Manu - Kelly Fernandez - ★★★

AUTHOR: Kelly Fernandez

GENRE: Middle-grade Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: November 2, 2021

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade graphic novel about some magical girls, some dangerous stunts, and some heroic nuns. (You read that right!) The story was entertaining, but some of the writing choices in the second half didn’t work for me. It also left a key mystery unresolved. Might be worth a read mainly for the atypical plot and the OwnVoices (Dominican Republic) factor.

Plot Preview:

Manuela, who prefers to be called Manu, and her best friend Josefina live at a magical girls’ school run by nuns. Josefina is a fairly diligent student while Manu is always getting into trouble, even when she means well. The headmistress genuinely believes that Manu has the potential to use her magic for public good, but the rest of the nuns feel otherwise.

One day, when Manu’s prank goes terribly wrong, Josefina gets upset and wishes for Manu’s magic to disappear. Unfortunately, that wish comes true. Manu tries a dangerous method to restore her powers, but the result is life-threatening chaos. Will the nuns and Josefina be able to save the day, and save Manu as well?

Bookish Yays:

🔮 A magical school. Set in a lush Dominican forest. And run by nuns! Talk about imaginative!

🔮 Nuns who are kind and loving and charitable. My experience with teacher-nuns has been so contrary that it took me a long time to stop viewing the religious sisters in this story with suspicion. 🤭

🔮 The intriguing combination of Dominican superstitions and witchy magic and Roman Catholicism. The depiction of the last one isn’t entirely accurate, but this is a fantasy anyway, so no issues.

🔮 The magic. Well, not Manu’s, because she is quite erratic. But the nuns’ powers, and the birdy conversions.

🔮 The repeated insistence on the idea that power is meant to be used responsibly for serving others, and not for personal good or selfish desires. Some of our present leaders need to be reminded of this.

🔮 The demons, especially their appearance. Took me by surprise, for sure!

🔮 Some Spanish phrases in the dialogues, adding local flair. No meaning provided, but they are guessable from the context.

🔮 The art, especially in the magical scenes. Love its vividness and fluidity. The flashbacks come with a dark page background to distinguish them from the present narrative. The overall appearance suits a middle-grade book.

Bookish Okays:

💫 Not one part of the cover indicates that this book takes a really dark turn in the second half, with seances and demonic deals and public destruction. It was handled decently enough, but I was absolutely not prepared for it, especially considering that this is a middle-grade novel.

💫 Surprisingly, the Mother Superior, usually a villainous character in fiction, is the most supportive of Manu. However, the reason for her unwavering advocacy isn't convincing enough, especially as Manu wasn’t doing anything to justify that belief.

💫 The first half of the story goes steadily ahead, but the second half is very rushed. Many plot points are settled too soon to be convincing. The tone is also very different, with the first 50% being more funny and entertaining, while the latter 50% is more ominous and threatening.

💫 The author’s note at the end has a good message about what she intended for Manu. However, I didn’t think this came out strongly through the story. Until I read the note, I didn’t even guess that THAT was the intention behind Manu’s character.

Bookish Nays:

🚫 Manu’s origin story. It has so much potential, but the book leaves it just as that. There is no explanation or resolution to her background mystery, which is really disappointing.

🚫 Manu’s character. It is really tough to root for someone who doesn’t have redeeming qualities, nor shows regret at her choices.

🚫 There’s a hint that Manu might be nonbinary, but this aspect isn’t explored further at all. Similarly, there seems to be a hint of a lesbian track between two characters, but this also stays vague. I wish the book had done justice to these points. It would have been nice to see a nun story be accepting of Pride values.

Overall, this book definitely has some merits, especially if we remember that it is a debut work. I wish the cover had offered some indication of how dark it would go, and that there had been some explanation at the end regarding Manu’s backstory. Regardless, there are enough reasons to give this a go, though it might not be a must-read.

Recommended to middle-graders who enjoy paranormal stories.