Page 45 Review by Jodie Paterson
"You said I could trust you."
"No, I said I would help you."
Blackwell is a sleepy town that very much keeps itself to itself. So much so, that there is an enchantment surrounding the perimeter keeping women born there from ever leaving. Why? Because every woman born in Blackwell has been kissed with magick, and this is a secret. Nothing in Blackwell is all that it seems, and that is something that our young protagonist, Bucky Orson, is about to discover.
Here is what the publisher has to say about him…
"Bucky Orson is a bit gloomy, but who isn't at fifteen? His best friend left him to hang out with way cooler friends, his cop dad is always in his business, and he lives in Blackwell, a town where all the girls are witches.
But when his little sister is kidnapped because of her extraordinary power, Bucky has to get out of his own head and go on a strange journey to investigate the small town that gives him so much grief. And in the process he uncovers the town's painful history and a conspiracy that will change it forever.
Beautiful, spooky, and utterly enchanting, Grimoire Noir is a magical coming-of-age story of overcoming your limits to protect those dear to you"
Vera (NENETL OF THE FORGOTTEN SPIRITS) Greentea is back with her own uniquely personal flavour of gothic fantasy, this time in the form of a mystery which will keep you intrigued from cover to cover. Curiously captivating and with so many twists your head will be spinning like a dervishes' whirl, this isn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill whodunit.
There are so many intricately woven layers in this elaborate fantasy that you'll be hooked from the very first page, but done with such dexterity that at no point do all these different threads seem overwhelming. A true storyteller, Greentea has crafted a story with real depth, but with a thoroughly entertaining lightness.
Complementing Greentea's expertly written mystery is Yana Bogatch, who's elegant and fluid artwork is an absolute dream. The character design is spot on, and often with a familiar nod, such as Bucky's wide-brimmed fedora and belted overcoat as a pastiche of the noir genre, or Cham's long black hair and wrap around scarf as if in slight tribute to Adventure Time's Marceline the Vampire Queen as she floats just a couple feet in the air.
But where I think Bogatch truly shines is with her colour work. In sepia tones, the town is blanketed with a warm, golden autumnal hue, with the distinctive, comforting lighting of about 4pm on a sunny late October evening. That is, except, for Bucky's house, where his mother's understandable distress at her missing child causes it to literally rain, so the pages are drenched with an inky deluge and a somber softness, which slowly envelopes the rest of the town; that golden hue relegated to memories.
Hauntingly melancholic yet passionately driven, GRIMOIRE NOIR is bringing mid-century noir to a new generation. A cleverly woven intrigue, it is a story to be devoured with artwork to be savoured.
