An interesting story with real people at the heart of it. While I enjoyed the tale, I was more interested to find that it was based on people who really existed at the time in which the story it told, and while certain licence has to be taken to make an interesting premise of the story, I think it's best covered in the afterword.

"Fiction can go where history cannot."

And while history may well have been more interesting should it have contained any of this, what's contained herein is the stuff of redacted files and urban myths, the holy grail, and the nature of power uncontrolled. This doesn't make it any less enjoyable, but I think it will be those who have a strong interest in this particular genre who will take most from it. For myself, it was a good story, but not one that I would return to immediately.

Although I am not usually a graphic novel fan, the subject of this graphic novel really drew me in as a historical fiction fan and interested in books on the occult. However, I feel like this book was hard to follow even having a background on how Allistar Crowley and some of the figures were. Instead of grabbing the reader - the beginning is a rough and confusing start. I think it would be really hard for a reader to follow the plot and understand the characters if the reader was not already familiar with them.

Overall, I thought the art was okay. Therefore, I give this book 2 stars.

Very interesting and original plot, I rlly loved the ties to occultism, and how well illustrated this graphic novel was !!

When I started reading this book, I didn't really know any of the people featuring in the book. It's a real story about four people who are helping the British intelligence against the Nazis through occult arts.

The start seemed a little random for me and could have worked on the storytelling part of it. However, once the group gets together, the storytelling flows much better. Had I read the information about the people in the book before getting into the book, I might have been more involved right from the beginning.

I absolutely loved how the differeny facial expressions of the characters have been drawn. The colours worked great with the story as well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was super excited to read this graphic novel, since it's based on true story and the premise sounded super interesting, but I'm sorry to say it didn't do anything for me. It just ended up being completely flat and I was left feeling indifferent through most of the reading experience. I couldn't connect to characters, or the plot. At some point I lost track of who is who, since they blended into each other. Art style wasn't my favorite either, so that didn't help at all.

It was a fictional tale of Britain's most well known Wiccans and occultism working on a mission to stop Hitler's occult faction. I find it was not interesting and the art was dull. The white men looked the same to me, so it was hard to follow.

I went into this book with an open mind because while I do love the occult and witchcraft, I have my own opinions on the Wiccan religion and the people who founded it. I tried to read it as if they were new characters, but I found I still disliked them. The story as a whole is intriguing but it felt like it got bogged down. with too much time spent on "getting the gang together" and not enough on what they all were doing to help the war effort. parts felt disjointed and didn't flow. I really didn't feel satisfied with the ending either.

I did love the style of the artwork, It felt very appropriate for the setting's time period, but Doreen's hairstyle height was distracting. I've never seen a single image of her with that hairstyle and haven't seen anyone from that time period with it either.

I did appreciate the afterwords, which was more interesting than the actual story, unfortunately.

Was really excited to read this as I have an interest in paganism and read up about the background of the story. The art work was interesting and I loved the colour palette but the pacing felt a bit erratic and some parts of the story confusing,

3.5 Stars

This was a good read, though my rating would have been higher if the novel was longer - perhaps even double the length. This would have smoothed out some of the more confusing scenes and also allowed us more time with the characters, each of whom I found very intriguing but didn't really get to live up to their potential. After reading the authors' notes at the end I wish we'd seen more of their backstories in the novel itself.

However, I liked the parts I could follow quite a lot, and the different kinds of magic/con-artistry on show - the mix of both along with the espionage was fun. The art style was appropriately vintage and I particularly liked the use of colour.

Overall a quick, fun and interesting read inspired by true people and events, which could have benefited greatly from being a much longer novel.

I origtinally was drawn to this because I dabble in paganism and wicca and I know a lot about people depicted in the graphic novel, the story behind the events taking place in it, and the legends surrounding the Nazi occultists, but I found it to be a bit hard to get through, the pacing felt a bit off to me. The artwork is nice but not really my style, but I love the color palette.

The Witches of World War II is a rollicking spy thriller that plays around with the Nazi's fascination with occultism.

The story is about how belief no matter how unfounded or ridiculous is a powerful weapon in war. The book is follows Doreen as she confronts her own sceptism about witchcraft and magic while putting together a group of unlikely occultists to take advantage of Hitler's belief in magic.

As a spy thriller it works effectively, especially as it plays on our expectations of how certain historical character behave and left me feeling unsure as who to trust. Doreen is a fab protagonist, a strange mixture of self-doubt and gumption, full of curiosity and determination all presented in the best hair-do I have seen in comics this year.

The set-peices are full of tension rendered in gorgeous art. Doreen survives on her wits and ability persuade her targets to buy the lies she is selling.

The lovely thickly lined art-work is great to look at but I felt it occasionally struggled to make the actions sequences as exciting as some of the espionage sections.

This is a good comic and one that I would recommend.

This one was not for me, but I found it enough interesting that I recommended it to about 5 or 6 people personally for it's release

This was an interesting graphic novel. I enjoyed it for the most part but honestly there were a few places where I was lost. I did really, really love the artwork and the color palette. As we got more towards the end of the book I started to enjoy it more. I think all the set up was just a little tedious to me. But overall, I think that this is one you should pick up and see for yourself how you enjoy it.

The premise sounds good, but the execution was lackluster. While reading this, I did not understand a single thing; the art style was not my cup of tea, and the pacing was completely off.

That was interesting, it was my first time reading a historical fiction hq, but honestly, not my cup of tea.

Plot was ok, the artwork was also ok, not my favorite. It got a bit confusing sometimes and that kinda drove away my attention. But afterall, it was worthy reading it.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free graphic novel*

"The Witches of World War II" follows the stories of real world occultists who used their powers to fight the Nazis. While I knew a bit about the historical persons involved, the graphic novel explores this a bit more and transforms it into a story of magical warfare during World War II. I found parts of it enjoyable, but also a bit over the top. I sometimes found it hard to follow and disliked several characters.

My main issue is though that adding this supernatural elements of Nazi witchcraft being countered by English witchcraft somehow gives the manmade conflict a new nuance that takes the responsibility from Nazi Germany and reduces it to evil magic TM. I know this is unreasonable criticism, but I somehow feels like this excuses the atrocities committed by the Nazis. I don't know how to describe this honestly.

Overall it was interesting to learn more about the occultists though. So 3 stars

DNF. It was too confusing to understand what was going on, static art, and a development I didn't understand. While based on actual facts, it takes some liberties here and there, but it wasn't appealing enough to keep my attention.

This failed to live up to it's premise for me. I liked the idea of witchcraft being involved in World War II, and the fact that it was based around a certain amount of fact was enticing to say the least. However, the characters seemed very one dimensional, the story lacking in something I couldn't put my finger on. The cover with it's interesting look but very muted colours sums it up completely.

Not my cup of tea but definitely a delight to read for someone who’s into the world war 2 style retellings and with a spooky witch twist it’s perfect for this time of year

3.5 ⭐️

I received an ARC of this graphic novel from Netgalley and TKO studios in exchange for a honest review.

In the midst of the Second World War, five occultists come together in order to defeat the Third Reich, and prevent them from reshaping the world in their image.

"The Witches of World War II" rides the wave of many other comics that combine elements from the fantasy genre and Historical events.
In this specific case, we find really existed characters like our protagonist, Doreen Valiente, or the most famous Aleister Crowley, one of the most misterious occultist who ever lived. The same is true for the opposing side - the antagonists - the Third Reich, here embodied by Adolf Hitler's second-in-command, Rudolf Hess.

Historical fantasy books and comics are some of my favorites and I must say that in this case I really expected something a little bit more magical. Don't get me wrong, magic is there and it's also a big part of the story, but in a way that left me slightly thirsty for more.
The same goes for the plot. Clever, well-studied, but not so original in the end. It’s a story that can be found in any graphic novel of the same genre.
What I did enjoy were the symbolism and the iconography used while depicting "ritual scenes". The one with the goddess and the valkyrie is by far my favorite.

I also appreciated the artwork in the comic. It stays close to real-life figures but doesn't disdain the cartoonish style when it felt needed.
Last but not the least, the afterwords at the end of the book are worthy of mention. I found them illuminating.
They make the reader aware of the real events behind the story and give reason about the artistic choices of the authors. I feel that without them I would have given a slightly lower evaluation to the book.

In any case, I would recommend it to those that are into the occult, witches and historical fantasy, and want to read something without too many expectations.