I kept passing on this book because I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but finally, I decided to give it a chance.
The storyline, albeit obviously geared toward younger readers, was enjoyable and there were some super cute and funny lines that had me chuckling. I absolutely love the illustrations and the inclusion of so many diverse characters. All the drawings and colors are beautiful, which was a huge draw to the book for me. I love the setting and the main storyline and the huge theme of comaraderie throughout the book. Each character is unique and they don’t really fit in any one social group, which is part of why the Avant-Guards is such a special team.
The romance seemed a bit rushed to me. It went from a budding friendship to one of the girls being sad about seeing her ex-girlfriend with someone else to boom, the other girl is making a move. Charlie even seemed kind of annoyed by Liv for the majority of the story, so to see them kind of go from “you annoy me” to “hey, I actually like you, maybe we should see if there’s a relationship to develop here” seemed like a huge jump. I just felt like it was rushed and there wasn’t a whole lot of build-up. But I’m a sucker for slow burn, so maybe it was just me. Also, I’m not a fan of the whole “I’m sad about my ex, so I’m going to take comfort in you” kind of arc. Again, could just be a preference thing for me.
As this is volume one in a series of graphic novels, it went by quick and there wasn’t a whole lot of resolution to any of the story. This is to be expected for the first book in a series, especially with it being a graphic novel, so don’t expect a finished story here.
In any event, I enjoyed this book. The illustration was definitely my favorite part and I would recommend it solely based on how stunning the images are. In the end, I’m happy I gave this book a shot and I think it’s a great addition to the graphic novel world 🙂
Happy reading!
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