From Animefringe
Currently set to hit stores in December, Queenie Chan's three-part tale The Dreaming marks the debut of Australian OEL manga from TOKYOPOP, and if the first volume is anything to go by, she will be doing a favor for her nation....
Set in dense bushlands somewhere in Australia, The Dreaming opens with twin sisters Amber and Jeanie moving from Sydney to a prestigious and very remote boarding school.... A variety of curiosities are thrown onto the table quite quickly as the tale begins to unfold, and various others trickle along as the pages keep on turning. Why did these twins have no choice but to come here? Why is it so important that the aunt who got them into the school lied, and said that they were born a year apart from each other? What are the rumors and superstitions that she mentioned? What is the overall concern of the Vice Principal? And why are Amber and Jeanie suffering recurring and identical dreams, dreams that seem uncomfortably connected to the school and its surroundings?
The overall pacing of the plot is well handled, revealing aspects of the story in a consistent and even-handed manner. It's very selective about what it does and doesn't reveal, making solid use of the different ways that the two girls see and respond to things. It's a story set in a closed-off world with an open bend towards horror, one that takes on a very ghostly and ethereal atmospheric approach, thus causing the story to work more with an uneasy vibe than with straight-out scares or gross-out scenes. It might be due to having a stretch of bush outside my window, but I found there to be a genuine uneasy and creepy feeling that came with reading this manga. Given that I've felt genuinely uneasy about twice in the past decade (as far as movies go), this is no small feat.
Hidden underneath the attractive and atmospherically accurate cover is a continued streak of solid illustration. Granted, the artwork isn't perfect, but it has a very strong grounding. It never feels incomplete, and it displays a high level of willingness to play with visual dynamics and perspective. The only flaws of particular significance were the odd moment of disproportion, and faces that often look as if they've been painted onto a flat (although shapely around the edges) surface, rather that being a fully bodied part of an actual, physical structure. Facial expressions are subtly expressive, however, and the visual depiction of the school is often mesmerizing. In fact, the walls and corridors of this building may be where the true expression in The Dreaming can be found, as a variety of different angles, atmospheric shots and gentle curved distortions convey the sense of suppressed menace much more effectively than any of the numerous eye close-ups. Detail abounds, and to top it all off, the usage of tones never skips a beat.
Outside of the immediately obvious illustration, the book also excels in its panel layouts, an important component as the panel layouts ultimately affect the overall lucidity of the reading experience. The panels are quite numerous, often flying over the top of each other, and they are laid out in a way that is generally quite effective at stimulating motion. This arrangement and focus on visual motion prevents the pages from becoming over-crowded with written text, and the overall reading experience flows more consistently because of it. The book closes off at a cliffhanger revelation that is also something of an epitome of the images as the driving force beyond the story flow and pacing.
Overall, this is a very strong entry into the professional manga scene, one that is well presented, effectively creepy at times, and one that actually has an ending in sight. The Dreaming is very easily recommended to almost anyone willing to read a non-Japanese manga, and particularly for those who appreciate a good comic design.
~Tim Henderson
Copyright © Animefringe
From IGN Comics
Dark fantasy manga from the Land Down Under.
"Queenie Chan has done a fine job of building up the sort of slow tension that you find in most of the good, mass market gothic horror novels.... Her artwork...has potential to not just be good but be scary good."
~KJB
Copyright © IGN Entertainment, Inc.
Spooky and Creative
If you like Edgar Allen Poe, the Victorian era, mysteries, and of course pretty dresses, then The Dreaming is the perfect manga.
Spooky and Creative
If you like Edgar Allen Poe, the Victorian era, mysteries, and of course pretty dresses, then The Dreaming is the perfect manga.
Jeanie and Amber Malkin are new students at Greenwich Private College, a boarding school in North Sydney that lies on the edge of vast, virgin bushlands. The school has a hundred-year history and is run entirely by its vice principal, who has a strange prejudice against identical twins. In fact, she rejects all twins' applications to the school. The girls were only able to get in by saying that they are just regular sisters, born 11 months apart.
After settling in and meeting new friends, the girls learn more about the school and its surrounding bushlands—which they are warned not to go into because, time and time again, young girls have wandered off into the bush and vanished...without a trace.
Few know how the girls disappeared...fewer yet know why. People lost in the bush don't simply die—they vanish, as if swallowed whole by the land. The twins heed the warning, but soon discover the reason so many girls have disappeared into the bush despite the warnings...and why the vice principal is so against identical twins studying at the school.
Jeanie Malkin:
Very eager to be accepted by her peers, which sometimes leads her to make unwise choices and alienate her sister. Unlike Amber, she has a rebellious streak. But she is close to her sister, and both are willing to go to great lengths to rescue one another.
Amber Malkin:
Serious-minded, shy and reserved, Amber is unused to talking about what's bothering her—even to her sister. Amber is also very easily bothered by the supernatural and unexplained, and though she fights being pulled toward the dark forces that haunt her dreams, it's a losing battle.
Catherine Anu: (a teacher)
Jeanie originally dislikes her—she has the same patronizing, authoritarian tone the other teachers have. But Miss Anu is not mean of spirit, and as Jeanie discovers, always puts the welfare of the students first.
Mrs. Skeener: (vice principal)
Mrs. Skeener is a creepy old woman with old-fashioned ideas of how "young ladies" should behave. The teachers always bow to her commands, but few realize just how long she's been at the school...or how frightening her secrets really are.
Queenie Chan:
She was born in 1980 in Hong Kong and migrated to Australia when she was six years old. As a child she read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime, which was as popular in Hong Kong then as it is now. This bred in her a love of the medium from an early age.
After high school she enrolled in a 4-year Information Systems degree program—but the workload wasn't heavy, so she started drawing manga on the side. Still, she never considered it as a career until 2002, when she graduated right at the nadir of the dot-com bust and no companies were hiring. Her "big break" came in 2004, when TOKYOPOP began accepting international artists.
Check out Queenie's website at http://www.queeniechan.com/
All of them vanished...without a trace...
There's nothing quite so delicious as a ghost story among friends. Smuggling in the food, lighting the candles, telling the tales...huddled in your sleeping bags afterwards, afraid to sleep...and then, sleep. A good scare for all, and no harm done.
Now imagine this magical experience inside a centuries-old boarding school in the middle of a dark, impenetrable Australian wilderness. And add lots of harm.
Greenwich Private College holds a terrible secret...and as twins Jeanie and Amber are about to learn, this is one place where "lights out" is held for a very good reason.
~Carol Fox, Editor
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o love this! its so creepy nd awesome:)
MISTRESS2DARKNESS
08.31.2009 12:00 AM
Love all 3 vol.'s
KAGURA92
06.30.2009 12:00 AM
wow this is really really great! i love it
SPORTSGRL
05.28.2009 12:00 AM
I love dis manga. itzz awesum and creepy!! Itzz great!!
SHANDABLUE1995
05.08.2009 12:00 AM
I have read the first one i say itz vary vary good but i find +ANIMA much more interesting of course whut do i no im 11
GOTHJAIL
04.29.2009 12:00 AM
I found this story also at my schools libary
IMAMANGAREADER
03.09.2009 12:00 AM
i wish they would come to life. read it at nite
QUEENMALLEA
01.26.2009 12:00 AM
i bought all 3 wish tere was a 4
SSBBSBSB
01.18.2009 12:00 AM
dont read them at night i did and it waz creepy
SSBBSBSB
01.18.2009 12:00 AM
I have the first book and plan to buy more it's amazing!
VICKIANDSMIDGE
01.16.2009 12:00 AM
totally want to buy this volume 1-3! :D there have more than volume 4?
ACKLES
12.24.2008 12:00 AM
This should totally be made into a series!! I'd buy it
SHIORIDARAY87
12.14.2008 12:00 AM
I love this series it should be made into a movie
MOVIEBOY98
11.30.2008 12:00 AM
I found the first manga at my school's library. I really like the art and I found the plot interesting.
SINDIA
09.06.2008 12:00 AM
volume 1-3 ar the best book I've read in a long time
EMZ5X
08.26.2008 12:00 AM
i like this book alot it iz good
MOONPRINCESS585
08.15.2008 12:00 AM
i read the 1st book its really good
RACHELM
08.11.2008 12:00 AM
my sister picked it up at random, and we've been hooked since. its such an awesome manga. i just luv it. I recommended this manga to everyone
LUMINA3
07.04.2008 12:00 AM
I just got this at the library the other day. I was pretty good. So the ending left me hanging and I want to see what happens! lol
THEBUNNY9492
07.03.2008 12:00 AM
I! LOVE! THE! DREAMING! i read all three!!!!!!!! its not scary...........well a little.................ok! ok! a little more than a little! STOP STAREING AT THE MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!! i feel like your stareing at me! but that was only because i read them at night!!!!!!!!!!
YUKIKUNRULES
06.27.2008 12:00 AM
i like this manga its kinda spooky which excites me
ANIMEGURLCANDY
06.25.2008 12:00 AM
i read allllllllllllllla 3 of em and i had NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOaaaaaaaa night mares at alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
ROLIPOLI
06.23.2008 12:00 AM
how do we read the manga here
SHINIGAMIMAN
05.24.2008 12:00 AM
i already read all of them! It gave me nightmares 4 3entire weeks!!!
HIRUMARA
04.30.2008 12:00 AM
Uberly awesome... I bought the book and I want to read the other 2 books. This book is so uberly-awesome-coolishly-scary book!
AJNEGRILLO
04.29.2008 12:00 AM
i'm so happy i have been meaning to get this book. and i found it for a bargain!!!
MANGALOVER411
04.22.2008 12:00 AM
how are you a vip
CLANNAD101
03.15.2008 12:00 AM
I HAVE to read it, I love creepy things and myserties
ALLEY5324
03.14.2008 12:00 AM
This book creeped me out!! My friend made me read it and I must find the next two!!
KATRINACONFUSEDX
03.05.2008 12:00 AM
I checked this book out at school, well volume 1, and it was really good! Although I read it really fast. It doesn't take more than an hour or 2 to read. I think they should add more mystery and horror to it =D I love books like these that are long and just oo! lmbo! I am dieing to get the other two volumes!
SHADOWWOLFQUEEN
03.02.2008 12:00 AM
oh, this book is great... i'm sure gonna get it... i read the first 3 chapters online... now i can't read 4... hehehe.... i can't wait till i get it so i could continue reading it.... i hope borders has it!!!
JULESAIAH
02.18.2008 12:00 AM
There's some parts that are a bit confusing, as far as sequential time goes. But I really enjoy the story. I might consider buying it, but I'm not entirely sure yet.
MAVERICKKAY
02.17.2008 12:00 AM
I like the book, but its a little creepy at parts 0_0
PITATENQUEEN
02.10.2008 12:00 AM
It really scary and it gives me the creeps... but that just makes me wanna read it more! O_O
PEPPERHAM
02.10.2008 12:00 AM
hey, only V.I.P can read chapter 4,n 5, n6, n 7?
ABCD
02.10.2008 12:00 AM
How do you read the manga online? I am really confused...
SILVERSUN
02.09.2008 12:00 AM
why cant i read chapter 4?
ABCD
02.09.2008 12:00 AM
i read da few vol chapters online n some pages rly do scare me....O.O"""*scared,shivers*
LILKHMERGURL
02.03.2008 12:00 AM
I haven't bought it yet (it's very hard to find english manga in belgium!!) but I love the pages I've read so far on the internet. cool style.
KOMAANEZEG
02.02.2008 12:00 AM
Am I the only person who thinks that it is kinda cute? I've been wanting to read it, but I could never find the first volume in the store >_< The second volume was like 30% off, but I try to get books in order since it helps me remember which books I have. >_
ARIAANDKIA
02.02.2008 12:00 AM
it looks demented ... is it good?
PURFECT
02.01.2008 12:00 AM
No it isnt Sakura. it mentions that the outback is notorious for people going missing, Pineapple speaks the truth!!
DARKFAYTH
01.26.2008 12:00 AM
No it isnt Sakura. it mentions that the outback is notorious for people going missing, Pineapple speaks the truth!!
DARKFAYTH
01.26.2008 12:00 AM
Pineapple, thats racist..... T_T
SAKURAFAYTH
01.20.2008 12:00 AM
thiz is a really cool bk
GHETTOSABZ
01.13.2008 12:00 AM
looks good
ANIMEXYUKI
01.01.2008 12:00 AM
i love this manga the ending made me sad, i wish there was a bonus
REIREI23789
01.01.2008 12:00 AM
ok i jus read the dreaming i first 3 chapter of vol 1 n im scared(not totally but yeah kinda scared)
LILKHMERGURL
12.31.2007 12:00 AM
O_o it's always Australia where people disappear ...
FLYINGPINEAPPLE
12.29.2007 12:00 AM
Wow, this seems interesting :P
ARTHURIEA
12.29.2007 12:00 AM