At the time I requested this book I was very interested in it. Obviously, it has been a few years since I requested this and I am no longer interested in it now. It doesn't match my current reading tastes and I apologize that I didn't enjoy it and thank you for the kindness you showed offering it to me.

Beautiful graphic novel, would love to continue the story in another volume. Love the concept of a town "protecting" the girls, but it ends up actually caging them.

I'm of two minds with this book. The artwork deserves a full five stars. it's detailed, incredible, evokative. The storyline was less inspiring and totals out at a respectable but lackluster 3 stars. 4 stars as an average.

Blackwell has been a haven for witches for hundreds of years and Bucky's sister Heidi is one of the most powerful in recent years. When Heidi goes missing one afternoon Bucky will stop at nothing to find her. Braving the darkest of corners and characters of the town, Bucky dives into the murky history of Blackwell in a race to find Heidi before his mother's weeping drowns the whole town. With dark moody colors and art that is akin to manga styles but with richer details, Greentea's book is perfect for the young reader looking for some scare factor. With enough loose ends left over, I for one am hoping to get future installments and even a long series following Blackwell and its inhabitants as they venture forth into a new world.

I was drawn to the illustration style of Yana Bogatch (also known as Cosmic Spectrum) and was foollowing her work previous to the publication of Vera Greentea's Grimoire Noir storyline. For an interview with Yana while the graphic novel was in work see: https://artsideoflife.com/cosmic-spectrum-yana-bogatch/ . The graphic novel is a fun mix of young Humphrey Bogart, aka Bucky, in detective mode as he works through the young witch world of Blackwell.
Vera Greentea, known for dark fantasy comics, provided a creepy and funny storyline that Yana, aka Cosmic Spectrum illustrates with humor and more than a bit of darkness. I kept hearing Bucky doing Humphrey Bogart Casablanca impersonations which added an additional level of enjoyment.

Absolutely loved the artwork with the noir-style washed-out colors and the idea of all the women in town being witches, but I wish the story had been given more room - maybe more time to develop the character of Heidi and add more background to Cham and Bucky's friendship... But A fantastic Fall read nonetheless.

The artwork is magical! I absolutely love it and it is stunning. This will be a book I go buy just for the art.
The story itself was wonderful as well. I feel like there could be more to the story, so I hope there will be a second book. I will definitely be reading it again with fall and Halloween coming up. Such a good book!

This is a little tough to rate because I honestly want to give the artwork 5 stars, and the storyline 3.
It's a positively stunning book with fantastic illustrations and amazing visual effects. Even the characters were unique and beautiful but the plot was confusing, the ending didn't make sense and i got bored and just looked at the pictures.

A spooky title that should be added to any library looking to build their YA comic collection to expand beyond manga.

This is a cute little book but overall I find it to be forgettable. I don't really remember the plot after recently reading it but I do recall it would appeal to children.

The digital ARC copy was completely illegible, so I went ahead and purchased this title for my library based upon only other reviews and read it when it was processed. Grimoire Noir is a nice, spooky-but-not-too-spooky tale that will appeal to younger teens and older tweens.

Beautiful story and art! So nice, I'd almost call it "magical"! Reading this is like being transported into a mash-up of Hocus Pocus, The Originals, and The Salem Witch Trials. Just phenomenal book!

How adorable are these witches?! I have to start with the art. It's genuinely gorgeous! The art conveyed the themes and atmosphere of the story very well. However, the story itself was lack luster. If I was only rating the artwork, it would be an easy 5 stars. The plot points in the story just don't quite make it to the next one, at times leaving a large red herring for no other reason than to have them. That was a bit frustrating as I wished the story would just progress.
The story is light, even though it it is a dark theme. It's not too in depth and can be enjoyed by a wide range of ages and audiences!

Over all, it's a cute graphic novel if you are looking for stunning artwork and a light story. Taken at face value, it's worth a read!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Grimoire Noir follows the story of a missing magical girl in a world in which witches have been segregated to a single town. Bucky is trying to sort out the mystery of what happened to his little sister and how to get her back.

This is one of those books which have so much potential for a wildly atmospheric story which falls a little short. The artistry is gorgeous and the world-building was certainly intriguing. But the main characters weren't the most interesting. In addition, the main plot of the story wasn't as thrilling and suspenseful as what it could have been. It was a little flat and lacking.

The atmosphere for this type of story just wasn't there for me. A more fleshed out story could have made this a fantastic graphic novel and I hope that further works from this author have a little more to give.

The art in this is amazing. The storyline has promise and leaves me wanting more to follow these characters after the events of the book.

The artwork is really, really beautiful. I loved the use of color to emphasize just how gloomy and spooky it is, and that definitely lends to the noir feel! The characters were diverse and expressive, and I could easily distinguish one from the other. Maybe the plot gets a little convoluted at the end, but it's set up well enough for a second volume that I would read! Overall, an original idea that I can easily book talk to middle schoolers.

This graphic novel would be a good choice for fantasy-loving preteens and younger teens.

Grimoire Noir is built around magic and a mystery. Bucky Orson’s sister Heidi is missing, and although his father is the sheriff, his powers are limited in a town built on magic where almost every woman and girl is a witch. So, Bucky decides to investigate her disappearance himself. He tangles with a group of “mean girls”—a coven of young witches—but perseveres with the help of his ex-best friend, Chamomile. He ultimately learns what happened to his sister, but he also discovers the dark history of his town and the source of its magic.

The story is fairly simple and only occasionally creepy, which is why I think it would be best for younger readers. One thing that I liked was that the fantasy and mystery elements of the story rest on personal lives of the characters. The lost friendship between Bucky and Chamomile is very important to the plot, as are their relationships with their parents. Each of them struggles with who they are expected to be and how they fit into their world, something many kids can identify with.

The quality of the illustration was a standout for me. I really liked the artwork in general. The limited color palette of browns, purples, and blues used in most scenes highlights the melancholy noir aspects of the story, too.

The ending suggests that there’s more to come in this world, and I’m curious to see what the author does next.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and First Second Books for the early review copy. The artwork is amazing! I was completely blown away by the artist's talent. However, I can only give this 3 stars because of the fuzziness of the digital copy, and the the mediocre story. The mystery was wrapped up in such a ridiculous way. No spoilers, so I'll just say that the characters were hardly developed at all, and the story felt very rushed . I highly recommend the artwork, though. It is definitely top notch!

The artwork in this graphic novel is absolutely beautiful. So much of it I just want to print out and have available on my walls. The story is decently crafted, but felt rushed at the end, and it feels unresolved, so I'm not sure if that means a sequel is going to come out, or if that is the true ending.

Bucky lives in Blackwell, a city where every woman has magical powers. His little sister disappears one day, and Bucky is determined to discover who has kidnapped her. Since his father is the sheriff, Bucky knows he can't investigate the case in as depth as he would like, so Bucky decides to go after the different witches in town to figure out who took his sister and bring her back home. The world building is pretty well done for a graphic novel. The town's women received their powers after the first little girl with powers was drowned in the town's well. Her magic leaked into the water system, and now every woman has powers, but the magic is dying and something needs to happen for it to stay strong.

ARC provided by Net Galley and by First Second Books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. My reviews are spoiler-free and unaffected by the free copy.

I like to get my criticisms out first so I can end on a positive note, but honestly there's very little to pick on here. Probably the biggest one I noticed was the lettering. Sometimes the "D" and "O" looked very similar, which made reading certain words a little difficult. There was also a hand-written letter I couldn't read very well because of how the script looked on the page.

The solution to the mystery also might be a bit of a let-down with some people. Especially considering everything else that was built up in the story. I'm assuming that there's going to be a sequel or a continuation that will pay off all that building up. I hope so, anyway, because this world is fascinating and I would love to see more happen in it.

Before I dive into the story and characters, I have to praise the art style of this graphic novel. It was absolutely gorgeous! The use of color was so good, and all of the characters were unique and nicely designed. It definitely pulled off the noir atmosphere with the gloomy setting and the darker shades. Whenever a brighter color showed up, it really popped and drew the eye.

The story was really good. I liked Bucky's character a lot. I thought it was a cool choice having him dressed in a classic noir style with the hat and trench-coat. His progression through the story was captivating-- I didn't want to stop reading and learning more about his world. It was compelling, too, and a very interesting take on magic. All of the other characters were done well. I would've liked more fleshing out, but they at least had unique enough designs and powers that I knew who was who. And when it came to investigating the mystery, all of the suspects had logical reasons for being the culprit.

It was imaginative, intriguing, had a great noir style and built up a fascinating world that I hope is revisited.