This is the first comic novel I've read since forever it seems (more like 15 years)!!

I absolutely enjoyed reading it. It was good in every aspect I can imagine, and in the end it kept my curiosity burning for what's coming next.

Hematite is a young vampire struggling to find her way through the expectations of her family to pursue their legacy; and her young heart and its dreams and desires.
And not until I searched the title on Goodreads, that I found it was translated from French!

Hematite follows around this vampire girl who has to stick to the rules set by her parents only when she wants to be herself and write poetry. She takes a liking towards a human man named Emile, and there is such longing in this story. The colour palette and artwork used in this graphic novel was really beautifully illustrated!
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this book!

Thank you Netgalley and Europe Comic for this e-ARC of Hématite in exchange of an honest review.

Hématite follows the titular character who is a vampire. She struggles with both the prejudices against vampires and expectations of being one. All she wants is to write poetry and love which she finds in a human named Émile.

This graphic novel was a quick and fun read but nonetheless layered with longing and melancholy. I loved the art style and colour palette used throughout was beautiful. It created the perfect ambiance for the story.

Hématite was a lovable main character who was easy to root for. I enjoyed reading about her struggles with her identity and what both society and her family expect of her. It felt genuine and authentic. There is something in that feeling that will ring true for many readers.

Her relationship with her best friend, Drunela was my favourite part of this story. They always tried to understand each other and shone as characters whenever they were together.

The cliffhanger ending leaves you wanting more from the story and I look forward to picking up future installments of this charming story.

Spoiler free review!

Who doesn’t love a story about vampires? Throw that into a graphic novel and I AM THERE! Firstly, the illustration style in this graphic novel is GORGEOUS. Victoria Maderna and Federico Piatti did an excellent job of capturing the setting and mood in each section. The colour use was perfect, the dark blues contrasted with the fiery orange tones were so captivating alongside the narrative.

Okay, we have had a couple of books about ‘blood free’ vampires in the past, but I personally don’t tire of them. I think this being aimed at children, it makes sense and it does add nicely to the story line. I love all the other ‘monster’ character design too, I found myself giggling the first time I saw mr jelly with a brain. Hehe! They all fit brilliantly into the world and added to the school imagery I had going.

The story line was pretty good, there were lots of great ideas. I do think some weren’t necessary in the first volume as it became a little stop start. But I do also understand that they all ADD to the world of Hematite. It’s a story of friendship when maybe family life isn’t perfect, which a lot of children can relate to so it’s an important topic! It’s a story of choices and consequences but not in a heavy way.

I would like to learn more about the school system as there was a lot of ‘vampires don’t belong here’ at Wolves. So I would really enjoy seeing more of both school systems, the pros and cons. I loved the creativity Hematite has, a lot of comic/graphic novel readers can relate to that. Also adored the friendship with Drunela, again I’d love to know more about her story.

The ending was perfect honestly, fit this plot well but also left me wanting a volume 2! As a creative bean myself I loved that it opened and closed with the crow imagery. So satisfying.

Very cute, spooky art and an interesting concept of a world where all kinds of undead creatures live openly alongside humans. Kind of some extreme tonal shifts, and I wasn't sure of the intended audience as the themes also seemed to be all over the place, but overall I did enjoy it.

Hematite is a story of the pressures of tradition, family, friends, and love.

This is a simple story with a deep and meaningful bottom line. The protagonist, Hematite is a vampire, but only in form! Hematite hates the Idea of drinking blood, taking over people’s thoughts, and using her status over others! Hematite’s father wants Her to go to a vampire school ‘Diaemus Academy’ to conform to and embrace her heritage. Her mother, the doting wife, soothes the way when Hematite rejects their advice. However, when Hematite is rude to her mother she is chastised by her father, changing the power status.

Hematite is friends with a ‘Draugr’ called Drunela, whose adventurous ideals lead to mayhem, but their friendship is strong and can withstand all most anything! An unexpected event happens outside the Blackwood house that leaves Hematite shaken to the core and desperate to fix it.

This is a brilliant story of nonconformism, of identity, change and relationships.
I was, for lack of other words, sucked into this story. I even found myself laughing unexpectedly. I found the friendship between Hematite and Drunela very entertaining, I loved the trust and understanding each one has for the other.

The story looks at actions and consequences and how the lines are blurred when power and status are in play, something that is echoed in reality! This storyline could be a reference to the LGBTQ community, and traditionalist parents.

I really enjoyed this short graphic novel!

This one fell a little flat for me. It had some weird components, wasn’t expecting an accidental death or really anything that happened in this. It felt both too long and not long enough. I did love the magical aspects and the vampire pov but not sure I would read it again.

This was such a beautiful read!!!
Loved the way how deep Hematite's friendship with her friend is!
And the graphics are splendid!
People of any age will love this!
Cover 4 stars
Graphics 4.5 stars
Plot 4 stars
Overall 4 stars

What if i said there is a fantasy world with vampires, ghouls, warlocks, ware wolves and humans living side by side?
And we are introduced to teenage hematite a vampire who hates blood would rather have s vegetable soup and would rather not use ability to hypnotise someone very un vampire like isn't it?
Thats how we enter world of teenage vampire who loves writing poems, has random bursts of angst, uncontrollable rage probably due to being vampire.
A normalcy is introduced in the graphic novel giving us a sense of different races living a normal day to day life..
It is a good set up but having been only first volume thoughts are limited and since not much is explored about the world we are introduced..i would stop right here until i would get to explore more of authors imagination..

📚#28: 𝐇𝐞𝗺𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐞
𝐁𝐲: 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝗼𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚 & 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝗼 𝐏𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢
@vmaderna @fpiatti
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
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First, I want to thank Netgalley (@netgalley ) and Europe Comics (@europecomics ) for a free early copy of this graphic novel for my honest review and opinion.
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𝐒𝐲𝐧𝗼𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:
Hematite is a young vampire who is trying to find her way. As a member of the illustrious Blackwood family, she faces pressure to conform to high society standards, but such a grandstanding isn’t for her. And neither is drinking blood- she’d rather have vegetable soup! So it is that she opts for the more diverse Wolven School, rather than joining the ranks of her fellow vampires at the Diarmus Academy. Being different can be hard, through, and doesn’t always help to make friends. Luckily for Hematite, she has her poetry, as well as Drunela- a draugr who won’t let their differences keep them apart- and Emile, a human boy fascinated by the occult who would just love to take a peek at the Blackwood’s private library. Unfortunately, bridging societal divides isn’t always easy, and can lead to terrible consequences…
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I found this graphic novel to be overall very cute. The idea was really fascinating to me. A vampire who doesn’t drink blood?? That is something I have not seen! I found it extremely interesting that Emile, a human, attended school with other mythical creatures as it was normal. Hematite was very relatable. I think others will agree. The problems she has with others in school as well as her problems as home were all things I felt I could relate to.

The problem I found with this story is it jump around a lot. The story would be focused on one area of Hematite’s life and would make a quick left and be talking about something else. Enough so that I was concerned that I missed a page or even two. In the end, I didn’t miss a page, it was just the way this story flowed. I also wish more parts of her life was explained more, like the fact that Hematite did not drink blood. I felt like there was definitely parts missing or could be added. The story does end with a bit of a cliffhanger though which makes me want more of Hematite’s story!

This was super cute! I found Hematite via NetGalley, and I just had to download and read it. The blurb sounded so good - a young vampire who is trying to find their way in the world, and after reading about her teenage antics and rebellious nature, I just had to check this out.

This was such a quick read, and I do urge you all to log into NetGalley and download a copy right now - it is in the Read Now section so you do not need to request. The world building here is fab, I am getting some serious HalloweenTown vibes from it, where humans, vamps, witches, werewolves and ghouls all coexist together. Hematite is not your run of the mill heroine, she is flawed, selfish, and has a crush on a kid in her class, that what makes her a great character, as there will be many adventures to come soon.

Definitely check this out, and I highly recommend for a super quick read and an introduction into this world!

Hematite is a teen vampire who doesn't want to follow her family - and vampire - tradition and crushes on the human boy at school.

The art style was really detailed and fit the atmosphere of the book perfectly. The characters were pretty developed enough - for a graphic novel - and I enjoyed the plot.
Hematite in particular was such an interesting character, and I had a lot of questions around her and her power.

This is definitely a good read, and a series that I want to continue with.

Thank you to Netgalley and Europe Comic for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this first Volume, we meet Hematite daughter of the great Blackwood vampire family but unlike her kin, Hematite refuses to go to a school only for vampires "the Diaemus Academy" and prefers the "diverse" Wolven School., you won't see her drinking blood but she would rather like to have a veggies soup and to end it all, she is in love with a human boy to whom she wrote poetry. This is the story of Hematite just your average teenage vampire who struggles to fit in her world.

With a nice artwork and an enjoyable story following some funny characters you can't not like Hematite, it was entertaining with a gothic cute touch that made me appreciate it more. It was too short in my opinion and now I have to wait for the next volume to be made.

I am in love with this story, and Hematite. She is sweet and just beginning to realize who she is as a person. That being said I think her Crush is going to be her downfall.

I am looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and hopefully watch her friend group grow.

Hematite does recognize the privilege she has, and uses it to help those around her. But she defenitely has room to grow.

10/10 will be continuing this story.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
It is that I read the blurb, but otherwise I had thought I had stepped mid-way a book. Instead of a proper introduction. There were some confusing other moments, it seems that vampires are OK without blood, but no explanation is given how that works, maybe she isn't full-grown yet and is that why she is OK? I don't know. Her obsession with the boy was a bit creepy, especially given that she stalked him at times.. even had a photograph of him. I know I have crushed on some cute boys in my class, poetry sure, but photographs? Stalking? Ehhhh, no.
The friendship was cute, though again, it feels like I am missing something. There is clearly a good bond between the girls but I wanted to know more about it.
The art was good though, I really like the style and the transformations of the characters when they went into anger/mad mode.
Not sure if I will be reading it, the ending was a shock, and I am curious, but I am just missing too much to continue.

I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot the art and plot everything was perfect. I am excited to read the next one and see what Hematite and Drunela do. I especially loved the illustrations of Hematite. Seeing her facial expressions change as she went through different feelings and struggles with her family, classmates, and love. The color palette and entire aesthetic were everything. The message of friendship is beautiful. I love how the characters all end up being very good friends despite their differences.

Gorgeous art, boring plot/writing (aside from one fairly bold/contrived event near the end). It'll sell on the art alone, as so many GNs do.

Thank you for the ARC!

I really enjoyed "Hematite". The art style is so pretty, I stopped for several minutes at the same pages to appreciate the details of the architecture and the city. The story is quite light, although very heavy stuff happens, showing the up's and down's of a introspective vampire teen's life. Very excited for the next volumes.

I adored this book and the story so much that I wished it was a long book than graphic novel. The story is about a young vampire girl Hermatite from illustrious Black Wood family who refused to drink blood and prefer to have vegetable soup. She thinks that vampire are nasty selfish narcissist and do not want to associate with other vampires which is why she refused to go to vampire school. It is all about norms and the compulsion to follow what is already there and the heart which follow a different path.

What a gorgeous graphic novel! I absolutely adored the art style. It's cute, but dark and it worked so well with the plot of the comic. I loved all the characters as well, but Hematite was an interesting MC to follow.