Y'know, I kinda loved this. A kick-ass mixed race heroine. A scary, dark Faerie world where most creatures want to kill you and you can't really trust anyone, a world that will take from you everything you love, everything you are, and remake you in its image. Twists and turns and a double punch in the gut at the end. Plus, a deliciously devious wolpertinger as your guide. The artwork was gorgeous, and I loved the transformation Art (our heroine) went through as she worked toward getting strong enough to open the doorway back to her home. That ending, though..... perfect!

#Sparrowhawk #NetGalley

Delilah S Dawson is a fairly instant fave for me, but I enjoy her darker fae world. The only issue I have is that I have difficulty getting into the graphic style of this series

I found this reading experience to be fair to middling, and while the art style was beautiful there was a lot in the content that left room to grow and expand. I know this is the first in a series but it wasn't a strong enough push to make me want the next volume.

My review copy ran out before I could finish! BUT it looked so great before I finished that I'll definitely check it out from the library or the bookstore.

Without being too spoiler-y, I loved the twist at the end of the book, which suggests that this cycle has happened before and will happen again. That said, I wasn't completely in love with Sparrowhawk, even though I really wanted to be. The art is lovely and the story is fine, it just didn't completely wow me like I expected.

Brilliant, fast paced graphic novel following Artemesia, abducted by the queen of faerie and forced to fight in an arena. Beautiful artwork and a compelling kick ass story. More please.

This has a really interesting premise, but I thought that it was a little repetitive and some of the dialogue was really clunky. It tells the story of Artemisia (Art for short) who is sucked into the fairy realm and must fight various unseelie folk. I liked some of the ideas here, butter fairies being my favourite, and I thought the art was really visceral and beautiful. Overall though, I did find it pretty generic and didn't really connect with Art - her motivations and behaviours just didn't ring true for me. I thought that the battles with the folk became a bit repetitive, as did the moral dilemma about killing. The characters felt a little one dimensional and the story was just pretty average. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the fae and the art was fabulous.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a really good graphic novel!

Sparrowhawk was a really fun and enjoyable read. The artstyle is really good especially the backgrounds! The story was really interesting despite it being too fast paced at times but the ending was right up my alley! The story is a mix of Alice in wonderland and faeries. The chapter covers by other artists were amazing too.

I loved most characters but sometimes they felt like they had no character depth much because it was really fast paced.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who wants a fast read with beautiful artstyle and an ending with a twist!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

3.5 stars

You can read all of my book reviews at https://www.NerdGirlLovesBooks.com.

I love Delilah Dawson's writing, so I jumped at the chance to read and review her latest graphic novel. The story is dark and gritty and full of angst. It's not a light-hearted, warm and fuzzy story, and I'm ok with that.

The story is set in England in the mid-1800's. Artemesia is a mixed-raced young girl that was brought to England from slave territory by her father. Her step-mother doesn't like her, and Artemesia is an outcast. Her only respite is her warm and generous step-sister Caroline. The story opens with the two girls mourning the death of their other sister, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was betrothed to a Duke when she died. The marriage would have helped save the family's estate, which has fallen on hard times. With Elizabeth's death, Artemesia's step-mother plans to marry her off to a rich older man.

Upset at the prospect of an arranged marriage, Artemesia is in her room peering into a mirror when she is grabbed and pulled into a faerie world by it's cruel queen. The Unseelie Queen takes Artemesia's place in the human world, leaving Artemesia to fend for herself in her land. Artemesia can't trust anyone, and learns that in order to return to her world, she must kill monsters and absorb their power. Doing so turns her into a monster, which will allow her to return to the human world. Artemesia doesn't like killing, but quickly becomes adept at it. She also learns how strong and capable she is, thus boosting her confidence. But, will this new sense of confidence serve her well when she returns to the human world?

As I previously stated, the story is dark, violent, and has a lot of killing. The graphics aren't my favorite, but they match the tone of the book. The story line touches on issues involving racism, misogyny, and low self-esteem. The book ends on a nice cliffhanger that makes you want to see what happens next.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has been my favorite book that I've read from NetGalley so far. I wish there was a way for me to properly convey how much I loved this book but I feel like words will fail me.

This book is about Artemisia who is the illegitimate daughter of a Naval captain and a mother she never met. She is living with a step mother that she hates and her step sister whom she loves. While looking a mirror one fine day she gets kidnapped into another world and the Faerie Queen takes her place in our world. She meets a strange creature named Crispin, who becomes her guide through the Faerie world. Along the way she is forced to do things that she is not comfortable and she gradually changes into something unrecognizable. Can she make her way back home or will she be stuck in Faerie land forever?

This book combines Jane Austin, Alice in Wonderland, and a badass MC. I love Art because she doesn't always make the best decisions or ask the right questions. She is a fantastically wrong a few times throughout the book but I love the fact that she can be murdering Unseelie left and right but then still feel guilt when she finds out they weren't that bad. She's a complex character and I love her.

Also I loved the artwork in this book! The color palette was really nice and it really helped the story along.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I cannot recommend it enough. Especially if you are fans of Alice in Wonderland or Tithe by Holly Black.

I got this book as a granted wish. (I love it when that happens.) The artwork is not my style and it took a while to get used to it, but it is objectively pretty cool. The story was awesome. I am a sucker for dark stories, and this one definitely delivers its share of darkness. It gives the feeling of a darker and creepier Alice in Wonderland for sure. It touches on many important topics like feminism and racism. The ending was so crazy but great! Wow, it left me speechless. The characters are fun to read and even if the main character was annoying at times, overall I didn’t have a problem with her.

Fantasy usually isn't my cup of tea but it is something to marvel at when done right. Here we have a biracial girl who feels out of place in a fairy tale. That's the feeling I get when looking at the initial chapters, Artemisia feels out of place wherever she goes much like the fonts and space between her and others. In the fairy world she appears to be so small, she's practically an insect. Throughout the whole story there is this genuine sense of Shakespearian tragedy. From the way people talk to the greater context of things. Artemisia has spent her life fighting for her independence hence why she feels so in place of the fairy world. Having a slave as a mother is certainly something hard to live with when the rest of your family treats you as an item. The fairies meanwhile have this unique magic system and culture that is not only alien but also dangerous. To survive Artemisia has to give up her most precious memories, and it's not even of her late mother. Not to mention the jackalope abomination has this more sinister feel unlike the Cheshire cat. He's manipulative and even seems to have done his deeds many times. In fact, the entire thing feels in place of the colonial exploits of the British Empire. To survive, they have to use the land and learn from the inhabitants only to cast them off later. That's exactly what Artemisia does despite her abhor of her father's actions in America. As for the ending, it raises a lot of questions including the identity of the queen before coming to Artemisia's world.
It's a great read with a 4.5 from me. It can't get any higher from me because I find some of the grammar speak a little disjointing (although I appreciate it more by realizing that's how Yoda speaks too).

Loved this! Beautiful, haunting, and shows that not everyone gets a happy ending. I am a sucker for Fae and changelings and this book did not disappoint.

Blogger at Momotips

Sparrowhawk was a nice surprise. It is not really the kind of genre I am used to read, but I got attracted by the cover and the synopsis which are pretty intrigue.
From the first pages, Sparrowhawk’s style reminded me The Daughters of Salem by Thomas Gilbert, which I read some months ago.
Our main character is Artemisia a young woman living in a healthy family in Northumberland, England in 1851. The life of Artemisia isn't easy, because of her past, no one really loves her.
At some point of the story we jump in another world through a mirror. Throughout the story she will encounter other characters, some of them will help her while other want to kill her. In this fairy world Artemisia need to decide if she survive and kill or be killed.
There are several aspects I particularly enjoyed in this graphic novel. First of all, I loved the recall to some other fairy tales. I found some similarities with Snow white and Alice in Wonderland.
Another aspect I loved is the body change of Artemisia while living in the fairy world, the illustrations are so realistic and detailed that scared me.
Sparrowhawk was a pleasant read and will suggest to those who love darker stories.

Northunberland, England, 1851. Artemisia is a bi-racial young woman, the illegitimate daughter of a naval captain living with her father's upper class family but enjoying none of its perks or stature because she is half-black. Indeed, with a mostly-absentee father and bigoted stepmother, the girl's only solace is her stepsister. But when an evil Faerie Queen from another realm tricks Artemisia into trading places with her so she can conquer this realm, the young woman finds herself in an ugly, brutal land of dark magic and monsters, some of whom may help her get out while hiding their darker motives on the side. In order to escape, Artemisia must literally kill her way to enough strength and power to break through the mirror she must use to get back home - the catch being that with every death she causes, Artemisia enjoys the art of killing more and more, turning more violent and even transforming piece by piece into a metallic-like creature with wings after each kill. While I thought the premise interesting enough to give this graphic novel a go, what really sucked me in was the intense, beautiful cover art of the book. Sad to say, the inside art is nowhere near as dramatic or provocative; indeed, the alternate world our heroine finds herself in is all hard lines and harsh colors, as if a paintbox were spill on the original drawings. Sadly, I also couldn't identify or really care about any of the characters, including Artemisia herself. While I understood the corruptive effect this alternate world had on the poor girl throughout the story, with each change I found myself disliking/not caring about the character a little more. An "okay" script and unattractive artwork, even with a gorgeous cover wrapped around it, just made for a disappointing read. 1/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Sparrowhawk is exactly my kind of graphic novel. I actually have the first few issues as floppies, but reading it as a GN is equally enjoyable. I was initially drawn in by the artwork, I simply adore the work Matias Basla has done here. It reminds me of my favorite fairy tale illustrations as a child, except updated for a modern audience. I appreciate Sparrowhawk's use of color and (IMHO) creative panel layout. Rebecca Nalty's colors and lettering by Jim Campbell is not to miss either.

What I found to be refreshing about Sparrowhawk, and its examination of how we treat others who look different than us is the tale it tells about how this treatment ends up changing us in sometimes unreversible ways. I think representing how Art changes throughout the story using slight visual cues is clever and also reminds us that yes, living in a world where we treat some people as "the Other" has lasting consequences. Sometimes you face off against a world so long it hardens you and you feel like your only purpose is to respond, life happens to you. I found myself wanting this story to end so much differently, but I probably wouldn't have liked it as much had it ended the EXACT way I wanted it to!

I really think there's so much value in being able to read in characters who are truly changed by their environment, by their upbringing. I think some comics and graphic novels struggle to internalize what it means to grow up as someone who is neglected, or how it might impact a person. In this, I think Dawson has done exceedingly well. There are sacrifices we make in order to get by and sometimes those sacrifices don't turn us into people we thought we would, or necessarily want to be. That's a powerful lesson and an undercurrent of this story.

What is the cost of finding your voice? How do you accept change, how do you accept your past and the choices you've made along the way? These are all questions that humans spend much of their life searching for. I'm not suggesting this GN will help you answer them, but those themes certainly come up here.

I have seen some other people say that the story felt rushed for a GN, but as I believe this is collected ed of issues 1-5, I think I can forgive some pacing inconsistencies. I don't think you'll regret picking up this GN and following along with Art into the world of the fae (for better or worse)!

Great graphic novel of life in Faerie and one woman's quest to get back to her home. The artwork really made this story work, loved the character Art and her attempts to retain her humanity while journeying deeper into Faerie. Would recommend for anyone dealing with a book hangover from Holly Black and her series.

'Sparrowhawk' by Delilah Dawson with art by Matias Basla is a story about a woman trapped in the world of faeries and forced to fight her way back.

Artemisia has never quite fit in to her world. As the illegitimate daughter of a naval captain, her skin color marks her as different. When we meet her, she is mourning the death of a sister and on the verge of a forced marriage. Next, she finds herself swapped with the Faerie Queen and trapped in that kingdom. She must fight her way back home, but that will change her. She also finds allies, but how trustworthy can they be?

I liked this story and this interesting and slightly flawed character. The internal art was ok, but a bit loose and unformed at times. I have to give kudos to cover artist Miguel Mercado who did amazing cover paintings for this series.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from BOOM! Studios and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel. Think Victorian era fairy wonderland fight club! I loved the characters, the raw art (I found to be reflective of the world she was in). The story was fantastic and I was completely absorbed from beginning to end.

I enjoyed this comic series. It was both well written and well drawn, in fact, the art was my favorite part. Truly, the artistry is fantastic, I look forward to more of Ms. Dawson's work solely based on the art in this series. The jagged beauty of the fae realm works so well with the darker elements of the story and the danger of beautiful things really made the story scenes pop. It's beautiful and twisted and I feel like if I say any more, I'd spoil the story. So all I will say is I absolutely recommend reading this.

I was given a free copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.