Ablaze Publishing 2021
By Maria Llovett
La Rosa's female boarding school is paradise for young girls...but only if you follow the rules. Because, if you disobey them, you can end up expelled, or even worse, dead. Sara and Silje are two students learning the rules of the school, which includes classes by day...and the casting of curses and spells by night. A love develops between the two, which is tender, but threatens to break under the weight of the dark secret society within La Rosa.
Maria is one of the most amazing, influential and talented storytellers in today’s world. Forget male or female, gender after all means little this is all about talent and she is among the best of the best point blank period. Her talent and ability to make the reader instantly connect with and fall in love with the characters is second to none. I was immediately taken with the opening here as the narration talks of the past while what we see is presumably in the now and that this school has cryptograms for notes made me want to attend it, sure i’m gay but i’m still a guy so I doubt i’d be welcome but nonetheless I really am intrigued by the whole idea of this school based on the opening alone.
I am loving the way that this is being told. How we see the story & plot development come to life through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exquisitely. There is a subtlety to the way that this is being told and how bits and pieces are revealed through her reminiscing of the girl she loves. While it still inherently feels like Maria this has a whole different take to the storytelling and honestly I think i’m the one in love with it. The characterisation is phenomenal and I’m going to leave it at that because this is something you must experience without any prior contamination on my part. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the characters and the world they inhabit it really is breathtaking.
The way that this is structured is beautifully rendered and how the layers are introduced like seeds growing into vines that cover everything is gorgeous to witness. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow is wonderfully done as well.
The interiors here are rather lovely themselves. Once again there is a simplicity to the artwork that we see which manages to soften the work and create something seemingly complex yet innocent at the same time. I do wish that we’d see more backgrounds being utilised throughout book but we cannot always get what we wish for. I mean seeing that broken ruin with the angels and the window with a water feature it begs for us to see more like this. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered as well and the choices we see being made and the various hues and tones being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is done with such aplomb.
Forget the CW, Freeform and all those channels because if you want the most current teenage drama it’s right here within these pages. Not only is this now, current or whatnot but it’s also timeless and can withstand the ages so long as teenagers feel like they know what love is and that adults will never understand them. At this point Maria can take the phonebook and bring to life and i’d be riveted to the page because I’m not sure she can anything wrong. With the ability to diversify how her stories are told and yet remain instantly recognisable she is the future of storytelling.