'Farah’s demon Jezebel is on the loose and the seven mages are hot on her trail, riding Lupe’s Runaway Train across the land. They finally catch up with their target, only to find out that she has taken control of a whole town, turning the people into zombie-like creatures that sow chaos in the streets. To further complicate things, the Magic 7 lose their powers at the worst possible moment—only to acquire new ones. They’ll have to master them quickly, as Jezebel is itching for a fight… The town will never be the same again, and neither will Leo and his friends, who will be faced with the most difficult decision of their young lives.'
The sixth volume of Magic 7 (the last to be released in English so far) follows our brave group of young mages as they finally break free from their home lives and set out on a mission of their own; finally being proactive, rather than just reactive. With Leo's father aware of some of their identities, and having shown a desire to capture the kids in order to use their powers for his own ends, the seven of them have abandoned their regular lives in hopes of tracking down Farah's missing demon, Jezebel.
Their search leads the kids to a small town in the mountains. However, they also need some supplies for their train/base, and so split into separate groups. One group sets out to track down the missing demon, whilst the other goes to get food, and medicine for Alice. however, Milo's powers don't seem to work on any of the adults in town. If that's not strange enough, the others powers start vanishing too. However, when the town descends into chaos when Farah confronts her missing demon the kids soon realise that their powers haven't gone, but switched. Now, equipped with powers they don't know how to use, the teens have to find a way to survive a village that's become a living nightmare.
This is without a doubt the most action packed volume of the series yet, with a big focus on the team having to fight their way through demons, mind controlled villagers, zombies, and even an assassin just to make it through the night. This would be a touch order at the best of times, but the fact that their powers have been switched round and none of them really know how to use them is making things a lot worse.
The team has been struggling recently, due in part to the revelations that Leo and Alice have made about their history, and their potential future. As such, this might very well be the breaking point for the kids. Come the end of this volume it looks like this might be it for them as, spoiler alert, Leo is prepared to give up his powers to the 8th mage, Tarik, who has been behind the power switch shenanigans. Added onto that, both Milo and Fabrice end this volume in critical condition, and their ultimate fates are still up in the air. With Alice having predicted that one of the group is going to die soon, could it be one of them?
Despite the high stakes drama there's still a lot of fun in this volume, particularly with the power switching. Not only does each member of the team have to spend time figuring out how to use their new powers, and which ones they have, but each of them puts their own spin on it. For example, Leo gains the shaman powers, but because he's used to channelling spirits he channels the strengths and abilities of the animals. Hamelin gains the demonist powers, and uses his musical instruments to command the demons. Milo gains the spiritualist powers, and accidentally commands the dead to rise under his control. The fact that the way the powers are used seem to be linked to each character, and how the powers change depending on what those particular mages are used to, makes for a very interesting idea.
We also get some interpersonal drama within the group this volume too, as Farah and Lupe kiss. This came as a complete surprise, as neither character had been shown to be queer before this. The kiss leads to some awkwardness between the two of them, and from what the characters say it seems like Farah has been openly gay this whole time, and this is Lupe's first experience, leading to her questioning her sexuality. It's really cool that there's some queer representation in the series, especially as it's a book for kids and more queer kids need to see being a part of the LGBTQ+ community being normalised in their media. I hope that this is something the series will continue with as it goes on, and isn't just a one off incident.
The artwork on this volume is provided by Kenny Ruiz and Noiry, and I think it might be my favourite yet. I love the way this particular volume looks, and the characters look fantastic here. Every frame is filled with energy, and the action sequences look pretty spectacular. I'm hoping that we get more from this art team, as this style really seems to suit the more action-packed direction the series is going.
Sadly, this is the last volume of the series to be translated so far, and I don't know when the next volume will be released in English. As such, I can't just jump straight into the next one the way I have with these first six. Fingers crossed it won't be long though, as this is a series that I've really loved so far.
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