The Deep Dark

15.2 x 2.6 x 21.4 cm, 480 pages

English language

Published by Scholastic Graphix.

ISBN:
978-0-7023-3767-3
Copied ISBN!
ASIN:
B0CD391XMZ
5 stars (1 review)

Everyone has secrets. Mags’s has teeth.

Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there’s her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out -- like it did once before.

So Mags keeps her head down, isolated in her small desert community. That is, until her childhood friend Nessa comes back to town, bringing vivid memories of the past, an intoxicating glimpse of the future, and a secret of her own. Mags won’t get attached, of course. She’s always been strong enough to survive without anyone’s help.

But when the darkness starts to close in on them both, …

1 edition

Dark, complex, beautiful

5 stars

The Deep Dark is graphic novel about secrets, suffering, fear, and a path to healing. Or maybe it's about family, love, art, and becoming who you are. About living, and joy. Or about queerness, acceptance, and generational trauma. It's moving, grounded, complex. It's fantastic.

Mild spoilers follow: Magdalena "Mags" Herrera is a butch girl living in Joshua Tree, South California. Her mother is often staying with her new boyfriend, so Mags is the main caregiver for her grandmother, while also working part-time. Her secret girlfriend has a boyfriend in public. But the bigger secret is the creature in the basement which is tied to Mags life, and needs to be fed with her blood every night. It's the reason Mags barely goes out apart from highschool and her job. Into this life bursts Mags' childhood friend, Nessa. They reconnect, and Mags is torn between wanting more and keeping Nessa at …