Cover Image: Magic

Magic

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

"The Girl with the Purple Hair" by Lylian K. with art by Audrey Molinatti is a graphic novel about a young girl with purple hair and unusual powers.

Evelyn, a young girl born with purple hair and a mysterious past is dropped off at a convent by her horrified father. Raised by nuns who don’t understand her but do their best and a cat that only Evelyn can hear, Evelyn learns that she has magical abilities that often lead to hilarious predicaments. When a mysterious stranger shows up and offers to train her, is he doing it for good or evil?

This book ends abruptly, so make sure you have the next one on hand. The art style is cute in a Kawaii sort of way. The narrative is just ok and young readers may enjoy it more than I did.

Was this review helpful?

It was such a cute read! I read it a while ago and forgot to send my review (sorry) but would definitely recommend

Was this review helpful?

In an alternative England, sometime in the past, people are occasionally born with magical powers. Unfortunately, witches are largely hated by everyone else. Even more unfortunately, witches are usually born with bright purple hair, like Evelyn, so it's pretty easy for others to tell who the witches are and persecute them.

Was this review helpful?

"Magic" is an enchanting tale of a girl named Evelyn, born with purple hair and peculiar powers. From her humble beginnings in a convent to her adventurous journey in London, this book blends magic, mystery, and memorable characters. With its easy-to-read style and genuine storytelling, it's a delightful escapade.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

Was this review helpful?

With thanks to netgalley and the author

Sadly I didn't download this title in time.

So can't really give a review

Was this review helpful?

What a cute story!
Magic. The girl with purple hair tells us about Evelyn, a little witch who gets abandoned in a monastery and raised by nuns. It tells another story of the chosen one, but this one curated for little kids. I'm an adult and also enjoyed it a lot. And like I said, the art style is absolutely gorgeous and cute. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eArc to review.

I am conflicted about the art as in some sections it is cute and in other sections it is not. It definitely has its own style.

The dialogue felt quite clunky and the story for me was not engaging in the slightest.

Was this review helpful?

I was not able to fully read Magic before the chance expired. And while I am deeply sorry that I couldn’t finish the ARC, I will be ordering the book so that I can. Thank you for the opportunity.

Was this review helpful?

The Girl with Purple Hair is a graphic novel about a little witch with purple hair. When she was born, her father noticed her purple hair (a sign that you have witch blood) and sent her to live in a convent. The nuns there raise her the best they can, until they can no longer deny the strange happenings around the little girl. She is sent to London, where the adventure is just beginning.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The illustrations are so cute, and her talking cat give off major Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibes. Very cute and I can't wait for the next installment to come out.

Thank you to Lylian K, Europe Comics, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this story about a young witch and her ghostly friends, and I would read it all over again. This book made me smile to myself while reading it and I would totally suggest it to others.

Was this review helpful?

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

Was this review helpful?

This was such a cute read!! I loved it so much and I would it recommend it to every reader that wants something simple to read.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you for this. The artwork for this is beautiful. Visually this is just wonderful to look at. It isn't the easiest to read on the Netgalley app, which is an issue with the app not the book.

Was this review helpful?

What a cute read! I loved the colour palette and the art on this book.
The story in this first book was just so short, and I felt like it ended just as we started to get the plot going. Still excited to read more about this story in the 2nd book.

Was this review helpful?

Magic: The Girl With The Purple Hair is the first volume in a new series of children's graphic novels from Europe Comics that follows the adventures of Evelyn, a young girl raised in a convent to hide her magical abilities from the outside world, and what happens to her as she discovers more of what her powers hold.

The story begins quite dramatically, with men watching as a large estate burns in the distance. These men, it is revealed, are the 'law' of the land, and that they're burning this home, with its owner inside, because they're a witch. This version of Victorian era England, it seems, is home to many a witch; and that there are also still people around who will go out of their way to hunt them down.

Inside the burning building Melinda, the witch who lives there, is trying to perform one last spell; one that will allow her to leave this world before the fires kill her. As her cat companion, Benedict, watches, imploring her to try and escape instead, Melinda tells him to watch out for a new witch who will take her place as his mistress. Melinda leaves our world in a flash of magic, leaving Benedict alone.

Nearby, at the home of one of the men who helped to burn Melinda's home to the ground, a pregnant woman watches on, fearful for her friend who used her magic to help her and her husband conceive. A few months later, on a rainy night, the baby is born. The father is horrified to learn that he doesn't have the son he was hoping for, but instead has a purple haired daughter. Knowing that purple hair is the sign of magic, he takes the child away from her mother, and sends her away to a convent to be raised away from them, never to be seen again.

From here we skip forward several years to see the baby, now a mischievous young girl named Evelyn, and her best friend Benedict living amongst the kindly nuns. Evelyn is, as her father feared, a magical child, and causes trouble across the convent because of this; though not always on purpose. Despite trying her best, the magics begin to make issues for the nuns, and so they send for Mr Farfadet, a hat maker from London, to take Evelyn under his wing. Leaving the only home she has ever known, Evelyn faces an uncertain future.






This book was a genuine delight to read. The story is, despite its dark subject matter at times, a lot of fun; packed with humour and good natured characters who are mostly trying to do their best in the world. And as such, the moments where the story isn't really being moved forwards, where we're just spending time with the characters and seeing the weird things they get up to makes for some of the more delightful parts of the book.

Evelyn herself is a wonderful protagonist. She's full of energy and excitement, desperate to learn more about the world and to experience new things; even if she's not quite ready for that. She's naughty, but never malicious; getting up to small little pranks that don't really harm anyone. She is, in all honestly, a kid; and it's refreshing to have a child lead character who acts like a little kid.

Benedict proves to be a pretty good foil to Evelyn, being her opposite in a lot of ways. Where she's excitable he's grumpy, where she's eager to do new things he wants a quite life, and together they make for a pretty fun pair who spend much of their time bouncing off each other. There are hints that there may be more to Benedict than simply being a cat that Evelyn can understand, and this makes for an exciting prospect for future instalments of the series.

The book very much feels like a beginning, and much of the time is given over to setting up for future things. It's pretty clear even before opening the book, thanks to the wonderful front cover, that Evelyn is a little witch; so when the book takes its time building up to this revelation for her it's not a big shock for the reader; in fact it's something I was waiting for. But, the book isn't trying to do too much too quickly. Instead, it's happy to spend time letting the reader get to know the characters and build a sense of this world. As such, not a huge amount has happened by the time the book comes to an end; but it does leave us in an excellent position going forward into future instalments.

I can't talk about this book without talking about the absolutely gorgeous art. Audrey Molinatti provides the artwork for the book, and her work is stunning. I don't know how to go about describing the art other than cute, fun, beautiful, and just perfect for this story. The book has a style to it that feels its own, and it doesn't look like what most people will think of when they think of comics. The closest I can equate it to is that it sometimes made me think of a video game. There are a lot of fantastic independent video games that have this wonderful, animated look and feel to them; and this book feels like it could be one of them a lot of the time. The characters feel like they could suddenly start moving around like characters on a screen, and the small, fairly simply shaped bodies and overly large heads are definitely a part of this feeling. I doubt I'm doing the work justice in any real way; but I absolutely loved it.

Magic: The Girl With The Purple Hair is a great start to this new series; a book that takes its time setting up the world and the characters, letting the reader take their time with things before beginning the main story. The artwork and story work perfectly together, and the book has a look and feel to it that's so uniquely its own. I honestly believe readers of all ages will find a lot to enjoy with this one.

Was this review helpful?

Some fairly standard elements at play here: a girl discovering her magical abilities, an oppressive society. Not all of the complications make sense. If we're told that children born with purple hair are magic, why does our protagonist have to hide her abilities? Most of the book is just her causing mischief with some hints of bigger things to come. Still, a decent introduction.

Was this review helpful?

This was an absolutely adorable story! I’m not an avid graphic novel reader, but this was in the spirit of Kiki’s Delivery Service, which I adored as a kid, so I was eager to find something reminiscent of that for my son and I to connect over. He’s 6, so maybe a tad young for this considering the slightly dark beginning, but the antics of the cute witch with the purple hair and her sidekick cat were really fun beyond that. Super cute and perfect for spooky season!

Was this review helpful?

It is a fun graphic novel with super particular characters. I recommend it for all ages since they are going to have a great time

Was this review helpful?

The main character was so cute and though the start of the novel was slightly dark, the more the story progressed and we learned more of the backstory it got very interesting. The main character is cute and sassy and she first the art style so well. With a loveable cat sidekick the graphic novel has a lot of elements that I feel like will help it do well in selling.

Was this review helpful?