In contrast to other reviews (on other platforms), it was much more the story that kept me reading than the art. I find the latter to be rather mediocre, beginner-like.
- Line thickness (and sometimes color) in the fore- and background is (almost) the same, with no shadows in either plane, blurring characters and buildings.
- Too much detail in the background that doesn’t look good, but rather as if it’s been directly traced from photographs.
- Odd anatomy for the humans (understandable for the protagonist who’s supposed to be a freak, but not for everyone else – unless that’s the message).
- Maybe it was just due to the lowered quality in my digital file, but the texture also makes it a bit overwhelming and difficult to find a focus.
Not the impression the cover gave.
On a positive note though, it’s good to have so many diverse bodies and faces. By societal standards, a lot of “ugly” ones. Which is rare, so that’s cool.
The story was quite intriguing, and, despite hoping for more, well made. Wanting to belong, but when finding a community that is accepting of your nature, it’s not what you were looking for or not enough.
I didn’t expect there to be graphic murder. (Are the characters even human? Cause there’s no way you can actually cut off someone’s head by hitting them with a shovel, right?) Not that it bothered me visually, I’m just wondering about the world-building.
Overall it’s like a short story – both in length and the literary genre. Tackles everything superficially, has a relatively open ending (although also self-explainable), one plot, one goal, one main character. I’d surely be interested more in the world-building, but the focus was the message (although not clear what exactly it is, let’s the reader decide reflectively) and I guess that’s fine.
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Art | 1-5 | 3 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 3 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 3 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 4 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 4 |
Finale Grade
B
Thank you to Oni Press on Netgalley for an e-ARC. It is set to release on April 15, 2025.
Finished reading: 21st March 2025
~Arden Skye
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Written By: Arden Skye
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About: generalist, who likes a bit of everything, but especially has a love for magic, queerness and melancholy. When they’re not arting, they’re probably dreaming/reading through another world, or spending time in nature with their dog.
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I quite like the art tbh but it is very busy. A bit less texture on the background would have gone a long way.