I love the book. The characters were so raw and authentic. It’s beautiful

Breaks, first and foremost for me, is a really well illustrated graphic novel that draws teenagers of all shapes, styles and aesthetics in a realistic enough way for it to feel truly representative of the diversity of life rather than overly cartoony (which is cool too, but this is what Breaks is going for). The gritty and hard-hitting topics dealt with make this story very grounded and real, I'd pitch it as Heartstopper meets Shameless.

I don't know if it's just not my vibe, the wonky formatting of the print edition, the very slow pace ... I was mostly bored, but the art is great! 

Breaks (Emma Vieceli & Malin Rydén) is for some reason being marketed with comparisons to Heartstopper, and the similarities are basically: queer British boys in a Sixth Form setting, there's some sport, there's bullying, and someone's got to come to terms with his sexuality. That's it -- and that might sound like a reasonable amount, actually, but it's the tone that's most important, and that's worlds apart. Breaks is much grittier -- even where Heartstopper deals with difficult topics, there's a general sense that things are going to be okay, because they have each other and they're both good boys. 

Cort and Ian are not particularly great people (nor particularly likeable), there's a good deal of violence, and we certainly don't get to see them cuddling adorably. The art is also a touch closer to realism, which also reduces the cuteness factor.

It didn't help the book at all that the reading experience via the Kindle version is bad, and while it's also available free online (https://tapas.io/series/BREAKS/info), that also has its problems: the choice of background colour doesn't provide a great contrast, and it's difficult to know what part numbers correspond to which volumes. Really irritating.

That said, on its own merits it's... alright? I think it's ultimately not my thing, but I enjoyed the supporting characters like Amilah and Rennie, and I'm kind of curious about Harvey and where things are going between Cort and Ian.