. She either pouts, sulks, shouts, argues, ignores her parents and texts obsessively with her friends back home. Her transition isn’t helped by the moody Ben, the boy who lost his entire family a suspected death witch. Ben’s hostility makes Emsy’s sullenness pale by comparison.
There’s dark magic, homework, alienation and secretive adults with their own agenda. Soon, everyone is keeping secrets from everyone else, with the usual short oblique responses that mean the opposite from what they say. People state they’re fine when they’re anything but and others say “nothing” when they’re asked what’s wrong or what they’re doing.
The various concealments (except for the magic—at one point it seems EVERYBODY knows about it!) builds to a head until the evil=doer is lured into the open…and it was a definite shock to find out who was responsible for Ben becoming an orphan.
I adored the illustrations, the realistic features of the people, the color palettes, the vibrancy of the action. I liked Kit Seaton’s work in “Wonder Woman: Warbringer” and “Brightly Woven” and I’m thrilled to experience it here. I have added her to my growing list of favorite illustrators and hope you will as well.
This is a great graphic novel for lovers of fantasy and the supernatural. It’s a standalone novel and I think we can leave it at that. No need to make it into a long, drawn-out series. Sometimes defeating one bad guy is enough.