Hello there everyone! Are you devoted to demon sidekicks? Smitten with shapeshifters? Maniacs on magic? Then The Weirn Books: Be Wary of the Silent Woods by Svetlana Chmakova is for you!
In the quaint city of Laitham, New England, there are bakeries, a town square… and vampires.
Ailis Maeve Thornton isn’t your basic average girl (did I accidentally steal that from a Disney Channel theme song, one about a cheerleader fighting crime?). She’s a weirn, a witch that has an astral companion. Astrals (for people that are wondering) are demons that serve as loyal for life (literally) companions to their respective weirns. Na’ya, Ailis’s cousin, is also a weirn, but is more obsessed with dragons and really wants to become one.
Other quirky and funny characters also include…
- Russ, a charismatic werewolf who Ailis definitely might not have a crush on (okay maybe just a little)
- Jasper, a weirn (also Ailis’s neighbor) whose astral loves throwing things
- Ailis’s Grandma Julie, a grumpy weirn that is REALLY good at baking
- D’esh, Na’ya’s sweet little brother who is kind of a brat
- and Patricia, a prissy, bratty weirn that bullies Ailis and Na’ya.
They all go to Night School, a school that is only open at night to supernatural beings (also known as night things). Until one day, Ailis gets stalked around by a mysterious astral looking night thing around the school and the Silent Woods, a forest that surrounds the Night School that also has a forbidden old mansion where the school used to take place. Then suddenly, Patricia seemingly gets taken away by the mysterious entity… only to come back to the school as… a nice and civilized girl? After being told a story with her grandma’s brother going missing when she was in school, Ailis finds the mysterious night thing and the story connected.
Is the mysterious night thing the kidnapper that took her grandma’s brother away? Is Patricia the enemy in disguise? Will Ailis, Na’ya, and friends get to the bottom of this, and fast? Read the book to find out!
This book was very funny and very action packed at the exact same time! The ending made me already want the second book so well! The characters are very likable, the graphics are breathtaking and well drawn, and the anime effects on each page easily make me laugh!
The story is in the same universe as Chmakova‘s young adult graphic novel series Nightschool, but for younger grades. You don’t have to read the Nightschool series to enjoy this book!
Other works of Svetlana Chmakova include the Dramacon series, the Witch and Wizard series, and the Berrybrook Middle School series, most famous for it’s debut book Awkward.
Happy reading!
– Nova S