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Nightschool: The Weirn Books #1
Nightschool: The Weirn Books, Vol. 1
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?
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
257 people are currently reading
3820 people want to read
About the author
Svetlana Chmakova
29 books1,612 followersSvetlana 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 236 reviews
July 26, 2014
I bumped this up my to-read list after really enjoying Chmakova's contribution to Flight, Vol. 5.
Based on the description I was expecting it be a bit different. That expectation continued through the first few pages, where three girls leaving school late after club activities come within moments of discovering that a secret supernatural school uses their campus at night (night starts at 6 pm, apparently, which does seem to be cutting a bit close). But in fact, those girls are irrelevant; you'll never seen them again. Why start it that way? I dunno. Seemed a weak lead-in.
But the manga overall is fine. Not amazing, but good. My favorite plot element was not the school and students but the administrator's younger sister, who is homeschooled due to some unspecified but dangerous magical condition. She has a strange, cookie-loving astral creature who is supposed to keep her out of trouble but doesn't.
I thought the art was quite good. It was unusually easy to keep the characters straight.
The plot ends on a cliffhanger (which I'm gathering is pretty common with manga; it must just be coincidence that I'd largely read more episodic ones) so I hope to get volume two soon.
Based on the description I was expecting it be a bit different. That expectation continued through the first few pages, where three girls leaving school late after club activities come within moments of discovering that a secret supernatural school uses their campus at night (night starts at 6 pm, apparently, which does seem to be cutting a bit close). But in fact, those girls are irrelevant; you'll never seen them again. Why start it that way? I dunno. Seemed a weak lead-in.
But the manga overall is fine. Not amazing, but good. My favorite plot element was not the school and students but the administrator's younger sister, who is homeschooled due to some unspecified but dangerous magical condition. She has a strange, cookie-loving astral creature who is supposed to keep her out of trouble but doesn't.
I thought the art was quite good. It was unusually easy to keep the characters straight.
The plot ends on a cliffhanger (which I'm gathering is pretty common with manga; it must just be coincidence that I'd largely read more episodic ones) so I hope to get volume two soon.
October 28, 2019
To finish this pile of comic reviews I guess I’ll review this one. One that I hear is getting more popular... but I don’t get why.
What’s it about?
Basically there’s this school that supernatural creatures go to at night after the regular students leave. There’s also people hunting these supernatural creatures.
Pros:
The art is nice. I usually like fun manga art and yeah, this is definitely fun manga art.
This book is not too predictable.
There’s a few action scenes despite the more family friendly tone and they’re actually still kinda bad-ass, good job there.
Another surprise for how mostly family friendly this comic is, the horror stuff is actually pretty good.
Cons:
The story. It’s honestly kinda lame. At first I thought it sounded neat but in the end I guess this book can’t really make me care about how monsters go to school.
The characters have very little personality. Basically they’re just... there.
This book is meant to be a bit of a comedy and while it made me chuckle a few times it’s mostly kinda cheesy, dumb humor. Maybe I would have appreciated the silliness if I was actually expecting a comedy?
This book is unfortunately a bit boring at times. Those exciting bits of action or horror are kinda brief and I wasn’t into the rest of it so yeah...
Not a fan of the cheesy dialogue.
The panel layout reads like a western comic, not a manga. That’s annoying and confused me in the beginning since this is meant to be a manga and there’s nothing letting you know.
There is a severe lack in world building. They really just have various things about this world show up, no real explanation of anything.
Overall:
This book isn’t terrible, however if someone were to ask if I like or dislike it, I’d still have to say dislike.
I don’t care for this one. It might be fun for some people, especially in the 10-14 age range but I really don’t get why I’ve seen a bit more hype towards it recently.
Not for me.
2/5
What’s it about?
Basically there’s this school that supernatural creatures go to at night after the regular students leave. There’s also people hunting these supernatural creatures.
Pros:
The art is nice. I usually like fun manga art and yeah, this is definitely fun manga art.
This book is not too predictable.
There’s a few action scenes despite the more family friendly tone and they’re actually still kinda bad-ass, good job there.
Another surprise for how mostly family friendly this comic is, the horror stuff is actually pretty good.
Cons:
The story. It’s honestly kinda lame. At first I thought it sounded neat but in the end I guess this book can’t really make me care about how monsters go to school.
The characters have very little personality. Basically they’re just... there.
This book is meant to be a bit of a comedy and while it made me chuckle a few times it’s mostly kinda cheesy, dumb humor. Maybe I would have appreciated the silliness if I was actually expecting a comedy?
This book is unfortunately a bit boring at times. Those exciting bits of action or horror are kinda brief and I wasn’t into the rest of it so yeah...
Not a fan of the cheesy dialogue.
The panel layout reads like a western comic, not a manga. That’s annoying and confused me in the beginning since this is meant to be a manga and there’s nothing letting you know.
There is a severe lack in world building. They really just have various things about this world show up, no real explanation of anything.
Overall:
This book isn’t terrible, however if someone were to ask if I like or dislike it, I’d still have to say dislike.
I don’t care for this one. It might be fun for some people, especially in the 10-14 age range but I really don’t get why I’ve seen a bit more hype towards it recently.
Not for me.
2/5
December 14, 2009
The book jumps right into the story which takes some time to figure out exactly what is going on. (I highly recommend reading the summary on the back first otherwise you may not completely understand the story until you do!) This high school takes on a completely new set of students and staff each evening where teens of the night take their lessons. The story focuses on two sisters, one much older who is a teacher at the school and her younger sister, Alex, a Weirn, (a certain type of witch) who for some mysterious reason has been unable to attend school, so is being homeschooled instead. The majority of the plot though focuses on a class of vampire hunters, though they are not hunting the lame good-looking suck a little blood here and there vampires. They hunt the real thing, Rippers, who maul and kill their victims. The climax comes when a few hunters and Alex meet up with disastrous results. I admit I just dove into the book and was a bit confused until I turned the book over and read the synopsis on the back. That gave me some useful information not found in the story itself and made me more comfortable and able to enjoy the story. Artwork is typical of American manga, mostly realistic representations but uses plenty of manga techniques without overdoing it. The portrayal of homeschooling is negative and , of course, I would have preferred to see it handled in a more realistic way. I found the story very intriguing and am very interested in Alex's character and her secret. The book ends with a cliffhanger and I'm anxious to read book 2 to learn what will happen to Alex now.
Read
January 4, 2018I started to read this, then just skimmed till the end about halfway. I think there are some good concepts in here, but this book set up nothing to keep me interested. ~Ashley
January 6, 2023
Reread in 2023: Still love this series sooooo much!!
June 19, 2018
I looooove this! Spooky supernatural high school drama is my JAM.
April 2, 2013
It was unlike any book about supernaturals I've ever read--really unique and cool! :)
December 20, 2017
Funny. Spooky. Loved it.
November 2, 2014
All in all I think this is a decent start in terms of plot, pacing and writing. It is interesting and I plan to read the second volume.
It is not the most original concept, no doubt about that, but the author makes it work and I will see what these special witch species is about and how the school here works.
You notice that this is not a Japanese manga due to the reading style from left to right and the bigger color scale of the characters. Actually it was odd that the first 5 pages of chapter 2 are all colored but the rest of the manga is black and white.
The Hunters we see here seem competent and the author does seem to know what she was writing about. Albeit I do wonder whether she will set for a more serious or rather goofy tone, she doesn't seem to be quite sure so far. A few things seem to suggest goofy, like the "my eyes are up here" argument (vampire version) in this and the vampire rights activitist (who maybe a satire of girls ala Bella Swan and Elena Gilbert) who better should not be taken seriously, and I hope she doesn't go down the road of saying the hunter with the common sense is wrong.
That the character of Alex referred to that one lake as being deeper than time and colder than death (makes you wonder how the mermaids survive living in that) I let slide since the book doesn't act as if she is anything other than a klutz, but these hunters "introducing" themselves to the vampires is fucking stupid since they know each other. You can't even say it's needed for the readers since we saw all of them in chapter 1 already, even their names. But still we got a pretty good fight of them with these ripper vampires for several pages (these are hunters done right so far). However the little girl should dumb her vampire boyfriend, he didn't even tell her that these things exist (kind of convenient that they were just there). This really makes me wonder about this universe, wonder where the author will go with this. She does put some effort into the hunters e.g. they have a sort of recovery program for new vampires that seems to give them a choice. The insight into the night school is not bad, however that one teacher seems pretty arrogant (I am currently quite weary of those in fantasy) and I hope the main character doesn't become a sort of Mary Sue, the oracle from chapter 2 was already a tad too convenient, like it usually is with oracles in fantasy. However it looks so far as if her powers are not all roses.
Now I think some noticed that I have not written much about the main character and the reason is that there isn't much to say/remember about her as a character on her own. Her charm comes due to her interaction with her sister, who has more of a character in my mind, and her astral. These were memorable but she herself not so much as it seems. I even have trouble remembering her name, just like with most characters in this manga. I can clearly remember their actions and all but their names usually elude me. And they don't have complicated names or anything, some of them quite common in fact, but they don't stuck for some reason.
I hope this will change in volume 2 and the series won't turn out to be a disappointment.
It is not the most original concept, no doubt about that, but the author makes it work and I will see what these special witch species is about and how the school here works.
You notice that this is not a Japanese manga due to the reading style from left to right and the bigger color scale of the characters. Actually it was odd that the first 5 pages of chapter 2 are all colored but the rest of the manga is black and white.
The Hunters we see here seem competent and the author does seem to know what she was writing about. Albeit I do wonder whether she will set for a more serious or rather goofy tone, she doesn't seem to be quite sure so far. A few things seem to suggest goofy, like the "my eyes are up here" argument (vampire version) in this and the vampire rights activitist (who maybe a satire of girls ala Bella Swan and Elena Gilbert) who better should not be taken seriously, and I hope she doesn't go down the road of saying the hunter with the common sense is wrong.
That the character of Alex referred to that one lake as being deeper than time and colder than death (makes you wonder how the mermaids survive living in that) I let slide since the book doesn't act as if she is anything other than a klutz, but these hunters "introducing" themselves to the vampires is fucking stupid since they know each other. You can't even say it's needed for the readers since we saw all of them in chapter 1 already, even their names. But still we got a pretty good fight of them with these ripper vampires for several pages (these are hunters done right so far). However the little girl should dumb her vampire boyfriend, he didn't even tell her that these things exist (kind of convenient that they were just there). This really makes me wonder about this universe, wonder where the author will go with this. She does put some effort into the hunters e.g. they have a sort of recovery program for new vampires that seems to give them a choice. The insight into the night school is not bad, however that one teacher seems pretty arrogant (I am currently quite weary of those in fantasy) and I hope the main character doesn't become a sort of Mary Sue, the oracle from chapter 2 was already a tad too convenient, like it usually is with oracles in fantasy. However it looks so far as if her powers are not all roses.
Now I think some noticed that I have not written much about the main character and the reason is that there isn't much to say/remember about her as a character on her own. Her charm comes due to her interaction with her sister, who has more of a character in my mind, and her astral. These were memorable but she herself not so much as it seems. I even have trouble remembering her name, just like with most characters in this manga. I can clearly remember their actions and all but their names usually elude me. And they don't have complicated names or anything, some of them quite common in fact, but they don't stuck for some reason.
I hope this will change in volume 2 and the series won't turn out to be a disappointment.
June 15, 2016
So, where do Witches, Demons, Vampires and the like go when their kids? School, of course! Nightschool. Nightschool takes place in regular schools once the daytime students have all gone home, that's when the Nightschool takes over the building, portals open, spells are cast, fights break out among the students... Basically, the same as school for mortals! :D
The main character is Alex Treveney, she's a type of witch called a Weirn. She has a sister who's one of the Night Guardians for Nightschool, keeping the students in line and such.
There's a plot in the works. We're introduces to a Seer named Marina. Seems she's having visions of some big terrible plot starting up involving seven children, some mysterious thing/being that has either escaped or been released from it's magic prison, and the fate of the school, possibly the world, is at stake!
The main character is Alex Treveney, she's a type of witch called a Weirn. She has a sister who's one of the Night Guardians for Nightschool, keeping the students in line and such.
There's a plot in the works. We're introduces to a Seer named Marina. Seems she's having visions of some big terrible plot starting up involving seven children, some mysterious thing/being that has either escaped or been released from it's magic prison, and the fate of the school, possibly the world, is at stake!
February 16, 2021
I read the elementary version of Chmakova's Weirn book series and I really enjoyed it. I then discovered that she wrote a Young Adult version of the series called Nightschool. The books have the same type of setting and characters but this is definitely for older readers. The characters are fantasy creatures like vampires and weirns but there are also hunters who take center stage here. The hunters are unique because they have powers beyond any of the other creatures. However, the plot for this book involves a young girl named Alex (a weirn) whose sister takes a job at the local nightschool. Alex is homeschooled because her powers seem to be a bit out of control so she doesn't go to the school. Unfortunately, Alex's sister disappears and Alex decides to investigate with her weirn. Good read.
August 16, 2016
Uhm... I didn't quite like this one!
I mean, I liked the art. Čmakova knows her way around the page. Unfortunately, the action scenes were a bit confused.
And also the plot... There was something missing in it. It was like I was introduced into a world without all the necessary elements to understand it. Sometimes people would appear out of thin air and I didn't know where they came from or what was their role in the whole story.
Alex is a homeschooled witch who can't go to school for a mysterious reason. Her sister works in a special night school for all the supernatural creatures of the city. Then there are hunters, a seer, rippers...
I'm going to read on, though. As I wrote before, I love Čmakova works. I do hope it gets better with the following volumes.
I mean, I liked the art. Čmakova knows her way around the page. Unfortunately, the action scenes were a bit confused.
And also the plot... There was something missing in it. It was like I was introduced into a world without all the necessary elements to understand it. Sometimes people would appear out of thin air and I didn't know where they came from or what was their role in the whole story.
Alex is a homeschooled witch who can't go to school for a mysterious reason. Her sister works in a special night school for all the supernatural creatures of the city. Then there are hunters, a seer, rippers...
I'm going to read on, though. As I wrote before, I love Čmakova works. I do hope it gets better with the following volumes.
May 25, 2015
I read this with volume two so I got a more complete picture of the story that just this volume. If I'd went by this volume alone I might not have rated it quite as high.
Neither the hunters nor the night school students captured me right off so the setup was really poor. I did feel for Sarah one events hit her up and I started to have sympathy for Alex. I love Alex's shadow guy and the mystery with Alex and her reluctance to attend school.
Once we start to understand Alex and her problem things really heat up! While the look is a tad more comic than manga I enjoyed the large format drawings.
BOTTOM LINE: A cute American read.
Neither the hunters nor the night school students captured me right off so the setup was really poor. I did feel for Sarah one events hit her up and I started to have sympathy for Alex. I love Alex's shadow guy and the mystery with Alex and her reluctance to attend school.
Once we start to understand Alex and her problem things really heat up! While the look is a tad more comic than manga I enjoyed the large format drawings.
BOTTOM LINE: A cute American read.
December 31, 2018
I read this about 8 years ago and really liked it, but I never finished the series, and it had been so long at this point that I didn't remember anything about it! So I read it again, and yep, I stand by my original 4-star rating. Great art, interesting story and characters...I'm into it! And being home with some sort of stomach yuck on top of the worst insomnia ever has made for a good time to read something short and not requiring much mental effort and contributing to my (hopefully) completing my dumb reading goal at the last minute!
January 4, 2016
I was not sure what to expect when reading this, but then realized it was a graphic novel. I enjoyed that aspect as it was a quick read, but I thought the story line was a little difficult to follow. The beginning made sense, but half way through, I started to not follow the day and night shift. I think overall it was an okay book, but I do not have any desire to continue reading.
April 17, 2025
3.5 stars rounded down
A series that could've been a five star series that wasn't planned well and ended far too fast and rushed. Truly tragic - it was a cool world, diverse characters, interesting premise, but didn't fulfill its potential.
A series that could've been a five star series that wasn't planned well and ended far too fast and rushed. Truly tragic - it was a cool world, diverse characters, interesting premise, but didn't fulfill its potential.
April 8, 2015
At last! A 5* comic for this year!
The drawings were A-mazing and the characters so well presented! I'm very intrigued by the story and I must say I can't wait to read the others.
The drawings were A-mazing and the characters so well presented! I'm very intrigued by the story and I must say I can't wait to read the others.
December 22, 2020
Fun middle school memories :) I’ve probably read this single volume a million times. It was nice to revisit
August 2, 2025
I was going to start this review by saying how nostalgic the art style feels and then I realise this was published in 2010. So that makes complete sense. The style of the characters reminded me of Totally Spies, which is one of the highest compliments you can give art style if you ask me. No other show was putting so much effort into character design.
As we all know by now, I love anything witchy, horror or monster-esque – especially graphic novels. They’re always the best visually, in my opinion. The vampires in particular were really cool. Not the human looking ones, the ones that were just pure darkness. I will say the action scenes were a little hard to distinguish what was going on because there was just so much happening on the page.
Something I’m never a fan of is books jumping into the story straightaway. You’re quite literally thrown into this world of Nightschool without a lot of build up. Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long to understand what’s going on, but just know that the pacing is very fast and you don’t get a lot of character introduction. I’m still not entirely sure why Alex isn’t allowed to attend the school. She’s clearly quite powerful as she takes down three people on her own, without even knowing what she’s doing, but the reasons for her not being
But speaking of the school, what a cool idea. A normal highschool is rented out at night to witches, vampires and werewolves so they can learn spell casting and very normal lessons like maths. The thought of a vampire doing algebra is quite funny to me.
There’s also hunters, just like most books with creatures of the night. This storyline was a little more confusing to follow as they seem to have some kind of powers themselves but they also don’t like other creatures with powers. Maybe this will make more sense in the second volume, which I will definitely check out at some point.
As we all know by now, I love anything witchy, horror or monster-esque – especially graphic novels. They’re always the best visually, in my opinion. The vampires in particular were really cool. Not the human looking ones, the ones that were just pure darkness. I will say the action scenes were a little hard to distinguish what was going on because there was just so much happening on the page.
Something I’m never a fan of is books jumping into the story straightaway. You’re quite literally thrown into this world of Nightschool without a lot of build up. Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long to understand what’s going on, but just know that the pacing is very fast and you don’t get a lot of character introduction. I’m still not entirely sure why Alex isn’t allowed to attend the school. She’s clearly quite powerful as she takes down three people on her own, without even knowing what she’s doing, but the reasons for her not being
But speaking of the school, what a cool idea. A normal highschool is rented out at night to witches, vampires and werewolves so they can learn spell casting and very normal lessons like maths. The thought of a vampire doing algebra is quite funny to me.
There’s also hunters, just like most books with creatures of the night. This storyline was a little more confusing to follow as they seem to have some kind of powers themselves but they also don’t like other creatures with powers. Maybe this will make more sense in the second volume, which I will definitely check out at some point.
May 10, 2021
Allis is a weirn, a witch with a demon guardian. She attends school to learn about magic and also has to juggle her family, life as a weirn, and friendships. While out with her friends, they saw a light on in an old school that children disappeared from. Her cousin disappears, so now they all have to find her.
Chemkova wrote and illustrated other wonderful middle-grade books in the Berrybrook Middle School series. (Awkward, Brave, Crush and Diary) In this first volume of a new middle-grade comic series, the Night Realm is a place populated by shifters, vampires, and weirns. Other creatures that appear human live there as well as actual humans. Even so, the children still have to go to school! There are all the usual middle school drama pieces here, with friends and frenemies and nemeses, studying for tests and trying to do specialized training classes. Even if they don't have an astral of their own, kids will still appreciate the struggles of school and friendships. They know to avoid the creepy house in the woods and generally follow the rule until kids disappear again.
I love the art style, and the little touches that show how astrals protect their bonded witches. When it rains, they become umbrellas or will become spiky when a strange figure is stalking the witch. The story is revealed slowly, and the kids are very resourceful and brave in the face of danger. This is a great start to the series, with a final page that tells us that everything is not as calm or safe as the children all think it is.
Chemkova wrote and illustrated other wonderful middle-grade books in the Berrybrook Middle School series. (Awkward, Brave, Crush and Diary) In this first volume of a new middle-grade comic series, the Night Realm is a place populated by shifters, vampires, and weirns. Other creatures that appear human live there as well as actual humans. Even so, the children still have to go to school! There are all the usual middle school drama pieces here, with friends and frenemies and nemeses, studying for tests and trying to do specialized training classes. Even if they don't have an astral of their own, kids will still appreciate the struggles of school and friendships. They know to avoid the creepy house in the woods and generally follow the rule until kids disappear again.
I love the art style, and the little touches that show how astrals protect their bonded witches. When it rains, they become umbrellas or will become spiky when a strange figure is stalking the witch. The story is revealed slowly, and the kids are very resourceful and brave in the face of danger. This is a great start to the series, with a final page that tells us that everything is not as calm or safe as the children all think it is.
May 22, 2019
I quite liked this one.
Lately I have been giving myself time to read English books that I just want to read, not that I need to read, but just want to for sheer pleasure, not to learn anything, right before I go to bed. This is a bit of a problem because then I get into them and don't go to sleep when I should...
Fortunately, these are quite short and quite easy to I'm only off by an hour or so. Unfortunately, this particular series ends on such cliff hangers that I tend to go further than planned. Take last night for example. For the past two nights I have read one Chmakova comic before going to bed. But then last night, I started this series. I thought it was extremely interesting. I really wanted to know what was going to happen with Sarah. So I read on. And read on.
I finished two last night. I will review the 2nd one later.
Don't do this to me! I need my sleep!
The world is intriguing. The magic is intriguing. The society and the social rules and norms are intriguing. It's funny how she can with just a few pictures and less than 50 words a page somehow manage to create a whole new society and system of morality that none the less doesn't involve characters preaching at each other. Gah. Sorry, more of a reaction to the Becky Chambers book than anything else. It's like, "See!?! It's possible to build a new society without having your characters piously pontificate at each other constantly."
Lately I have been giving myself time to read English books that I just want to read, not that I need to read, but just want to for sheer pleasure, not to learn anything, right before I go to bed. This is a bit of a problem because then I get into them and don't go to sleep when I should...
Fortunately, these are quite short and quite easy to I'm only off by an hour or so. Unfortunately, this particular series ends on such cliff hangers that I tend to go further than planned. Take last night for example. For the past two nights I have read one Chmakova comic before going to bed. But then last night, I started this series. I thought it was extremely interesting. I really wanted to know what was going to happen with Sarah. So I read on. And read on.
I finished two last night. I will review the 2nd one later.
Don't do this to me! I need my sleep!
The world is intriguing. The magic is intriguing. The society and the social rules and norms are intriguing. It's funny how she can with just a few pictures and less than 50 words a page somehow manage to create a whole new society and system of morality that none the less doesn't involve characters preaching at each other. Gah. Sorry, more of a reaction to the Becky Chambers book than anything else. It's like, "See!?! It's possible to build a new society without having your characters piously pontificate at each other constantly."
May 6, 2020
When these first started hitting the shelves after DramaCon concluded, I remember being very excited to try reading them, and then just never having the opportunity. I don't know what got knocked loose in my memory just a few weeks ago that caused me to hunt down the series, but I'm so glad I did, and now I can proudly say I own all four books and have read the first one. And GEEZ, have I missed Svetlana's art and sense of humor!
For starters, let me just say that it is going to be quite the experience reading these, because this dark supernatural/urban fantasy is quite the contrast to DramaCon's contemporary angst/romance with the "anime convention culture" backdrop. I like it though, and I look forward to seeing how different her storytelling range can be! I already enjoy a great many of the characters, and this plot definitely feels like it's starting out multi-layered (where DramaCon didn't reach that until volume 2, and even then, we didn't really see that in full until the final volume,) and will take its time in connecting the plot threads. Again though, I'm looking forward to it, because this is already such a promising first volume!
For starters, let me just say that it is going to be quite the experience reading these, because this dark supernatural/urban fantasy is quite the contrast to DramaCon's contemporary angst/romance with the "anime convention culture" backdrop. I like it though, and I look forward to seeing how different her storytelling range can be! I already enjoy a great many of the characters, and this plot definitely feels like it's starting out multi-layered (where DramaCon didn't reach that until volume 2, and even then, we didn't really see that in full until the final volume,) and will take its time in connecting the plot threads. Again though, I'm looking forward to it, because this is already such a promising first volume!
March 7, 2020
Svetlana Chmakova is one of my favorite middle grade graphic novelists, and when I saw she had a YA series also, I jumped on it.
NIghtschool is a quadrilogy revolving around a school that hosts normal high school classes and students during the day, but at night, the classes and students are very different, and not a little dangerous. The first volume introduces the idea of a school which, under the cover of night, teaches students with special abilities. The readers meet Alex, a gifted teenager whose fear of her own power prevents her from attending the school. We also meet Sarah, Alex's sister, who is the new Night Guardian at the school. The relationship between the sisters is pivotal to the plot throughout this series. In addition to Nightschool students, the reader also becomes acquainted the Hunters. The Hunters are human, but with supernatural powers, and are responsible for protecting fellow humans from rogue demonic forces.
Nightschool Vol 1 is an excellent introduction to the world and magic of the Weirn, and I look forward to reading the remainder of the series.
NIghtschool is a quadrilogy revolving around a school that hosts normal high school classes and students during the day, but at night, the classes and students are very different, and not a little dangerous. The first volume introduces the idea of a school which, under the cover of night, teaches students with special abilities. The readers meet Alex, a gifted teenager whose fear of her own power prevents her from attending the school. We also meet Sarah, Alex's sister, who is the new Night Guardian at the school. The relationship between the sisters is pivotal to the plot throughout this series. In addition to Nightschool students, the reader also becomes acquainted the Hunters. The Hunters are human, but with supernatural powers, and are responsible for protecting fellow humans from rogue demonic forces.
Nightschool Vol 1 is an excellent introduction to the world and magic of the Weirn, and I look forward to reading the remainder of the series.
June 9, 2021
This Nightschool is super awesome and I love how after humans leave school for the day, a whole different kind of school is in session at night. It has all kinds of supernatural creatures that we don't get to see fully, but sounds super awesome. Then we see the Hunters who monitor supernatural creatures breaking the law and they deal with. Lastly there's Alex, who is homeschooled and cared after for her sister. We just scratch the surface of her character before something completely unexpected happens that may force her to attend Nightschool after all.
This first volume totally got me intrigued and the art was well done. This one even had two pages of color which I absolutely loved. The banter with the supernatural creatures was great. Look forward to the next volume.
This first volume totally got me intrigued and the art was well done. This one even had two pages of color which I absolutely loved. The banter with the supernatural creatures was great. Look forward to the next volume.
September 29, 2021
This book was amazing. I love the character detail and how much the author makes you feel like you are in that specific person's shoes. I also have a liking for magic, so that could play a big part in it too. This book is about a girl named Alex who is a weirn, which is a type of witch. Her sister works at a school for night creatures that are only open hours of the night. She tries to get Alex to come, but Alex refuses. Eventually, she goes to work, and soon before she is allowed to go home, she disappears without a trace. No one knows that she ever existed except for Alex and one other girl at the nightschool Alex's sister works or should I say worked at. Alex sets out to find her and needs help doing so. I love this book and would read it again and again. :)
June 25, 2020
I received this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This paranormal graphic novel has lovely art and the kind of characters that kids love. The main characters are two cousins with a strong bond. The cast is rounded out with a school bully, a little brother, a crush, and another friend. The story is simple enough to appeal to the target audience, and the plot is straightforward enough for those readers to follow and enjoy. The story has some mystery, some danger for the characters, and a resolution that children will be happy with. This is a title I would stock in my classroom reading bins.
July 25, 2020
Great fun, intriguing, engaging, lovely art. Truly enjoying this, found the series thanks to Free Comic Book Day, nice treatment of old and new magical beings. 4 1/2 stars because of details that distract from the story: Some characters are drawn too much like each other, and the dialogue doesn't clarify who is who adequately. Combined with the subject material, these make it unpleasantly challenging to understand the action, who is who and where and when. Another detractor is tiny writing in many frames, requiring an interruption to grab magnifiers, or prompting the reader to simply ignore the copy. Which confounds reading for enjoyment...
October 13, 2021
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and I would recommend this book to other manga lovers like myself. The main character Alex is a 16 year old girl who has been homeschooled all her life by her sister Sarah. One day her sister goes missing in the school she's working at as a night keeper and almost everyone's memory of sarah is erased expect for Alex. While trying to look for her sister she gets into some trouble with the hunters hurting 3 of them in the process with powers she doesn't even know she has. So Alex does the only thing she can think of, she applies to the Nightschool that her sister went missing from. WIll she find her sister who knows let's see in the next book.
July 20, 2017
This is a very interesting manga. Read from left to right it was a bit hard for me to get used to at first but once I did, I saw that the story was very well structured. While there are very interesting characters, somethings are left unexplained in the story. I am unsure if this is a strategy and will all be explained at the end, but it does not seem so and has left me confused at some moments. The art is well done and the few pages of color are beautiful. The story could be a bit more structured and 'strong' but is otherwise a great read.
February 21, 2020
I love Svetlana’s Berrybrook series, so I wanted to dig deeper into her work. Nightschool has the whole Buffy/mystical creatures/magical school trope going for it. Although this angle is not unique, Nightschool does a better job with it than many other titles I’ve read. I have to admit that I enjoy Svetlana’s Berrybrook art style better than the manga style that is employed in this series. A fun read overall though and one that I imagine would make for a good Netflix adaptation. But, not the author’s best offering in my opinion.
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