This was a beautifully illustrated story, and I loved how it was over the span of a day. I loved watching them figure out their friendship and what they wanted to do with their lives.

3.5 stars rounded up

Luminous Beings is a sort of screwball dystopian comedy, following a group of teens living in a future with zombie squirrels and looking for a missing person. The humor didn't always hit for me, but it's conceptually interesting and I like the casualness of how the teens just accept this is what the world is- squishing squirrels that try to attack you. No big deal. They're still going to be very normal teens, complete with love life drama, not so great jobs, and potential parties. It's something different and fairly entertaining. I received a copy of this book for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

the art style of this book is what drew me in and the interesting plot is what kept me hooked, i enjoyed following Ty, Burger, Miles and Fib as they go on an adventure through the night amidst a zombie squirrel apocalypse (that’s right…zombie…squirrel) it was a fun, quick and interesting read. i really wanted to love it but some bits felt a little forced with the made up slang. but overall an enjoyable read

thank you penguin teen for the e-arc all opinions are my own

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss/Netgalley.)

Ty, Burger, Miles, and Fib are a group of teens trying to get on with their lives after the capital-a Apocalypse. The Zombie Squirrel Apocalypse, that is. This species-specific virus transforms ordinary squirrels into murderous, glowing-eyed demons. After the initial panic, chaos, and misinformation (eerily reminiscent of the early days of covid), humans have mostly adapted to living among pint-sized zombies. (The ever-present hazmat suits are reminiscent of the gear required to leave the house in BREATHERS.)

For Ty, this means applying to art school in Brooklyn - even if it means leaving her best friend and collaborator Burger behind, gap year be damned. Now that she's finally got her acceptance letter, she can't get the words out. Instead, she's trying her best to finish their documentary about the origins of the apocalypse. When their funding source doesn't come through, they decide to hunt down their missing former manager, Fink, whose parents are offering a $20,000 reward. Miles and Fib are along for the best - and zaniest - night of their lives.

I really wanted to love LUMINOUS BEINGS (zombie squirrels? sign me tf up!), but it just missed the mark for me. Between the made up slang and copious '90s references, it felt a little overdone, like the author was playing too hard at being cool and edgy. The plot was a little underwhelming, with some of the more interesting avenues left unexplored (Van der Poel's crazy zombie experiments, hello!). The relationships between Ty and Burger and Miles and Fib are promising, but I never felt like we got to know the characters well enough to become fully invested in the outcomes. That said, the plot line with Ty and her stepdad was unexpectedly heartfelt and touching.

This was a great graphic novel, it had everything that I was hoping for and enjoyed the art style. The overall feel of the book was great and thought David Arnold has a great writing style. It had that adventure element that I was hooked for and glad I was able to go on that adventure.

The first time I saw this cover I thought to myself, “okay, that’s stunning… I need to get my hands on this.” Now that I’ve read the arc, I can definitively say that the cover is gorgeous but the book just fell flat for me. Like so flat that I couldn’t for the life of me tell you anything that happened.

The beginning was really confusing, it just kinda started with no context then jumped around a lot which did nothing to help the level of confusion I had. The characters were okay but I honestly don’t even think I could tell you their names let alone anything about them other than one of them is getting ready to audition (is that how that works?) for film school.

The artwork was great though and I feel like if there was a little more description and just clarity on what’s actually happening this would have been a home run for me.

Thank you to the author and my friends over at Penguin Teen for the advanced copy of this book.

"It's never too late to become what you might have been."

This book was okay. The illustrations were very nice as well. What I didn't like about this book was the way the plot jumped around. The beginning of the book felt like it started without any context at all and left me pretty confused. A lot of topics and people are mentioned, but not elaborated on. I think had the main idea of the story been described more, I would have enjoyed it more.

The book was still somewhat enjoyable despite these things.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own!

Attack of the killer squirrels!!! What a fun graphic teen novel! I loved their adventure and all of their individual personalities! It kept me wondering through the entire read what was going to happen. So good!