Nightschool: The Weirn Books Collector's Edition, Vol. 2

Nightschool: The Weirn Books #3-4

by Svetlana Chmakova

This volume will incorporate Books 3 & 4

Schools may lock up for the night, but class is in session for an entirely different set of students. In the Nightschool, vampires, werewolves, and weirns (a particular breed of witches) learn the fundamentals of everything from calculus to spell casting. Alex is a young weirn whose education has always been handled through homeschooling, but circumstances seem to be drawing her closer to the Nightschool. Will Alex manage to weather the dark forces gathering?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fiction

435 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2020

About the author

Svetlana Chmakova (Russian: Светлана Шмакова) (born 1979 in Russia) is a comic creator. She is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other work includes the 2-page The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic. Though born in Russia, she immigrated to Canada, where she graduated from the Sheridan College Classical Animation program, in 2002. She then began to publish her manga on the Internet, where her works were found by CosmoGirl! magazine.

Reviews

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this story hard to follow. I caught up by the end but it was confusing for me. I like the characters and the idea that the "good guys" have issues to overcome but they try to do right. The illustrations were very hard to see what was happening a lot of the time...but beautifully drawn. Jaq and her friends have underestimated the power of the Shifters who are killing innocent kids. They can't fight against them with any degree of strength. Jaq's sister goes missing along with others so she's on a mission to find her. They do research to get a clue where she might be held if she isn't dead already. Mr. Roi tries to train Alex to control her powers which are very strong but not being used to their potential. Can Alex focus on finding Jaq's sister and the others before it's too late?

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fan of extended fight scenes especially in manga rendered in black and white. With so much emphasis put on showing how extreme the fighting is with all those lines it's easy to lose track of who is who or even what a character's name is. That's especially true of a book that's now only two volume and the second one starts with the fight.

At long last the battle with the hunters and then their recovery is over and the last one hundred or so pages can pivot back to Alex's problem. Her story is what got me reading in the first place.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm...

[Snickt Snackt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy the energy that the characters have, and even though I don't feel that the story wraps up many, if any, of its storylines, the groundwork and suggestions are all there for a much larger world. I'm really enjoying the world-building and I hope that there will be more exploration of all the hints and references that has been scattered throughout the four books.

While an enjoyable ride, reading both collections feels like stepping into a prologue of a much larger world. It has been over a decade since another book has been added to the series, so I'm not holding my breath for more. But what I've gotten to read, I have enjoyed.

[SugarKitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars! It just keeps getting better and better! These books from this series, are the best books I've read so far!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read more graphic novel reviews at The Graphic Library.

Alex continues her search for her sister, and only a select few people can remember her. She gets help from a few other students who decide to recreate the gate spell, but this will be painstaking and take a lot of effort. Meanwhile, Teacher ferrets out the one who betrayed the hunters, and he moves his group into a safe house with Mr. Roi, the eccentric teacher who has also been giving extra lessons to Alex. We also learn about Nereshai, an ancient race of extremely powerful magic users, and the Sohrem, a group of powerful magical beings who have begun searching for new hosts within the school building. Centuries ago, the Nereshai sealed the Sohrem, but that seal has been broken, and it's up to the students and teachers to put everything right and bring home those who have been forgotten.

This series has a large cast of characters, and some of them don't come into their own until this second collected volume. The ending is extremely rushed and uses some cheap time travel to solve the problems built throughout the series. Some of the questions still stand - what's going to happen to the hunters? Is Alex going to continue being homeschooled? Alex and one of the other characters have magical ailments that can hurt or kill those around them, and nothing has been done for either of them. Chmakova teases at the end that there might be more books in this series, but given that it originally published a decade ago, it seems unlikely. However, this series could definitely support more volumes to explain some of the threads left unwoven at the end.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the artwork. And I'm so happy to finally have been able to read all the books - I came across volume 1 in a manga library at Anime Central a few years back and kept meaning to track the series down. And then, there it was, in two collector volumes, at the bookstore!

So, there were some things I wasn't as much a fan of. There are enough hints of the world to keep up with the story, but there were details I badly wanted to know that only turned up in a quick, two-page summary/glossary at the end of the series. And at times, the fight scenes got a little hard to follow, at least for me. I would love to know more about some of the characters, but you just don't get time to really know many of them, with such a short series.

Still, it was a very entertaining read and I'm happy to have it in my collection now.

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series but the action scenes near the end confused the crap out of me. I still don’t fully understand what the Sohrem was...? The ending was left open too... I feel like I would like this series more if it explained things in a better way. There seemed to be a lot of characters but not too much about each of them. It was hard to connect to them. I did enjoy the reunion between all the sisters though. That made me happy.


If you are looking to read this series, I highly recommend these collector’s editions. They’re published by Yen Press and the quality is great. It’s literally the same size/quality of the Yen Press Fruits Basket volumes.

[Hadiqa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to see both the volumes in one book. Great artwork too. I think it would've been nice to see a page on characters and their names and a short intro. I enjoyed volume 4 the most among both. The surprise about Alex's personality was a very interesting and fun part.

I think this series would gel with middle graders more (since that's the targeted audience). For my age, it seems ok but I do think the art was better than the plot.

[Robert Pierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one took me longer than it probably should’ve I just really was an end of the story I remember reading part of the first one when I was younger and really liking it though it’s not as good as I remember I just found the characters to be kind of flat the story to be kind of basic not really my cup of tea.

[Parker Nunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I yapped plenty in my review of the first one, in this one I’ll mention that time in freshman year a girl asked what I was reading and I think I tried to explain it and either made her very interested or scared her off, who’s to say!

[Michelle Mease · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this manga. It was a fun, fast read.

[Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

*4.5/5

[Kali · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ending still leaves questions unanswered

[Ela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even better than the last book and I tjink the art really shined.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there was more :( I really enjoyed this story and the characters. I want more!

[Karrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hope there's more!