I'm not much of a graphic novel reader, as a general rule of thumb, but the synopsis of this one caught my attention, and I love the cover. It was kind of an impulse-request when I saw it on NetGalley and I was a bit surprised when I was approved for an ARC. (In my defense, I was approved for it two days before the release, which is why the review wasn't on my usual schedule. Less in my defense, it still shouldn't have taken me as long as I did to get to it.)

I find myself without that much to say, though, which is part of why this review has taken me longer to write than I had been expecting.

On a Sunbeam is a space fantasy (I hesitate to call it science fiction given the lack of science included in it), and as a story is in a similar vein to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, which is to say that the themes are dominantly character-based, and about relationships. It's a love and friendship and found-family story primarily, quiet in a way that really reminds me of Becky Chambers' work. On a Sunbeam is a quiet story, where not much happens in terms of big action scenes. It is also non-chronological. The timeline set in Mia's present follows her and the crew she's been hired on with after finishing with school, the other timeline tells the story of Mia in school, meeting and falling in love with- and then losing- Grace.

The point of view isn't entirely consistent either. The majority of the storytelling centers around Mia, but the rest of the crew, as well as Grace and her family get screen time apart from Mia as well. If there is graphic novel equivalent to telling a story in third-person omniscient, I think that's what this is.

There was, however, something frustratingly unmemorable about the story, which hindered my ability to really get into it. I kept finding myself having to remind myself of the names of the characters, and just didn't find myself really relating to any of the characters on an emotional level. Everything happening with them was... just happening. I didn't really feel much of anything in response to any of it. I think, in a way, this story came up against the limits of it's page count and medium- there just wasn't enough time to convincingly develop the characters and the relationships when seeing them all from the outside, and, as the story is primarily driven by the characters and their relationships, that made it difficult for me to feel anything beyond a sort of neutral enjoyment.

That said, I can see it being a very comforting story? It's quiet and I really do like the themes. Also there are some really beautiful spreads in this book from a visual standpoint. The worldbuilding is mainly done visually, with the aesthetic being almost Ghibli-esque. There clearly isn't a grounding in science, despite the space setting but then- there doesn't need to be. It isn't that kind of a story, and it isn't trying to be. Instead it's beautifully illustrated fish-ships and alien landscapes, conveyed with simple pallets that vary throughout the book and help differentiate past from present. The landscapes and world art were kind of my favourite part, actually, the work really is striking on that front. (The character design, at least for me, occasionally made it a struggle to tell characters apart at a glance.)

Overall, this read was enjoyable for me, if not memorable in terms of story or character. The strongest component was that I was always looking forward to seeing the world Tillie Walden illustrated! I like, as a concept, the themes of found family, and the queer love stories (and that the story included a non-binary person!), even if I found that the characters in execution didn't really resonate with me. I'm left with the feeling of wishing that this story had been everything to me that it was trying to be, but also the sense that it might work for someone else.

On a Sunbeam follows a group of space travelers who rebuild destroyed structures as a way of bringing the past back to life. The chapters switch between present and past - allowing the reader to learn a bit about each member of the crew. In the end, each member has to decide what they're willing to sacrifice for their friends, to offer the chance of freedom to a girl from a very reclusive group of people. A girl who may not want to leave. 

I found the story to be sweet, if not a bit slow. Some aspects of the art were amazing, while others weren't to my taste. That isn't to say they were bad, only that they weren't my preference. I think this graphic novel covers a range of topics that young adults would find interesting. School life, family obligations, sexuality, gender choices, etc. It's a good story, though occasionally a bit confusing. 

It's a 3 from me.

Stefanie Rae

A beautiful and strange book, made more beautiful by its strangeness. It's like A.S. King in graphic novel format.

Absolutely gorgeous story about found family, two young girls finding themselves and each other, and family ties.

A very inclusive and well crafted graphic novel. It is set in a different universe, so the first half was very difficult to follow, especially that sometimes the images are a bit unclear and I was unsure what was going on as the world isn't explained well. But once you're immersed into it, it's intriguing and good.

This one was a solid three stars for me. The art was absolutely gorgeous and I read the whole thing so quickly. My main issue with this is that it didn't seem as if a lot was happening. It was a slow pace and there wasn't very much action.

I gave this graphic novel three stars. The storyline was interesting kept my attention for the most part although there were sections where I lost interest and wasn't really invested in the story. I enjoyed the art style, it was simple enough but also showed the large scenes really well and in a good amount of detail. The biggest drawback for me was that unfortunately I couldn't relate to the main characters and found them to be a little annoying which made the story more of a struggle to read. Overall if was a good comic but I would maybe recommend it for a younger audience.

I received this from net galley for an honest review. Im usually really picky when it comes to graphic novels and this one blew me away. I was not expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. I highly recommend this if you're looking for a good graphic novel. 5/5 stars

Beautifully written and illustrated. On a Sunbeam combines action, science fiction, and romance into an incredible story of adventure.

For whatever reason, this is a bit hard for me to review. I'm having some trouble just thinking beyond "everything was amazing and you should all read this." Mia and the crew are all deeply explored. Walden is able to give so much about the characters even when so little is being spoken. I also love her inclusion of a non-binary character in this female-centric universe. The plot is split between the present and Mia's past at boarding school. While I occasionally find myself annoyed with this sort of writing, because one part is often stronger than the other, that was not the case here. Both portions are equally compelling and build up to the final act of the story. Again, this is an amazing story. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

This is Tillie Walden’s sophomore novel. It is set in a futuristic fantasy world about a crew of space rebuilders. They travel to various planets to salvage ancient ruins. The story integrates flashbacks throughout. The main character was emotionally destroyed after attending school and she is using her new job to heal. The reader learns about the main character’s lost love.

The story didn’t have much action. It was very quiet and strongly focused on the emotional aspects of the main characters. There were no male characters in this work. The illustrations and coloring were subdued, as well.

I loved this book. The art is gorgeous and the story is adorable. There's so much to like here from the fun science fantasy setting to the diverse cast of characters.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

The story begins with a girl joining a group of people that specialize in rebuilding structures throughout space. Mia, the new recruit, meets the crew and is immediately taken into their small family which consists of Char, Alma, Jules, and Ell. The crew lands in a beautiful worn-down-with-time structure an something about the place attracts Mia’s attention. While she wanders away, the landscape triggers flashbacks of Mia’s time in boarding school, where she recalls a past friend. As she walks more into the unstable structure, the floor cracks open and Mia falls. Jules is able to save her but not without receiving a scalding from Alma.

Throughout their journey, Mia keeps having flashbacks of her years in school and her friend Grace, whom we learn through memories that she hid a secret from Mia. Meanwhile, Mia becomes closer with the crew but because of the accident the crew is obligated to report the incident and Char is suspended and can’t travel with the crew. The crew keeps traveling and Mia learns more about them while still having flashbacks of Grace. Soon, Mia can’t keep her own secrets hidden from the crew anymore and she reveals her true intentions.

There are several interesting aspects of the story and comic that caught my attention. One, and maybe the most creative one, was the ship! The crew’s ship is or resembles a fish, if I recall well, I think the ship even has facial expressions. In a certain way, it makes sense that the ship is a fish, it swims through the vast and beautifully drawn space. And speaking of the beautiful drawn space, the backgrounds within the comic look amazing. One of my favorites is the first structure the crew visits to rebuild, it is a simple but detailed three color flat design. The other ones would be all the space through windows scenes that are shown throughout the story.

The comic has a good design, but what I liked was the difference between scene that are present and those that are flashbacks. Shades of red are used for present scenes, while shades of blue are used for flashbacks. The story mainly follows Mia, and through her we see the flashbacks that fill in the gaps of the story. As the story progresses, other characters’ point of views are shown using the same colors for present and flashback scenes.

On a Sunbeam is a really great story with wonderful characters with struggles, goals, adventures and great stories of their own. The comic’s design is amazing and refreshing and leaves you wanting more. If you like finding new comics with great design and adventures than I recommend On a Sunbeam.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

On a Sunbeam is a stunning story about love and life set in a breathtaking and immersive universe with a gorgeous stylized art style, with action, romance, and slice-of-life storytelling.

One of the things I enjoyed about On a Sunbeam was the diversity. Nearly ALL of the characters featured are female and there are also non-binary characters within the main cast of characters. There's a great discussion in here about using the right pronouns and I appreciated that so much. There's also quite a few characters of color.

I can't talk about this without mentioning the phenomenal art! It really made the world so much more magical and immersive. Since there are two different timelines, the color schemes are different for each timeline and I liked that detail. The world-building was also another favorite part to read about, which was enhanced by the art. I WANT to go to the world that Tillie Walden has created, with the weird, fish spaceships and play Lux!

The main romance was so adorable and also heartwarming. The relationships between whole group felt so strong and it was wonderful to see a group of misfits all together and being a found family.

Overall I highly recommend this if you enjoy stories set in space with diverse characters and stunning art.

On a Sunbeam is an immersive and breathtakingly beautiful science fiction story.

Of all the things I loved about this book, the world is one of my favorites. Tillie Walden has created a setting unlike any space setting I’ve ever known: it’s unusual and fascinating and I loved learning about how it works. Another favorite aspect of this graphic novel is the nonlinear way in which it is told. On a Sunbeam is comprised of two different alternating narratives, one following the main character, Mia, during her high school years at a boarding school, and one about her when she’s older and working with a crew that restores old buildings. It was so interesting to see these two narratives converge and I just generally loved the way Tillie Walden told this story.

Additionally, all of the characters were so sweet and I loved the family-like relationship Mia grew to have with her team. All of her friends were distinct and awesome in their own ways. I really loved Mia's relationship with her love interest, Grace, as well. Tillie Walden is also an incredible artist. This whole book was so beautiful, and I especially loved how the author used different color schemes to mirror the two different timelines.

On a Sunbeam is SO diverse. I think the majority of the cast is lgbtq+, including a nonbinary character and a bunch of sapphic characters (including the mc), and there are a multiple poc characters as well.

The only negative to On a Sunbeam for me is that I was a bit confused at the beginning and it did take me a little while to figure out what was going on with the world and the plot, but once I did, I couldn’t put this book down. I absolutely loved it!

Mia joins a reconstruction crew to help restore old buildings into whatever the new owners want, and along the way she finds a new family in her crewmates. But her old life from five years ago keeps haunting her...

Okay, that summary sucks. This book is so much more complicated than I can explain, and so much weirder than I was expecting. And it was amazing.

Fair warning: this is super crazy sci-fi, mostly fi and less sci. The science is nuts. The worldbuilding is bonkers. And I loved it. Everything is so absurd and surreal and it stealthily grows on you until the sight of that beautiful koi-shaped spaceship makes you want to go on a journey.

At first, I didn't connect with Mia at all. She's distant, disconnected and the timeline is all over the place. But slowly, so slowly, the pieces start to come together and turn into a puzzle. The different characters on the ship—Alma, Char, Jules and Elliott—stop becoming anonymous figures and turn into people. People with backgrounds, and agendas and motivations that are all different from Mia's. In the Before timeline, Grace is also fantastic, and her relationship with Mia is slow-burn, then hotter than the sun and heartbreaking in the way that young love can be.

Also, I liked that aside from Elliott (non-binary) and Paul (a boy cat), everyone is a woman.

There are no men.

I repeat: THERE ARE NO MEN ANYWHERE IN SIGHT

Halle-fucking-lujah.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Posted to Goodreads: For a more in-depth review watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMrCgJ_3QoY

2.5 Rating: Mia is the newest member of a crew sent into deep space to rebuild structures. She is haunted by a past love and slowly forms friendships with the other members of her team. As secrets are revealed Mia tries to find a way to be reunited with her lost love.

I was a little disappointed by this book. I was a big fan of "Spinning" and I was hoping for the same kind of beautiful storytelling but "On a Sunbeam" never grabbed me. I had a hard time keeping the characters straight and never really cared about their stories. Plus, it was very difficult to read the font used for the dialog so I'm sure I missed some of the nuances.

I received a eARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

On a Sunbeam was just not the book for me, which doesn't mean it was bad. Tillie Walden is very good at telling emotional, personal stories. Her characters are likable and relatable, but I definitely preferred her graphic memoir more than this one. On a Sunbeam is sci-fi set in outerspace in a world seemingly populated by only females. The main group of main characters are reconstructionists, meaning they travel from planet to planet fixing up damaged places.

Mia, the protagonist, is new to the crew and gradually Walden reveals her background in a series of flashbacks to her freshmen year at boarding school. Mia befriends and falls in love with a girl named Grace, who (without spoiling anything), leaves school before Mia can say goodbye.

Now five years later, Mia wants to find Grace so she can talk to her one last time.

This was a unique story that could have just as easily been told in a realistic setting, which made me kind of confused why Walden chose such a sci-fi heavy world. It really didn't add to the story and in some ways made me like it a little less. Of course, that is just my personal opinion since I don't read a lot of sci-fi. Others could definitely see it as a selling point for this graphic novel.

All in all, I liked On a Sunbeam, but didn't love it.

**I received an e-ARC from Netgalley**

Really enjoyable book. Teens acting like teens, stubborn in their moods and set in their personalities. I liked the reconciliation of all the story threads at the end. I was a little wary of the non-binary character being the only one to face violence and would have wanted to see another non-binary character to balance out this stereotype.

Eisner Award winner Tillie Walden's On a Sunbeam collects all the installments of her webcomic. It's a science fiction adventure in a universe that embraces all relationships. Mia is a young woman on a reconstruction crew that travels through space, restoring buildings and structures. The narrative shifts between the present and Mia's past, where she fell in love at boarding school with a girl named Grace; a girl who was taken away by her family before Mia could say goodbye. Mia learns more about her crewmates and their own stories as they travel through space, ultimately creating a family of their own.

The cast is incredibly, wonderfully, diverse. There's Char, the co-captain; she's an African American woman who shares captain duties with her Caucasian wife, Alma: "Char may have the degrees, but Alma knows how to yell", according to one character, Jules. Jules should know: she's Alma's niece, taken in when her mother - Alma's sister - died. Jules seems to be the youngest member of the crew; she's most likely a teen, loves playing games, and is the happy optimist of the crew. Ell/Elliot is a Caucasian nonbinary person who prefers they/them/their pronouns - and the crew vociferously defends their right to those pronouns, as Ell is nonverbal. Grace, Mia's lost love, is African American.

As the narrative shifts between Mia's past and present, we see Mia and Grace's relationship develop, right up until Grace's departure from the school. The color palette shifts with the narrative: cooler colors like blues and purples dominate the flashbacks, while warmer colors creep during the present day. Mia is the central character, but every character in this novel has a story to tell. This is a book I had to move back and forth with during the first few chapters; not having read the webcomic, I wasn't altogether sure I was reading a connected story until I got the hang of the shifts, and of Mia's place in them. Stick with the story: it's an wonderful work of queer speculative fiction that deserves a spot on your shelves. On a Sunbeam is good for young adult/new adult readers.

I did not know about this as a webcomic, but I picked up the ARC from Net Galley and I am sure glad I did. The art is really amazing. It is the big winner here. The world building is excellent in that the world just is. We do not figure out how they reproduce without men and we do not care. We do not really find out why everyone moved into space, or how they breathe or any of that perfunctory stuff. The main plot, an intergalactic love story between Mia and Grace, is honestly the least compelling story line. Elliot is a really interesting character. Jules is really great as well. Overall, I think the idea of risking the lives of the only people who love you for the chance to win back the girl you loved when you were 14, is a bit of a stretch, but, I am constantly distracted by the art and coloring, so I forgive it.