Coven is a vibrant, fast-paced graphic novel that blends magical mystery with timely themes. The friendship between Hester, Anadil, and Dot is the heart of the story, with plenty of wit and warmth to carry the plot. The environmental message is clear, if a bit on the nose, and while the pacing feels rushed at times, the emotional beats mostly land.

The artwork suits the tone, though some panels feel less polished than others. Fans of The School for Good and Evil will enjoy the return to this world, but it also works as a standalone. Not perfect, but fun, thoughtful, and full of charm.

This was a great and short read! Set in the world of The School for Good and Evil, this follows a coven of three young witches who must travel to solve a magical curse and mystery before two lands go to war over it. I loved that it was in graphic novel format and it was really easy to read and digest. I’d love more graphic novels set in this world!

A total crazy story. On one hand, I was fascinated — on the other, completely disturbed. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it, but for fans of this kind of book, it’s probably absolutely perfect!

Another instalment in Soman Chaimani’s popular The School for Good and Evil series, although this works well as a standalone graphic novel. It’s not a desperately subtle piece; Joe Gennari’s inventive illustrations work well with Chaimani’s text but have a definite cartoonish quality. It centres on the Coven, the three witches who act as vigilantes coming to the aid of the desperate. The three travel to the outer corners of their world to the Red Isle the site of a battle between the humans of the so-called Light and the magical creatures and animals of the Dark. The Light’s kingdom has steampunk vibes and the Dark suggest Wiccan and pagan magic. So, it’s no surprise that what the Coven witnesses on the Red Isle raises issues about pollution, environmental blight and the negative consequences of exploiting nature’s resources. The story’s fairly entertaining, straightforward in terms of heroes and villains, well-paced with a smattering of decent monsters and other pleasing flourishes.

When I came across this graphic novel, I hadn’t made the connection that it was created by the author of The School for Good and Evil. I’ve never read these books despite owning the first three for quite a while. I’m not sure if, because of this, I didn’t really understand what was going on in this, as I’m pretty sure there were quite a few references (I’ve seen the Netflix adaptation).

I don’t usually let the formatting of ARCs affect my rating, but when a graphic novel is low resolution and doesn’t fill the entire screen, so you have to zoom in on every page, you definitely start to lose interest in what you’re reading.

The story felt a little flat. Having ‘light’ and ‘dark’ fighting against each other is something I think we can all agree is overdone. I understand that this is supposed to reflect the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ of the original books but having the ‘dark’ side of the isle being impoverished and the ‘light’ side being rich and royalty is symbolism we really don’t need.

The climate change plot was very timely and made for a powerful story, but this felt overshadowed by the fighting between sides.

Also, the pacing was so strange. It felt like nothing was happening and then all of a sudden people were dropping to the ground without faces. It felt like I was missing something for a while. The reveal of what was happening was pretty interesting though and tied in well with the climate change plot.

The artwork was pretty decent. Nothing too outstanding, I liked the character designs but the low quality of the files definitely impacted how I felt about it.

If you’ve read the original series, you may enjoy this more, but I’m not too sure how interlinked they are.

Teen-friendly eco-metaphor of a comic, where sides called Light and Dark – for subtlety, you understand – both find the mining of the magic essence of the world quite bad for their environments, but blame the other. The titular trio of witches are asked to sort it all out. But by the time we have extended scenes with the Light moaning about the Dark, the Dark moaning about the light, the witches along to save the day – and then some false witches along to not save the day at all – you have a right old podge of a story that isn't of that much interest. Yes it dusts itself off for a decent finale, with a message of how family and love of the world are good things, but there are times when this didn't really gel with me at all. To such an extent three stars is probably far too generous, although the redeeming elements – such as the slurpy way some unkillable characters get their body back together – are actually fairly memorable.

nicely illustrated. Fun easy to follow story. We find the coven in a mission to the red Isle. When they arrive there is a war between light and dark, the City and Nature. The City wants the Rakka, they a draining it from the earth. Soon people start dying faceless and the mining could be the cause. The Coven are then Wrongly accused and o fight for their innocence and the lives of all human on the red Isle. Overall fun to read,

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this digital arc. All opinions are my own and only for this book.

An interesting graphic novel with themes of over extraction of resources, environmental conservation and politics revolving these, the story is simple and geared more towards middle grade to young adult readers.
This seems to be a companion graphic novel to the author's well known series which I haven't read but the book can be read as a standalone.

Coven is a graphic novel from the author of The School for Good and Evil. Hester, Anadil and Dot are the main characters in this book; a trio of witches and best friends who solve magical mysteries together. They answer a call from the Red Isle, where the Light and Dark lands are close to war after a spree of deaths.

The coven of witches are characters from Chainani's other series of middle grade books, and whilst I think there may be some little 'easter eggs' to find for fans of The School for Good and Evil, the story still works without knowing the background of the trio or the world. I didn't feel like I was missing anything having not read the main series.

There was a strong theme running throughout this book, about climate change and caring for our planet. It came across well, if a little cliché at times. Friendship also came up a lot and I liked the friends' dynamic and them realising how much they care for each other as the story progresses.

I liked the art style and it worked well with the story, however something about this story just didn't land for me. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it.

Unexpectedly fun! I didn’t realize before I started this it was taking place in the same world as School for good and evil but i also think you don’t have to necessarily read any of those books beforehand! It was really fun to see the coven live their lives of adventure and friendship separately from the initial story from School for Good and Evil. The art felt very fitting to me and really brought the characters to life. It definitely had some cliche tropes but for me it didn’t stop it from being fun at all!

Thank you NetGalley for sending me a copy of this!
I adore Graphic Novels, they're perfect palette cleansers for me when I start slumping or just don't know what to read. The illustrations/imagery in this novel was sooooo good!
This one is about Hester, Anadil and Dot who are the peace protectors and are detectives in the Endless Woods. They never leave a case unsolved, until one day the get a call from the Red Isle where the Light and Dark Lands are on the brink of war due to a spree of deaths. And they need to find who the killer is.

I thought this was very immersive from the beginning. I loved the characters so much. I enjoyed the dark vibes also!
This was my first by this author and I don't think it'll be my last!
Thank you so much!

I loved the original school for good and evil books (1-6), but since then, the spin off books have been so disappointing and this was another disappointment.
The artwork is subpar. I hate to put an artist down, but given how big this series was, I just feel like the art felt a bit cheap and unfinished.
The story was dull and uninspired. Nothing new.
I honestly found very little to enjoy about this comic book, and wouldn't recommend it, even to fans of the school for good and evil.

We follow a trio of detectives/mystery solvers, who are also witches.
This is entertaining for children, but I would not say the same for adults.
I will continue to read Chainani though.
Will not be reviewing this elsewhere not to steer the target audience away from this book.
The story did not appeal to my tastes is all.