Review: Hollow Fields #1 by Madeleine Rosca

GRAPHIC NOVEL & MANGA SPOTLIGHT

 

  

 

Publisher: Seven Seas/Go Manga

Isbn: 9781933164243

Price: 9.99

  

Hollow Fields is a wonderful combination of schoolgirl  adventures and Steampunk machinery! Lucy Snow is supposed to be joining the local elementary school of the town of Nullsvile. While taking a shortcut through a forest Lucy stumbles upon Miss Weaver's Academy for tho Scientifically Gifted and Ethically Unfettered. Lured by the promise of free tuition and a room of her own Lucy decides to sign a contract pledging to live up to her "Full Academic Potential" .

She signs but soon realizes she made a horrible mistake! This school specializes in creating the next generation of  mad scientists and evil experimenter's with all the proceeds going to the school of course. If that wasn't bad enough every week the lowest scoring student is sent to detention. Not to bad right? Wrong! Detention is a creaky old windmill from which no one ever returns! I love everything about the set up of this first issue. Lucy is so sweet and clueless! She really has made a wrong move. There are ton of scary clockwork and steam powered machinery and strange creatures . Miss Weaver and the teaching staff are creepy and things don't look well for Lucy's first week until she finds a small talking voice that calls itself Doctor Bleak. The two form a partnership and Lucy's chance of survival seems to have slightly increased.

Madeleine Rosca is a very talented writer and artist. The black and white manga format really ads to the dark Gothic nature of the school. I really look forward to Lucy's future adventures.

 So glad I discovered this series on Paperback Swap