W.I.T.C.H. Part III: A Crisis on Both Worlds, Vol. 3

W.I.T.C.H. Graphic Novels #9

by Elisabetta Gnone (Series Creator), Alessandro Barbucci (Comic art direction), Barbara Canepa (Comic art direction)

Problems on Every Front

The girls have barely recovered from their adventure in Arkhanta when they suddenly find themselves facing an Astral Drop revolution! How can the Guardians stop their doubles from wreaking havoc in their lives, though, when the Astral Drops know exactly where to strike the Guardians to turn their lives upside down???

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2018

About the author

Elisabetta Gnone is an Italian writer. In April 2001, she co-created the Italian comic/magazine W.I.T.C.H. with Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa. The publication was later made into the television series of the same name. Gnone also wrote the children's trilogy Fairy Oak: Il segreto delle gemelle (The Secret of the Twins), L'incanto del buio (The Spell of Darkness), and Il potere della luce (The Power of Light). She expanded the Fairy Oak Universe with four more books, "The four mysteries": "Captain Grisam's love", "Shirley's wizarding days", "Flox smiles in autumn", and "Good-bye Fairy Oak".

information taken from wikipedia.com

Reviews

[daria ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i decided to do a bit of a throwback and revisited the iconic magical girl gang of my childhood aka W.I.T.C.H. ✨

https://youtu.be/sWxYq8UjfZo

[Lilienknochen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait for the next books. Few notes:
- I really dislike the oracle
- going to miss Yua. She was an interessting character
- I love Peter, he's the cutest. And I do ship Peter/Cornelia more than Caleb/Cornelia

[Anne (ReadEatGameRepeat) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite so far? I just love how well done the astral-drop arc was handled.

[Hawraki · Rating 5 out of 5]

لقد أصبحت نهايات الاسبوع مرتبطة بالقراءة المريحة لهذه السلسلة💓

[Émi (Slavic Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have rated it higher, but the conclusion to this arc (at least the otherworldly plotline) was quite lacking. In the previous volume, they hinted at certain things. However, upon reaching the climax, nothing was really explained? Still liked the arc, but it ended too soon and left me with questions.

I did however really enjoy the astral drops plotline! They brought in domestic and social complications which I really enjoyed. Not that the other volumes don't focus on the mundane - things were just moving along faster in this one. Really hoping we do see the astral drops again as it'd be a great way of coming to a full circle, wayyyy down the line. It'd feel satisfying!

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Yua thing resolved so...anticlimactically...and the only saving grace was the astral drop plot line in the last 1/4 of the book. But I’m seriously so bored with this series and don’t like the Oracle so I won’t be continuing the series after this.

[Aqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ari's story finally gets wrapped up here, and we briefly get an interesting display of humanity from the banshee, which I wish had been explored further. But really, this story arc was never about Ari or the banshee, it was about Orube, who has become quite a fun new addition to the team. She has no family ties on earth, so she can deploy when the guardians are stuck at school. I'm also interested to see where the plot with her neighbor goes.

The plot with the astral drops, as well as Taranee and Nigel's plot, takes central focus here. It's an interesting idea that these copies have developed a will of their own and are no longer cool with being used at the guardians' whims. There is quite a satisfying conclusion at the end to both of the main plots, and I hope we see the astral drops again in future novels.

There's a brief portion towards the end where Will is once again tricked into believing Matt may be interested in another girl. I cannot take it again. This is the third time! Why do they keep going back to this same tired plot conflict? For the most part these books are good about not conveniently forgetting what lessons the guardians learn in each story arc in future story arcs just for the sake of creating drama, except when it comes to Will and her relationship(?) with Matt. I assume they're still dating, although the books haven't actually showed them together for quite a while. This plot is getting obnoxious though, when will she learn to trust him?

This happened in the last novel as well, but oddly there is one page that is significantly blurred, as if they couldn't find an original high quality version to use. Not sure what happened, but it doesn't really affect anything so oh well.

Overall though, I enjoyed this story arc more than I expected. The guardians never did have a personal stake in the fight against Ari, which was disappointing, but Orube is a great new character, and I really enjoyed the way the novels explored more about the girls' home lives and their relationships with their astral drops. Looking forward to the next 3 novels, due out in Sep 2018 :)

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the astral drops in these episodes. They were unnecessarily mean! I mean, they didn't talk to each other and in the end the problem got so big that it took the Oracle to work it out.

As much as I liked Caleb as a teenager, I think Peter has a more defined personality. And I really like Nigel! Eric has disappeared from the radar and Will isn't making any progress with Matt and Martin got treated as crap.

Sigh!

Time to move on to part IV.

[Anniken Haga · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of focuse on humanity, which I really apreciate. Not just in humans, but everyone.
There's a lot of things here I didn't understand when I was a teen, but can see and understand now.

I remember finding the Astral Drop—story arc really interesting when I read it the first time around, and it still was!
My only problem with it is the trope it is built on: mis—communication.
It is my most hates trope ever

[Roos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story with the astral drops used to be my less favourite and it still is, but the rest was really nice

[Jess - The Hexed Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best one of these in a while. I really enjoyed the plot line with the astral drops.

[Narra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review follows soon

[Lilith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 /5 stars
[6 /10 stars]

- story [0.5 /2]
- worldbuilding & consistency [0.5 /1]
- art [1! /1]
- characters [1! /1]
- length & progress [1 /1]
- ending [0.5 /1]
- originality [1 /1]
- enjoyment [0.5 /2]

~quick thoughts~
• I'm most divided on the last part of this arc, as it concludes Ari's plot very weakly and the astral drops' plot, however interesting it is in parts, also ends up on a super weak note
• releasing the banshee always seemed like a glaringly stupid idea
• Ari was somehow even more annoying and I felt really bad for Yua towards the end, I want some justice for her and banshees in general
• I want an explanation for how those weak astral drops were able to conceal things that they've done from the guardians' minds
• Nigel is a bit spineless and I really hope he becomes different

~quick story summary per chapter~
• Chapter 33: the guardians free Yua, who takes Maqi to the swamp where he gets injured and then healed by the guardians, finally reaching peace with Ari as Maqi now speaks
• Chapter 34: astral drops are becoming a menace for the guardians, playing with their lives and then running away, while Nigel's brother Danny becomes a bad influence on him
• Chapter 35: Orube hunts for the astral drops in a new city, slowly rounding them up with the help of the guardians
• Chapter 36: astral drop Will becomes increasingly more hostile towards Will and is finally caught with the rest, traveling to Kandrakar where the guardians give them freedom and they get sent somewhere, with new identities

~long story summary per chapter~
Chapter 33
• the guardians are off to fight Ari once more and their astral drops are getting fed up with them
• Yua gives Ari an enchanted armor but the guardians still manage to defeat him
• the guardians free Yua and she takes her revenge on Ari by taking Maqi, so Ari and the guardians go looking for her in the swamp
• Ari attacks Yua and she accidentally drops Maqi, making him slowly die, so the guardians heal him with their inner Heart magic, making Maqi speak and Yua disappear
• the guardians return to their astral drops just as the latter are done planning something behind their backs

Chapter 34
• Nigel and his older brother, Danny, vandalize Taranee's father's car
• the guardians face obstacles in their daily lives where they can't remember getting into trouble or doing weird things and it's all thanks to their astral drops
• Will, who is really her astral drop, keeps convincing the others they're just stressed
• the guardians create their astral drops once more, having to attend two things at once, and the astral drops are pleased with how well they hid their memories from them and imposed their will several times while merged and realize they get stronger every time they're created, so they skip the obligatory school event to attend the fair to mess with the girls and make them worry so they can control them better
• the astral drops cause a lot of awkward moments and Will finally returns home from her trip away, running into the guardians at the fair, which is when they figure out their astral drops aren't where they should be
• astral drop Will asks Orube for the money from the cash register and tells her she'll return it at home later, where the real Will is and asks Orube to help locate the astral drops
• it seems like Danny saved Nigel when they were little and now expects Nigel to only trust Danny, which is why he's pulling him away from everyone
• the astral drops run away by taking the train

Chapter 35
• Orube hunts for astral drops in Migdale
• the astral drops are in a new city, trying to get by with what little money they have left, wondering how they are as individuals
• astral drop Cornelia gets spotted at the mall by her dad's former colleague, Spike Morrell, that helped stage a bank robbery and after astral drop Cornelia participates in a fashion show to get more money, Spike lures her and Taranee away, as Orube causes a ruckus at the mall
• Orube finally catches up with Will, Irma and Hay Lin and has a chat about loneliness and freedom with them
• the guardians are waiting at Cornelia's home as a call comes in, from none other than Spike, telling Cornelia that he's got Harold Hale's daughter
• astral drops Cornelia and Taranee successfully escape, just as Spike gets caught by the police, but almost fall to their death while climbing the building, which is when the guardians show up and save them
• Orube calls the guardians, telling them she lost sight of the other astral drops as they're getting on a bus

Chapter 36
• Taranee's mom finally tells her what's been going on with Nigel and Danny
• astral drop lies to Matt that Rebecca stole the money from the cash register and when Matt calls Will to find Rebecca but not giving her a reason why, Will starts being jealous again
• her astral drop also gets her grounded, without pocket money and out of the swim team for months
• astral drops Irma and Hay Lin try to rescue astral drops Cornelia and Taranee from Orube but fail and get caught, as astral drop Will calls Will and tells her she's coming to her home
• as Will tries to absorb her, it doesn't work anymore and the guardians seize her and take her to Orube
• they all travel to The Oracle and he says only guardians can give them the freedom and the guardians agree to it
• The Oracle says they all have to meet again in Kandrakar and will now look different and no one will know where they'll be
• Nigel finally comes to apologize to Taranee

[sage (semi-hiatus)]

3.5*

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My main issue with this volume is that part of it deal with the previous arc of Ari and Yua the banshee fighting against the Oracle, and then the rest of it is a totally unrelated arc where the astral drops rebel against the Guardians. Surely they could have crammed the last of Ari and Yua's story into the previous volume and wrapped that up nicely?

Apart from that, I liked the ending the the Ari and Yua arc. Although the fact that everything the banshee made disappeared after W.I.T.C.H. freed her was sad. The brilliant kingdom and all the villagers homes just gone in one go...
It was also a little sad to see Yua's ending. After being so full of anger and wanting revenge, to just slipping away... it was a little underwhelming after everything Ari put her through.

Maqi being healed by the guardians was... disappointing is the wrong word, but it's close. He was obviously meant to portray a non-verbal (possibly autistic) child, and therefore him becoming 'normal' rather than his father Ari learning to love him regardless - felt a little off.

The astral drop arc was interesting and well done.
I did feel sorry for the guardians though. They were under the impression that the astral drops were just mirror copies, they didn't realise that they had begun to want a life of their own. And then the Oracle had a go at them for being 'immature' and dealing with the situation badly...
I like that the astral drops got to become their own people and were free to do whatever they wanted (with new faces of course). It was a nice ending for them.

Maaaaan do I hate the Oracle more and more with each volume.

[L'Abri des Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

The arc begins with a few chapters that revolve around the daily life of girls, inspiring for Irma, complicated for Will and unequivocal for Taranee. Three of them go in exchange for school on the coast, while Will and Irma watch over Orube. Cohabitation is not easy, but the part about Redstone is great, the plot with Ari captivating. We come across a paranormal investigator, a telekinetist and a more than mysterious neighbor, in short the story goes on and this time the guardians take a critical look at what we ask them.

Unfortunately, the resolution of the battle against Ari is too fast, in the end we do not know what harm Maqi suffered and it is a shame. The astral twins want their freedom and do anything, but our five protagonists are gradually questioning themselves. They have even forgotten that these invocations were beings of flesh and that thus they also had a heart and feelings. They aspire to live and every dialogue is very interesting. We are not talking about their adolescence, but about their deep aspirations, their suffering to be treated badly by their own creators. I enjoyed it very much and I believe, or at least I hope to see these astral drops again.

What do you think of this series? It makes you want to read it?

Link to my Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CctCV1MoAwL/

[WendyTheOwl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol. 7 -> 9 (no spoilers)
FR
Quand je lisais le magazine, c'est environ au tome 8 que j'ai arrêté. Donc c'est maintenant une découverte totalement pour moi.
Et je dois dire que je suis contente de ma lecture. Bien sur les filles sont jeunes, mais c'est aussi ce qui fait le charme de la série.
Je suis plus que ravie que Orube soit là, car je me souviens que je l'aimais beaucoup, et c'est toujours le cas. Même si j'ai hâte de voir ce que son histoire nous réserve pour la suite !

ENG
When I read the magazine, it was around volume 8 that I stopped. So this is now a discovery totally for me.
And I must say that I'm happy with my reading. Of course the girls are young, but that's also what makes the charm of the series.
I am more than happy that Orube is here, because I remember loving her very much, and still do. Although I can't wait to see what her story has in store for the future !

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished Arc III a while ago and forgot to shelve it...
This is a bit of a weird Arc. I think the astral drop storyline was done incredibly well and is the highlight of these volumes. The actual "main quest" in Arkantha feels a bit uninspired to me - the guardians are not that involved in the issue and the plot progresses in a weird way ("Go there - Fail - Repeat 3x"???). What I'm really iffy about is the inclusion of the Interpol/Police force/Government people who for some reason have a supernatural task force with a psychic (- what?!??!). It doesn't make sense to me, it's underexplained and it doesn't slot in neatly with the rest of the series. Seeing guns in WITCH just feels wrong. If this storyline were followed up at some later point it may be fine, but just leaving it at this it feels incomplete.

Still loving this reread though!

[Citybones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buf, este arco de la gotas astrales no me gustó nunca nada. No recuerdo haberlo releído mucho y fue epoco después de esto que abandoné la serie y dejé de comprar las revistas. Es una situación terrible para todos los involucrados y no creo que fuera bien llevado por la autora. Muy revuelto todo y la trama se mueve más para pasar al siguiente punto del plot que por que tenga lógica. La sidestory de Nigel y su hermano es otra sin sentido y que se resuelve porque sí.
Aún así, ahora tengo muchas ganas de ver como continúa la historia, llegando casi a la parte que es nueva para mí.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is definitely more mature and complex. Ari's arc was so tense and scary, but I am glad it was resolved.
The astral drop arc was really good, but the ending came very quick and I didn't feel the resolution. Also, that Oracle was infuriating! He only gave orders and performed magical solutions.
I am excited to read the next volumes to see how the girls will manage without their astral drops!

[MV Isip · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok now that it's done ... might be my least favorite arc so far? arkhanta had so much potential but felt rushed in favor of the astral drop subplot that's kinda shoehorned in the last few chapters.

i love the concept on paper — identity and agency of your magical mirror copy! — and how they've always hinted at this even in previous volumes, but man, i didn't find its big finale particularly compelling.

orube carried this, hard.

[Severind Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel the characters' pain as though it were my own. A satisfying end to this arc but I'm desperate to know what happens next with some of these more personal subplots. Especially with Will. Nothing seems to be going her way. This one was a bit harder to follow at times, but that didn't bother me enough to mark it down. I was able to figure it out and saw why it was written that way.

[Danielle Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one a lot! The astral drop plotline was really cool, though I did get frustrated because of it a couple times. It was often hard to tell when it was the astral drop vs. the real girl, and it was frustrating how long it took them to realize something was going on with the drops. Still, it was an interesting twist, and I'll be looking forward to see the astral drops again someday!

[Mirjam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story had a lot of potential, but it was rendered too superficially and half the volume was drawn by an artist whose style I really didn't like. I'll get the next books hoping that there will be a bit of a shift and maturing of the concept.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The astral drop arc has been one of my favorites so far. Watching how they develop into their own people with different, but similar traits to W.I.T.C.H. has been super interesting. I can’t wait to see what important mission they get called back to help with in the future!

[ReadingFrog · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The oracle is so annoying

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm I didn't enjoy this one as much. The plot was a bit confusing

[Andra · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can clearly see the difference in the drawing style compared to the previous books. This volume is poorly drawn. It looks like a bad knockoff of the comics. It was a pain to read and look at. I wish I could add pictures to show a proper comparison.

[Elise Skeels-Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Crisis on Both Worlds has quite easily been the best Part of the WITCH series so far! So much exploration of bigger themes of morality. For a Middle-Grade series it was done in such an accessible way for younger readers that it could remain enjoyable while exploring these more complex ideas. Even for myself (as a reader much older than the target demographic) I found myself so invested in each beat of this Part. I really hope that the Part 4 builds on the foundations set in this one and cannot wait to read on. I have genuinely gone from reading this due to nostalgia to actually fully unironically enjoying it.

Rating: 5/5 or 10/10

W.I.T.C.H., Part I. The Twelve Portals:
Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐.5
Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

W.I.T.C.H., Part 2. Nerissa's Revenge:
Vol. 1⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol. 3 ⭐⭐⭐

W.I.T.C.H., Part 3. A Crisis on Both Worlds:
Vol. 1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vol. 2 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐