Nightschool, Vol. 1 (v. 1) [Paperback]

Svetlana Chmakova (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nightschool | Publication Date: April 21, 2009

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?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–The first installment in this series follows sisters Sarah and Alex and the vampires, werewolves, and weirns who attend PS 13W as night students. Sarah's new job as Night Keeper has her busy learning the ins and outs of the school and its students and homeschooling Alex, who possesses special talents as a weirn. While Sarah is at work, Alex sneaks out with her astral companion to practice spells and encounters a group of supernatural creatures who call themselves Hunters. When Alex mysteriously awakes back at home with no memory of how her encounter ended, she hopes that there won't be any further problems. But when Sarah's image starts disappearing from photographs, Alex must travel to the school to find out what's going on. This volume introduces many characters and sets up multiple story lines involving the Hunters, evil monsters called Rippers, and other students that aren't resolved here. The various plotlines lead to a jumbled narrative that can be confusing. Chmakova's artistic skill is displayed to the highest effect in her black-and-white illustrations of spooky locations like the darkened school and cemetery, and the Rippers' appearances are truly frightening. Minor flaws aside, manga fans and teens looking for vampire stories will devour this one and will want to find out more about these characters.–Laura Amos, Newport News Public Library, VA END

About the Author

Svetlana Chmakova was born and raised in Russia until the age of 16, when her family emigrated to Canada. She is best known for Dramacon (OEL; Tokyopop), the 2-page The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine, and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic. She graduated from Sheridan College with a three-year Classical Animation Diploma. Her credits also include how-to-draw-manga books, RPG manuals, toy designs, and animation.  Svetlana will continue to make regular appearances at comic and anime conventions with Yen Press, meeting with fans and signing Nightschool promo art.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Yen Press (April 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759528594
• ISBN-13: 978-0759528598
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Volume 1 Giant Love Spoodge <3, April 13, 2009

By 

Cari Corene (WA state) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightschool, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

Wow! April 13th, but I found it in shops! It's out a week early. FINALLY GETTING TO READ THE WHOLE THING ALL TOGETHER WAS AWESOME. I'm split between 5 or 4 star on this .... 4.5 stars? I picked 5, because I'm definitely buying volume 2!

But there are plot questions I have ... some of which are part of a good story and make me want the next volume, but some of my questions I really wish were more adequately answered in volume 1. T_T;;; I write these questions in an amazon review in the hopes maybe I can get some answers? Maybe in future volume? >___>;;;;

I didn't know what a Weirn was until I read the back of the book [I didn't bother at first, since I was already buying it...]

What's an astral? [beyond poofy smoke]
What are the school 'keepers'?

Over all I loved it, but I wish there were some extra explanation on these setting points. ><

All of Svetlana's good points are here though! 8D All the characters are distinct and lovable, there are hilarious moments, the art is good, the colored pages from Yen Plus 2 are printed in full color and on glossy paper. <3 Toning was completely successful and added to the art's clarity.

YEAH. MORE PLEASE.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rocky Start, May 21, 2009

By 

J. Gebhard (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightschool, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

Nightschool left me rather unimpressed. The premise is cliche, but a cliche I dearly love. A school for all things weird: vampires, witches (called weirns), werewolves you name it. Plus it is from the author of Dramacon another work I surpriseningly enjoyed.

The work started off without any real idea about what was happening. To start off we are introduced to the main character but she doesn't seem to matter at all. Then we are introduced to a volly of side characters without any idea how they are important. It isn't until about half way to the end of the work do things begin to make sense.

The work is still enjoyable. The humor is top notch even if you don't know why things are happening. The art is clean and depicts a number of interesting charcters to view. My only complaint is the main character's familiar (if you will) is hard to discern at first. The familiar first looks like a weird flame/blob creature but once the author ceases to use close up drawings of the familiar it is recognizable.

I would expect the following volume to improve over the first. The cliffhanger the first vol ends on is wonderful and leaves you wanting to know what happens next.

Rating is actually 3.5 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readers Will Soon Be Clamoring For the Next Volumes!, June 21, 2010

By 

GraphicNovelReporter.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nightschool, Vol. 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

Alex and her sister Sarah live in our world, but they are not human. They are weirn, like witches. Sarah is the Night Keeper at the Nightschool, where teenage demons, vampires, weirn, and more attend classes. Despite her powers, though, Alex doesn't attend. A problem she won't discuss keeps Alex cut off from her own kind and studying at home. When Sarah disappears--and Alex is the only one who can remember that she even existed--Alex must venture out into both the real world and the world of the Nightschool. But not knowing who to trust might get Alex into serious danger as a group of determined Hunters is circling ever closer to the students of the Nightschool.

The first two volumes of Chmakova's urban fantasy are the beginning of a unique creation that should instantly capture the attention of paranormal fiction fans. Even by the end of the second volume, readers won't be sure exactly who is a hero and who is a villain. It's quite possible that none of the characters is really completely one or the other, which makes the story both more realistic and more exciting. One nice touch is that Chmakova doesn't present or drop characters for no reason. Three characters who are introduced briefly in the first volume, and who seem simply to be comic fodder, are brought back in the second volume and prove important to Alex's story. Alex herself is still an unknown by the end of volume two. She's sweet and likeable, but readers are given plenty of hints that she hides a dark and extremely dangerous secret. Both the Hunters and the demons of the Nightschool seem to have reasons for their behavior, though readers aren't given many of those reasons this early on in the series, so they are left intriguingly unsure of where Chmakova's tale is heading.

Chmakova's artistic abilities are in full view here as she effortlessly combines Eastern and Western comic art techniques into her own, original storytelling style. She creates characters who are all gracefully beautiful, but who stand out from each other at the same time. Using both horror and humor to tell her tale, she is careful to not muddy the two by blending them too much, so the scary scenes and action scenes are as heart-pounding as they should be and the comedic sections are laugh-out-loud funny. She can use manga elements like chibi to great effect, but her work doesn't have the feel of trying to be any particular style. This originality makes her art ring true in the eyes of readers. One small weakness is a tendency to use emoticons in her text bubbles. This is unnecessary since her characters are more than capable of conveying emotion through their faces and bodies. But as her story builds, the emoticons begin to drop off and readers become too engaged in the tale to notice them anyway.

Libraries trying to keep up with the insatiable demand for paranormal fiction should buy this series immediately. With Chmakova's talent and the strong binding and attractive covers that Yen Press added, this series should sell itself. The teen rating is appropriate, as there is no sex and only a little language and violence. The only problem is that readers will soon be clamoring for the next volumes!
-- Snow Wildsmith