Hollow Fields v.1

Okay, so I lied about not providing actual content. Being on vacation has given me an opportunity to catch up on my reading and I feel compelled to share an actual review.

Hollow Fields v. 1
ISBN 9781933164243
written & illustrated by Madeline Rosca
published by Seven Seas Entertainment

Our story thus far: our plucky almost 10 year-old 5th grade heroine, Lucy Snow, has arrived by mistake not at Saint Galhat's Academy for Young Ladies, but at Hollow Fields, a school for budding young Mad Scientists. Once enrolled (Lucy really should read contracts before signing her name to them) Lucy realizes that en suite bathroom or no, her new school is quite a bit more than she bargained for. Rather than devoting their time to reading, writing & arithmetic, Hollow Fields students spend their days learning the fine arts of grave robbing, killer robot design, live taxidermy, and cross-species transplantation. (Yes, the latter is exactly what it sounds like. Pigeons and cats should never be crossed, I'm just saying.) Academic competition is cut-throat as each week, the student with the lowest grades is removed (often by force) to the old windmill on the premises, never to be seen again... With only her faithful stuffed dinosaur and the questionable mentorship of the clockwork Dr. Bleak, Lucy is determined to escape Hollow Fields and rescue her classmates.

This title was the first winner of Japan's International Manga Award and caused quite a stir at its debut in 2007. I'd argue it's not manga ('cause I'm all about the nitpicky semantic arguments), but OEL (original English language) manga as its creator is Australian. Given that it was originally written in English, the narrative and dialogue flow quite a bit better than a lot of the translated Japanese titles available today. Despite it's decidedly non-Japanese origins, it certainly LOOKS like manga (b&W, big eyes, overly expressive facial characteristics, and excessively cute characters) and is sure to appeal to teen manga fans.

Why teens you say? The protagonist, after all, is quite young. And the title is most often compared to HARRY POTTER. I'd argue that given the sinister setting, the fairly sexualized female teachers and staff of Hollow Fields (I will never, ever understand manga's obsession with French maids. Never.), and the conservative nature of my community that this is a better fit for the teen collection than the children's area. Although there are great number of 5th graders out there who'd undoubtedly really enjoy it. To me, the tone and storyline are much more in keeping with Eoin Colfer's ARTEMIS FOWL series or Catherine Jinx's EVIL GENIUS than with HARRY POTTER. We have a truly evil collection of adults, a (thus far) mostly evil collection of fellow students (all of whose parents except Lucy's are currently employed in the Mad Scientist/world domination field), a gruesome curriculum, and a number of missing-presumed dead (or worse) students. Despite the cute characters, the story has a lot of dark undertones.

That being said, I couldn't put it down. I find the overly naive, klutzy and, dare I say it, somewhat stupid Lucy to be quite charming. (Hmm, it would appear I've just described a young Bella Swan.) Lucy's got a lot of courage, determination, and drive and I sincerely hope that in future volumes she brings Hollow Fields to its knees. Hollow Fields the place is also extremely intriguing--who knows what lurks within its clockwork walls? From the outside, it would appear to be an abandoned factory, but appearances as we're learning in this series, can be extremely deceiving.

Finally...MAD SCIENTISTS. A school for MAD SCIENTISTS. How can this fail to appeal?