'The group of seven has been fractured. Leo, the spiritualist, has given up his old friends in favor of his new girlfriend Ophelia, who won’t leave his side. After everything he learned from his father’s library, Leo is convinced that bringing together the seven mages would be disastrous for the world and must be avoided at all costs. But for now, Leo’s friends are the ones who are under threat: Milo, the telepath, has been shut away in a grain silo by his own parents to keep him from manipulating them, while Farah, the demonist, has been taken to an exorcist to remove the evil force within her, by whatever means necessary. The seven friends are at risk of losing each other, but that’s without counting on Alice, who always has a plan…'
The fifth volume of Magic 7 sees the fallout from the shocking revelations in the last book, and has the kids facing some of their toughest challenges yet when they're forced apart.
Having learnt some shocking truths about the original seven mages, and how they were responsible for creating the Beast, Leo has tried to distance himself from his new friends, but as school begins again after summer he's forced to spend time with people that he thinks could be a danger. To combat this Leo has tried to push them away, acting more selfish, ignoring them, and acting angry at them. He's so afraid of what the seven of them can do when they're together he's trying to do everything he can to make them hate him.
In addition to this, Fabrice is still trying to act like the bully he used to be now that schools back, pushing Hamelin around in the halls and being a jerk towards him. Hamelin is alone once again, being shunned by both Leo and Fabrice, and has turned to helping people's pets in order to feel better about himself.
Whilst the boys try to deal with these new social issues, Farah seems to have gone missing, with no one having any idea where she is. Lupe, rebuffed by Leo, loses herself in her work on the Magic Train, shutting herself away in her warehouse. The only one who can see where all of these paths will lead them, and knowing that the seven of them must come back together, Alice sets out to orchestrate a scenario where the team will have to save each other; the only problem is, the danger is absolutely real. But where's Milo in all this? Well, Milo has been locked away in an underground facility by his parents and Nathaniel so that he can't use his powers on them. Not only that, but they're trying to convince him to turn on the others, so that he can one day use his abilities to control them all. Will the team manage to put aside their issues and come back together in time to save everyone?
This volume of Magic 7 felt really different to the others we've had before. It's less about the children's powers, their destiny together, or any of the big things like that, and is more of a look at how important they've all become to each other as friends, and how losing those friendships comes to effect them now. It's a personal drama with some action thrown in thanks to Alice's wild plan, but one that's ultimately about Leo coming to terms with what he's learnt and not letting it change his relationships with his friends.
It's amazing how quickly the group has come together and formed strong bonds, and how even a simple change like Fabrice pretending to be a bully at school can throw them all off. And Fabrice might be one of the more interesting characters here even though he isn't really a big focus. We see Leo dealing with his warring emotions, and Hamelin falling into loneliness and depression, but Fabrice goes through a much more complex journey, but in the background. he wants to be friends with the other members of the group, but feels he can't when he's in school, with a pressure to pretend to be the person he was before.
He turns on Hamelin, embarrasses him, and pushes him around, but we can see that it doesn't bring him the glee it used to. He feels bad about it. When the information about their powers is also leaked online he pays the price for it when his father physically assaults him, leaving him with a black eye. He knows now that his drawings didn't kill his baby sister, but his father still blames him and harms him because of it. He carries this pain with him, the knowledge that his father is fine physically assaulting him, and you can see the harm that's causing this boy. I really hope that we get more of a focus on Fabrice in future volumes, because there's so much more to him than there first appears, and he seems to need a lot more help than the others in conquering his own trauma.
I hate that I was right about Nathaniel too, as this volume shows just how untrustworthy and manipulative the man is. He cages Milo in a secured prison, not allowing him any human contact, so that he can try and get Milo to join his side. We still don't know what Nathaniel is working towards, what his ultimate goal is, but it's so clear now that it can't be good, and that he doesn't have the children's safety as a concern at all. I don't know if Nathaniel is going to be the big villain, or if there are going to be worse threats for the seven, but as things stand right now he certainly seems to be a major threat for them, one who can cause some very serious issues for them all if he so wanted to.
The art for this volume is different, with a new team of Kenny Ruiz and Noiry working on art and colours respectively. The art style is similar enough to the other volumes that it doesn't feel out of place at all, and isn't a big visual change, yet it does stand out as different enough. Things are slightly more stylised, characters seem a big more angular in places, and the poses seem a lot more dynamic. I can't quite put my finger on what's different about it, but I do really like this new art team, and think that the book looks great. The action sequences in the casino/zoo in particular look really good.
Things have never seemed to desperate for the kids than they do in this volume, and come the end it's not clear just how safe any of them are. I don;t know if they're going to be able to go back to their normal lives, or if they're going to have to be on the run. They're facing threats from all sides, and their bonds may have been pushed too close to breaking for them to ever really be the same after this. I'm definitely excited to see what happens next.
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