Madeline McGrane

This was very cute, funny, and exciting. I loved the art style, and enjoyed thinking about the lives of these vampires and witches. This book covered some serious topcs with maybe too much humor, and didn't really resolve or fully engage with issues it introduced that could be alarming and upsetting for the intended age group (particularly Drago's relationship with their birth family, and their low self esteem). But overall it was very good, and I hope it has sequels.

This was unexpectantly adorable and quirky. I can’t get over the bald-headed vampire or how cute the artwork is. I also thought the goofy humor was fun and balanced well with the splashes of darkness/sad moments.

A nonbinary child vampire drags their child vampire friends along as they run errands for an evil witch for centuries and centuries until one day they meet a friendly gay witch in Michigan (the upper peninsula, I believe) and finally start to question their status quo. The oddness of the main character and the randomness in the way the story was structured was just a bit too much for me.

It may amuse children, but they might get confused by the many flashbacks.

First, I'll say that while some later books in juvenile graphic novel series such as this one may be able to stand alone, there were multiple instances during which I found myself a little frustrated over not having background knowledge about the story that came before this one. I might have enjoyed it more had I read the first book ahead of this one.

That said, it was an interesting story with some fascinating characters. I really, really wanted to know more about the found family with which show more Dragoslava and their "young" friends had made a home at the start of the book. Okay, it was clear that vampires and witches had at least a symbiotic relationship, perhaps even a friendly one, but there was obviously backstory that led to these two women getting together. And Rhonda? (Who?) The character of Parch--she was a book, I'm gathering? But without insight, I wasn't sure how much were were meant to trust/like her at the beginning, so I didn't feel too much of any sort of way when she turned out rather evil. (But redeemably so? I don't know.)

I also think I needed some more backstory in order to feel strongly about Drago, since the illustration style doesn't allow the reader to pick up on many visual cues to empathize with how they're feeling much of the time. (No eyebrows, pinprick eyes, etc.) But I did "like" (for lack of a better term) the ghost character haunting the camp. She was one of the more entertaining characters in the story for me, along with the vampire "queen" (?), whose drama was lovely.

Maybe an unfair rating, based on all I didn't have at my disposal, but we're not rating the series, here, so the rating stands for this book alone. show less