Genre: Fantasy

Age: Older Teen

Price: $10.95

If Hell Girl brings just one thing, it's predictability. And that's a shame, because the last story in the volume is actually pretty good — at least when compared to the other stories.

Hell Girl is called to action in the first three stories by girls who are seemingly trapped in nefarious scenarios by ne'er-do-wells who wish them harm. In each of those stories, the girls—one trapped by a boss, one shamed by a classmate, one framed by a friend—are trying to maintain their dignity, reputation and, to some extent, their lives.

The stories: Girl has problem. Girl calls on Hell Girl. Hell Girl sends meddling person to Hell. Girl's problems are solved.

But the final story is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise uninspired and repetitive volume. In fact, it actually gives a bit of background on Hell Girl's character, which was quite unexpected. And the story started off differently from the others, which also was a nice touch.

The background about Hell Girl was nice, but it would have been better had this story been fleshed out a bit and the pacing slowed down. With such revelations, it felt too quick to be useful.

Unfortunately, that one bright spot was not enough to make the entire volume entertaining. While the story is certainly worth picking up the volume to read, the rest of the volume does not provide that same incentive.

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