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Sleepless Domain - Book One: The Price of Magic Vol. 1

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Team A group of Magical Girls who defend their city from fiendish monsters that prowl by night. The adoring idol culture surrounding these girls, along with the genuine life-or-death struggles they face each night, forces them to grow up quickly and under severe pressure. When tragedy strikes, the team's least confident supporting member, Undine, must step up and learn to fight her own battles.

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2018

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152 people want to read

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Mary Cagle

22 books14 followers

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5 stars
117 (43%)
4 stars
87 (32%)
3 stars
56 (20%)
2 stars
9 (3%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Profile Image for Beth.
1,431 reviews197 followers
July 20, 2020
This story wears its "magical girl" influences on its sleeve. It starts off as a kind of Sailor Moon pastiche, with a team of girls with candy-colored hair and outfits fighting off monsters of the week. Even early on, Madoka Magicka peeps in her head, too. There are weird landscapes. Tragedy and loss. Magical girls losing heart and questioning their mission.

But it's also its own thing. Both of its influences kept their initial teams together through thick and thin, and--not to spoil too much--this one plays out differently.

The artist changed between the first and second halves of this volume, and the change was a little jarring to start with. Cagle's character art is chunkier and less elaborate than Vega's, the characters rounder and more doll-like. Once I got used to it, I enjoyed it! This story threw a lot of tropes on their heads early on, and I wonder where the story will go next: whether it will continue on that path, or if it will be more straightforward.
Profile Image for Marc.
1,540 reviews30 followers
July 22, 2018
3.5*
J'avais ce webcomic dans mes favoris depuis son lancement mais je n'avais pris le temps de le lire. J'ai profité de la sortie VF du premier tome pour enfin me lancer.
Pour une histoire de magical girls, je dois dire que le début est assez dark mais c'est justement tout l'intérêt. L'histoire avance doucement et ne dévoile pas grand chose sur l'univers mais je suis curieux de lire la suite.
Profile Image for Kayt O'Bibliophile.
823 reviews24 followers
January 22, 2022
A simple enough concept: a team of magical girls fights evil monsters, but when tragedy strikes, the main character has to confront

While the concept is simple (particularly in our post-2010, post-Madoka Magica era, when "what if magical girls had to deal with dark repercussions" is very common), I was impressed with the worldbuilding and setup that promise an intriguing continuing story, as well as the vibrant art.

First, let's talk about the setting. The story opens on a city where speakers at telling everyone it's 9:55pm and citizens need to be inside, and then we cut to the girls, in their untransformed civilian forms, meeting up. Shortly after, the speaker continues: "Attention all girls. The time is now 9:59 PM. Please make sure you are transformed and ready."

So right away, I was hooked: unlike the traditional magical girl, these ones are apparently not only sanctioned by their local government, but they're only some of what must be a common group, if city-wide announcements are being made.

Within 20 pages, this in confirmed: one member has hired a cameraman to accompany them to get footage for their fans; the next morning another member complains that the news didn't feature her work from the previous night. A poster featuring another member advises girls with new powers to register with the Board of Magical Powers to receive assistance, counseling, make extra money, and "registration does NOT require you to participate in the nightly monster purge."

And it continues throughout the book: we she a photograph of the main character, blue-haired Undine with people who are clearly her current teammates, but they all look normal: normal hair and eye colors( no blue, pink, red, canary yellow or green, even though the girls so far have had those vibrant colors regardless of whether they were transformed or not). We see clocks before and after school showing that the school, specifically for magical girls, starts after 10am and lets out at 5am. Which makes sense, because we later find out that monster-fighting apparently ends at 2am, and they get paid for it.

This is <>really well-done, because we're seeing a society that has integrated whatever the heck is going on with magical girls, and we don't know if it's good or bad yet--by the end of the book, I still don't know (YET) if something sinister is going on at the government level, or this is is going to have lots of legal/governmental arguments/oversight a la the Marvel Cinematic Universe..

The art is also fantastic, and supports the story--see previous note about the reveal that these brightly-colored characters aren't so bright for just aesthetic reasons, but it clearly has something to do with their magic powers. But even beyond that, the art is bright, making it easy to track what's going on and who is who.

We don't get answers about any of the worldbuilding questions in this volume, but that's because things will clearly be revealed later. It doesn't feel like it's worse for that, because there are a lot of things that happen here--it's not just a book setting up a world, it does that by following Undine through her days, so we're getting to see how she fits in, and tease out the culture even while we start formulating questions for the story to answer later.

I finished the book and immediately had to start looking, only to discover a second volume isn't out yet, but apparently this is a webcomic, so I'll be able to continue reading. Thank goodness.
Profile Image for Matisse.
430 reviews7 followers
September 26, 2019
So, I was a huge fan of Mary Cagle's 'Let's Speak English' and 'Kiwi Blitz' comics a few years ago. My beef with the latter was, due to its nature as a serialized webcomic, pages came out a few days at a time. Even when they were released, having to click through online and load each page pulled me out of the story itself. So when 'Sleepless Domain' started, I knowingly stayed away from it. As gorgeous as it was, and as much as I loved Cagle, I wasn't down for another serial webcomic.

....And then the kickstarter happened for a physical and ebook release. Let me tell you, I POUNCED.

This edition covers the first four chapters of the ongoing comic. Cagle performs a masterclass balancing act here: she doesn't show much of the outside world, BUT that world is built on a pastiche of magical girl tropes, so she knows what she has to explain and what the audience will just accept. I hate breaking 'death of the author', but after following Cagle's work and seeing that she's an otaku through and through, seeing how much FUN she's having here just makes you smile. This is a love letter to magical girl warrior anime, by someone who genuinely loves the genre.

Like most webcomic-turned-graphic-novel releases, this one doesn't quite have an emotional payoff or three-act structure...but you don't come away feeling like you read a whole bunch of set-up for future volumes, either. It's more "I watched the first four episodes of a twelve-episode anime", rather than "I read the first book in the Wheel of Time".

PS. this book is so gorgeous, it's almost offensive. Read this sucker on a retina-display iPad and proceed to pick your jaw up off the floor.
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews454 followers
October 29, 2021
This was tons of fun, but also sad. Gorgeous art. Lovely colours. Had fun reading this. Definitely hoping for more of the comics/chapters to be bundled into books. Cannot wait to see what is next for Undine and also for Tessa.
Profile Image for Cara.
40 reviews
June 18, 2023
The best part of this was the art. It's flashy and the character designs are super pretty and unique. I enjoyed the diversity in appearance among the girls. I also thought the world building was nicely done.

However, I do not care about any of these characters. Undine, Tessa, HP... who cares? They were all lacking in personality. You barely get to know the team before most of them die so what's the point? Why would the reader feel anything for these girls? I guess it was just for shock value to make another "gritty" magical girl story. Undine didn't even seem to care that much after the death of her friends; she is never shown grieving. But honestly the book isn't even clear on how these girls know one another. Maybe they just met this year? The characters were poorly written and not particularly likeable.

I love the magical girl genre and was really hoping for something with more substance than what I read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Beth.
1,431 reviews197 followers
November 10, 2021
Reread this in its new Seven Seas edition. I noticed something new this time around--that Undine's . The backgrounds close to the ground during the monster battles are a little confusing or difficult to parse, but other than that, this is a nicely done comic, both in its presentation and its unusually somber mood, despite its candy-colored presentation. I hope that this new edition means that we'll be seeing more than these first handful of chapters in the near future.

Review of self-pub edition: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Profile Image for Megan.
322 reviews16 followers
January 8, 2023
Magical Girls, but everything goes absolutely sideways when actual permanent and awful things happen. This is another comic I have been reading online for years and each reveal is so good. It is the type of book I wish I had when I was a teen.
Profile Image for Artemis Crescent.
1,216 reviews
September 14, 2024
'Sleepless Domain' is a Magical GirlsTM webcomic that definitely wears its 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' influence on its sleeve. Its puffy, ribbony, yet tragic sleeve.

It looks like a 'Pretty Cure' series, or even 'Ojamajo Doremi', but there is a darkness to it, that lurks, and then pounces, blows, shocks and shatters at the middle of the book, and after that, nothing is the same again.

There's also a bit of 'Mystery Men', 'Silent Hill', 'Nimona', and school drama (a school for magical girls!) in 'Sleepless Domain'. I love the art and aesthetic of the whole comic - so colourful, bold, sparkly, and alive, which makes the tragedy, grief and guilt turn all the more effective. Together with its claustrophobic fantasy city setting - where everyone is boxed in for their "protection" from monsters from the outside world (or so it seems), and where practically every one of the limited cast of characters is a magical girl, and not by choice - there is a feeling of doom and entrapment throughout. This major theme has even been spelled out to readers from the very beginning with the comic's rather ominous title.

'Sleepless Domain' is really diverse. There are people with different body types and faces, and of different races, and there is a subtle sapphic inclusion and bloom. Bright anime hair colours, eye colours and costume colours are not the only things that matter here.

Disappointingly, the first published volume is four chapters long, and it has no real conclusion. Loads of plot points, threads, and characters are left hanging. Loads of mysteries. It feels like an introduction to a series more than anything else. It is a webseries that started in 2015, and this volume was published in 2018, but as far as I know, 'Sleepless Domain - Book One: The Price of Magic' has no Book Two. It is supposedly continuing, but is it? Does it have an ending? If not, will it ever get one? You can't leave us hanging like this! It's not fair!

'Sleepless Domain' - at the risk and danger of spoiling anything further, I'll leave off by saying, admittedly depressingly, yet fittingly enough, that it is a Magical GirlsTM story that twists the "pink magical girl is always the leader and the most powerful and saves the day by herself at the end" cliché on its decapitated head, and it asks the question, "What would happen if Sailor Mercury suffered the worst tragedy of her life?", with the beginnings of an answer.

Highly recommended for magical girl fans and readers of webcomics.

Final Score: 3.5/5
8,980 reviews130 followers
October 1, 2021
In this world, the city has a 10pm curfew, after which the only people out on the streets should be young girls, in colour-coded costumes as per their talents, and in superpowered teams designed for besting some peculiar-looking beasties from outside or under the city. The team we look at are annoying, bitchy and barracking each other, and so one night one of them is absent the fight – the fight that changes everything for them all.

This collection of the webcomic (four issue-length chapters plus background extras), its cliff-hanger ending and that major change to everything partway through, all make us unsure of where the book is going. Hopefully to somewhere fresh, for the characters are really quite stale, with their elemental abilities, and bitchiness in the place of actual drama. You could even argue that The Big Change was too much too soon, and it certainly feels in hindsight like something too big for the book as it is and the characters as they were to handle very well. That said, this isn't too bad an option for comics for girls. It is bright and brash, the world-building really needs a bit more graft, and the battle scenes are drawn really badly, but there is still promise on the page. I myself would like to see more to get a firmer judgement on it all, but I wouldn't object if the target audience felt much too impatient for that.
Profile Image for Soobie is expired.
7,169 reviews133 followers
December 16, 2019
Well, this was a surprise!

I've been backing Kickstarter projects for a while, now, and it's different to find really good stuff. Hiveworks, however, has always presented extremely good projects. I back their stuff without even knowing what I'm backing, especially because they're heavy on webcomics and I don't read those.

So, I was attracted to this comic by its colorful colors and I was really looking forward to reading it.

And when I did... WOW!! It may pay its respects to Sailor Moon - and I've been reading quite a lot of Sailor Moon tributes lately - but it turns the story into its own path. The Magical Girls here live in an isolated city but during the night, the barriers separating the city from the outside world opens up and a lot of nasty creatures roam the streets.

Also... I thought Tessa
Profile Image for Sorren Briarwood.
59 reviews10 followers
June 28, 2022
The first installment of a graphic novel series is often difficult to review: in many ways, it feels like reviewing the first few chapters of a novel. I can say with confidence that The Price of Magic is a very strong start, and sparked a definite desire to continue with the series. There are some interesting ideas being set up here, both in terms of world-building and individual characters.

I will say that I’m grateful not to have read the blurb, and would recommend curious readers skip it, if it’s not too late- with the knowledge that this series draws inspiration from Madoka Magica and similar fare. Despite being aware of the impending change in tone, precisely how the story reached that point definitely surprised me.

I enjoyed the anime-inspired art-style, the fantatical landscape, and the memorable character-designs: it was especialy nice to see some diversity amongst them, both in terms of race and body-types. This is certainly worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of fresh takes on the magical-girl genre.
Profile Image for Frank Chillura (OhYouRead).
1,676 reviews75 followers
January 15, 2022
Let’s start with the artwork!!! I don’t think I have ever read a book with art THIS BEAUTIFUL!!! I couldn’t stop reading, because I wanted to see the next page.

It gave me all of the Magical Girl fantasies of my childhood! If you are a fan of Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, or Madoka Magika, run out and buy this book IMMEDIATELY!!!

*****MILD SPOILERS*****

This does have death of main characters, so if that is going to be super upsetting, bypass this book. For me, it made it much more realistic! These girls are going out to stop bad guys… someone could die at any moment!

Now where is the next book?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for goose.
1 review
January 25, 2024
I really liked this book! I was excited to see a magical girl graphic novel because a lot of magical girl stories are manga, so they aren't usually in color. This book reminded me of Madoka Magica. I didn't expect the dark twist of most of the team dying! The reason I took one star off is because I didn't care that much when the girls died. We didn't get much time to learn about them or how they met. I think If the characters had more backstory to them their deaths would be sadder. Undine also didn't seem to care much about the deaths of her friends as she isn't seen grieving. Other than those things, this was a very interesting story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Calista_C2.
11 reviews
December 4, 2018
Sleepless domain is a fantasy webcomic. Although it's in a chibli style and seems cringy, it's really not and has darker underlying themes. In the world of Sleepless Domain, people randomly develop superpowers, and lose them as they enter adulthood. The city they live in is surrounded by a barrier, and it's the magic people's job to get rid of them if they penetrate the barrier. (pretty often.) The main charecter, undine, is part of a group that kills and destroys monsters with their abilities. The job is dangerous, and she finds out soon enough who no one goes out on their own.
Profile Image for Bara.
Author 3 books34 followers
June 16, 2020
Když na jeden zátah zhltnete počin, ze kterého je nad slunce jasnější, že čtete něco, co vytvořil vypravěč, který zná ten žánr od hlavy k patě, dokáže vyprávět příběh skvěle zasazený do rámce žánru a díky svému talentu dokáže z toho rámu vykročit a příběh tak roste a větví se do šíře a tím pádem je celý žánr zpětně obohacen a osvěžen.
Netflixe, okamžitě kupuj a dělej anime! Tohle chceš, protože když She-ra skončila tak potřebuješ nový seriál na rejžování zlata.
Profile Image for Void_Kiddo.
140 reviews1 follower
April 4, 2025
never in my life have I read a book that recreated the feelings of watching Madoka Magika for the first time. This is the first “dark magical girl” concept I’ve seen since MM that destroyed me like this one did.

If that’s not enough to get you to read this book then the art should be. Fantastic and beautiful, as well as horrific and uncanny, the art is fantastic.

Please please please read this comic!!
Profile Image for Talasi.
132 reviews15 followers
August 10, 2018
J'ai été attirée par la magnifique couverture et j'ai découvert une histoire sérieuse et touchante portée par de très belles illustrations. J'aime énormément les couleurs utilisées par l'artiste, ainsi que son univers. Depuis Puella Magi Madoka Magica, j'ai un petit faible pour les magical girls un peu sombres et ce premier tome a fait mon bonheur. Un coup de cœur !
Profile Image for Kat.
1,622 reviews16 followers
November 12, 2021
This took me by surprise - it was SO GOOD!! The art style is super cute and almost crosses the line into too-cutesy, whereas the story gets dark fast. I definitely get the Madoka Magica vibes that others have noticed here. I'm hooked, can't wait for the second one for more backstory and world building.
Profile Image for Fern.
639 reviews50 followers
July 5, 2022
This is more of a Madoka Magica inspired magical girl story rather than a cutesy Sailor Moon one. I did not know that going in and was quite surprised! Still a really good read though, looking forward to volume 2.
Profile Image for Rosalie &#x1f431; .
365 reviews4 followers
March 23, 2019
[3,5]
J’aime beaucoup les dessins.
Je trouve l’histoire précipitée, mais je reste très curieuse de la suite.
Profile Image for Emily Davies.
76 reviews
December 6, 2019
I love this webcomic so I backed the book on Kickstarter. It was great to re-read chapters 1-4 in this lovely book and I also enjoyed the bonus concept art in the back. :)
Profile Image for Jen.
252 reviews2 followers
December 6, 2019
Cute art and a different storyline than I expected
40 reviews1 follower
December 30, 2019
One of my favourite comics of the past ten years
A well written magical girl story with beautiful artwork that very quickly becomes dramatic and interesting.
Profile Image for Beth Taylor.
26 reviews1 follower
August 16, 2020
Using the print as a stand in for the webcomic cause it slaps and I want it memorialised
Profile Image for Zeta.
48 reviews3 followers
March 4, 2021
Flashy and cute art that dresses over a story with real bite to it. Like Madoka Magica, but just a little less depressing.
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