Didn't quite like this.

Got this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Wasn't too into this one. Thought the story was quite boring and couldn't really get into it. I had to take little breaks form this in between so I wouldn't get too bored sadly. I did like some of the characters however I thought the lack of the in depth of the story was sad. I just wished for so much more when I read the blurb.

Sorry but a 2 star from me

While the story is intriguing, the dystopian plot seemed like a recycled mix of other recent YA dystopian works like The Young World. Too many plot points and characters seemed to be contrived to check boxes of “edgy” works (LGBTQ issues? Check. Girl saving the day? Check. Untrustworthy adults? Check. Environmental calamities? Check. And so on). Side note – why did the girl have to cut her hair and become masculine looking in order to exercise authority? And at the end she capitulated that she shouldn’t be in charge and her younger brother took action. That’s not really the message I want girls seeing in literature.

I was engaged in the story, but I found the artwork to be distracting. Most parts of the artwork are done in black, white and pink, which was not the issue. The art seemed super-oversimplified and with the one brother looking like a character out of an old episode of Speed Racer and the sister with a nose oddly drawn like the characters from an old episode of The Twilight Zone (the one who has the surgery to be beautiful). The story and art should be complementary, and in this book, they felt too much in competition with one another or incongruous.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I admit my interest in graphic novels arose when I found out that several of the TV series I loved where based on comics and graphic novels. Before then I had never been a big fan of the genre. Well, reading ‘Odessa’, all I could think was: “This could be an amazing TV show.”

First of all, I loved the context. Sure, it is a post-apocalyptic world like we have seen too many times, but this one is somehow plausible. People living in California have been expecting ‘The Big One’ for years, the strongest earthquake ever registered which would change the US West Coast as we know it forever. So what if it finally happened? In this case, 8 years after the Big One destroyed California and hit the whole coast, people live a perilous life, commerce is based on the exchange of goods, the most valuable goods are weird roots which started growing after the earthquake, and San Francisco is controlled by rival gangs.

Secondly, I loved the characters, even if I would have liked to get to know them better. I can only hope that, as this was the first volume of a series, in the second one the story and lives of the main characters will be further explored.

Thirdly, the artwork is incredible. So beautiful with its black&pink colours.

Finally, I could not stop myself from reading it. The plot was so adventurous, a very nice page-turner. I can only say I cannot wait for the second volume to come out.

I would like to thank Oni Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This a journey story, only the journey is taking place in a world mostly destroyed by a massive earthquake. Eight years later, and Ginny receives a package from her mother, who left her, and now she wants to find her, thus the trip.

The name of this first volume is the feminine version of Odysseus, the wanderer. And like her namesake, Ginny has to wander pretty far to get to where her mother is.

It is interesting seeing the artists version of San Francisco ruined by this massive earthquake. And quite plausible.

But since this appears to be a series, it does not wrap up in this volume, so we have much more of the journey to go to find the resolution. And that being so, it is hard to rate how well this will end, with only having the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I loved the use of pink throughout this graphic novel, it created a sense that the events of the story were happening in a time different to our own and yet familiar, a bit like looking at a sepia photograph. The plot is surprising too and cannot be categorised as just one thing. The story starts with us focussing on a family as they struggle to cope in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake that has brought about an end to the world as they knew it. The mother of the family has left and Ginny, as the eldest, has taken on the responsibility of helping her Dad to look after her two brothers Wes and Harry. Early on in the story, Ginny receives a letter from her absent mother and she decides to go in search of her. So begins the adventure portion of the story, which is by the far the larger chunk of the book. I am not huge on adventure stories but it was well done, the pacing was steady and characters were introduced slowly enough that you got to know them a bit before being introduced to someone new. The world building is also good, there is some info dumping as you would expect at the start of any series but it wasn't too much and you got to learn details of their world through dialogue and by following the characters.
The story of Ginny, her family and friends does not end with this book so if you enjoy this, you'll be pleased to know that the door is left open for more instalments.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Critical Score: B-
Personal Score: B
Reading Experience:

Thank you so much for the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free e-galley in exchange of my honest review!

In particular, this was by far the most weird-setting graphic novel I have ever read! The story about these siblings in some ways were really touching and all in all showed me how important to take care of each other, your family and how much curiousity a kid can have!
At some point the novel was pretty intense, and a bit violent for my taste, but I recommend to those who love action paced graphic novels. Also, that "to be continued..." ending is seriously giving me all the anticipation for the sequel!

✨ "Things never end. They just change."

Well, this certainly wasn't what I was expecting. Not in a bad way, just that I thought it would be a more grounded read about disaster survival and maybe the Asian-American experience. But it's actually more geared towards a post-apocalyptic world with... monsters.

Ginny was really rude, annoying and not as street-smart as she thinks she is. I found myself often wishing she would just do as told instead of getting everyone into trouble. Wes and Harry are such sweethearts, however.

The story was a bit confusing at times due to the lack of text in some panels. However, I liked how the author used just two colours (pink and black) in the illustrations. He explained his choice of colours at the back of the book and I thought it was quite interesting.

Note that this is not a standalone and ends with 'to be continued'.

Odessa follows the story of Ginny and her two brothers as they travel across a torn-up America in the wake of natural disasters. The artwork and the simple colours of this graphic novel really lend to the end of the world feel of the story and emphasise the emotional turmoil that is taking place within the characters instead of focusing heavily on the backdrop.

Hill's characters are diverse and nuanced and that sense of what family means to each of us is felt on every page. He balances the emotional struggles with the physical and builds an extremely complex imagining of life after a serious natural disaster destroys the world as we know it. He also expertly blends the expected tropes of a dystopian storyline with new mythologies and fantasy elements.

I'm excited to see more of Ginny's story, as well as more of the mythology and the much-changed American landscape.