"Odessa" is the first installment in a series following the adventures of three siblings embarking on a journey to find their estranged mother. Ginny, Wes, and Harry suddenly become aware that their mother is alive and decide to find her and reunite with her after eight years of separation. The catch is they're living in a post-apocalyptic reality, where danger awaits behind every corner. The siblings have to keep together to survive.

First of all, I really enjoyed the setting of the story and the world-building in general. Those post-apocalyptic worlds look amazing in the graphic form. Second, the art style was right up my alley - it reminded me a little bit of the style of the game Don't Starve. The choice of the pink tint of the panels was unexpectedly very fitting.

That being said, I was a little bit disappointed with how stretched out the story was and its open ending. Going in, I didn't know the graphic novel was a start to a series, so naturally, I expected some kind of closure, but there wasn't any. Furthermore, there was no character development among the main team (maybe except Four Dollars). The plot was filled with convenient coincidences that pushed the characters forward in their journey.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the graphic novel enough to be interested in picking up the next volume. Let's hope it will compensate for the imperfect first.

Thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing me with a copy of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this eARC

I am still new to graphic novels so am getting use to the shortness of them. I found this story to be quite engaging and by the characters. I read this in one sitting and was sad when it finished

I don’t know how to rate graphic novels yet. I thought the story and art were interesting; not much else to note.

Overall 3.5 stars for this graphic novel. I liked the idea, but felt like it was overly drawn out. This graphic novel didn’t need to be 382 pages. I like a good quest as much as the next person but it seemed like some wasted space on pages and it made the story drag a bit for me. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Well-paced action/dystopian graphic novel.

3.75 stars

I really liked this story. The side characters were a bit questionable, but I liked the main family, and I liked the best friend. I thought there was a good build up to the story, there was a lot of intrigue with the chase throughout the story, and the suspense of whether they'd find the mom. I'm a little sad about the loss of the one character (won't spoil), but I am very excited to read the next one, whenever that may come out.