I'm continuing my theme of gothic horror manga this week. I recently finished The Dreaming Vol 2 by Queenie Chan that evokes the old style ghost story very effectively. This is definitely a series for those who like scary but not gory stories. It's one that I would definitely recommend reading during Halloween.


Description: After a gruesome discovery of what happened to Millie, the students of Greenwich Private College quickly flee to their homes and the school is temporarily shut down due to on going investigations. Jeanie's curiosity keeps her on campus. She begins to uncover the secret history behind Greenwich Private College, and she finds a chilling link between the disappearances and a ghostly curse.

Review: The second volume of the Dreaming series picks right up where we left off in the first volume. While the first volume largely focused on the creepy setting of a desolate private college, this latest installment delves deeper into the history of the school, the missing girlies, and the omnipresent administrator. Chan does a great job in pacing and giving little details in bits and pieces, making us wanting to turn the pages faster in order to find the next clue. There is definitely a more action in this second volume as Jeanie and her sister discover that they are still having the same dream, except the dream's location of being in the forest has been changed into the school background. Revelations about Ms. Anu, Jeanie's strict teacher, and Amber's grief about what happened to her roommate are described and illustrated well. I'm curious how this series will end and look forward to reading its last volume soon.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing images. This manga is rated T for Teens.

If you like this book try: The Dreaming Vol 3 by Queenie Chan, Skinjacker trilogy by Neal Shusterman, or Coraline by Neil Gaiman