Hexed Vol 1 by Lenore Soleil
As Stella starts her first year at school she has a lot of expectations, that do not include meeting Temperance, a prickly (to say the least) young woman with a lot of baggage who dislikes Stella on the spot. Which, of course means their Dueling instructor teams them up. As an empath Stella has the ability to help Temperance come to terms with the trauma her mother has inflicted on her, but will Temperance have the courage to let her in?
In my misspent youth (six years ago) I was pretty into the Simstagram community, I loved all of these amazing stories that players conjured up for their Sims and spent hours just scrolling through them. The minute I saw the cover of Hexed it immediately reminded me of those stories; the art, the plot, literally everything so for that alone I knew I was going to love this.
However, what really got me was this was a grown up magical academy story. See, I kinda hate magical academy stories. Dark magic, light magic, I don't care there's just too many of them and they all seem to have these very teenage plot lines that I just can't get into. Hexed wasn't like that at all. And maybe its because its in graphic novel form Im not sure but Hexed gives us more than just some kids training to fight some big bad. Its got a romance that isn't really front and center, but it is so relatable, several magical disciplines that whole recognizable are tweaked just enough to make them unique, a mystery, some serious emotional baggage for damn near every character, and some truly laugh out loud moments.
The other thing I really loved about this is how the characters seem to change from one world to the next. Ive seen this a couple of times in some stories but thanks to this being a graphic novel the visual representation is wonderful. In the mundane world Stella is this blonde haired, cheerleader looking young girl. At school shes got this adorable goth look going on. Its really clear that these are two completely different planes of existence and I honestly hope we get to visit other ones throughout the series.
Finally, what I absolutely loved the most about this is the side characters. Temperance and Stella are great, truly, but without the rest of the squad this just wouldn't have been as good. Dahlia especially was just a ton of fun. Perfect comedy relief when needed but also the blunt character who had no qualms with telling people what they need to hear not necessarily what they want. Per usual a side character was my absolute favorite.
Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a magical academy read with some adult themes, a fantastic cast of characters, and a slow burn mystery in the background that'll leave you desperate for vol. 2!
And thanks so much to Lenore Soleil for my copy!
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