Muted

Camille Severin is anxious. She's come of age and can complete the blood ritual the Severin family is known for with her cousin and best friend, Avaline, but Camille has always worried that something might go wrong if she does--and she's right. While her sigil is perfectly executed, the demon that starts to emerge to grant her wish is far more botanical than expected, so she plays dumb, pretending she wrote the sigils incorrectly. Frustrated with Camille's seeming failure, family matriarch Aunt Athalie leaves Camille at the Severin mansion in rural Louisiana while Avaline and Athalie return to New Orleans. Now, Camile gets time with her cousin Silvia--time to learn about the other witch families and to digest the tragic fire from childhood that orphaned her. Mundt's incredibly popular WEBTOON adapts well to the GN format, with a distinct style that sits between serious and silly and stunning full-page panels that drive the story. This series starter will please standing fans with bonus content and surely create new ones of those who enjoy new adult modern fantasy.

Mundt's soapy sapphic fantasy debut, serialized on Webtoon, draws readers into the drama of rival witch clans in New Orleans. Camille, a teenage witch raised in a hidebound aristocratic family that specializes in blood magic, botches a crucial coming-of-age ritual and gets stalked by a demon. With her woodpecker familiar at her side, she departs her strict, sheltered life and searches for answers about the forces she's unleashed. Along the way, she discovers secrets about her past and meets new friends like Jazmin, a warmhearted plant witch; the flirtatious Nyra, who comes from the family Camille blames for her mother's death; and Dendro, a flower demon curious about the mortal world. She also begins to embrace her lesbian sexuality, which puts her at odds with her duty to carry on her family's bloodline. "My world has gotten so much bigger in such a short amount of time," she marvels. Mundt's stripped-down art is unexceptional, with backgrounds loosely dabbed into place, though it improves throughout this first volume, developing more lively character expressions and body language. Romantasy fans who binge shows like True Blood and The Magicians will have no trouble falling under Mundt's spell. Agent: Stephanie Winter, PS Literary. (Jul.)