This is an apocalyptic graphic novel, but unfortunately, it was not my favorite art style or storytelling.

I received this as a review copy from NetGalley and Graphic Universe / Lerner Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

I found "Ever After" to be a poignant story of survival, friendship, loss and forgiveness. The story feels disjointed at times but it fits the characters it seeks to portray as they process their traumas. I liked the premise of the story very much and thought the characters of Eva and Vivian were very nuanced and complicated. I liked the way the reader slowly learned about what had gotten them to this point. I found it to be an enjoyable read and also enjoyed the visuals of the story. It's a meaningful take on the zombie genre and a special story.

I found the story a little confusing. The illustrations were not always clear enough in depicting the events. Much of the story jumped around. The relationships didn't really build or have real development.

This is like watching Caroline, I did couple of years ago. Don't let the innocent cover fool you. It is creep-fest and horror walk down the lane. Not recommended for people like me. Not recommended, period. I am going to have some serious nightmares now.

I did not like this story at all. It made no sense to me and I felt like this story had no plot at all. This may have been because this graphic novel has been translated but again this made no sense and I was confused throughout reading this story. Due to feeling like this story had no plot I found it really hard to follow and understand.

There was no background information at all about where these zombies came from, why our main character was in a mental institution or why she was turning into a plant? The rest of this story was these two girls running away and fighting zombies.

I'm sad that this is a one star read because I was really excited to read this one.

Ever After took my by a surprise. Somehow I missed the fact that this is a post-apocalyptic zombie comic, haha. Vivi lives in a mental hospital, since she was saved from the zombie apocalypse and the anxiety and everything drives her to run away only to meet Eva, who's on the run too and in the midst of transforming to a zombie herself. Vivi struggles with the fact that her sister died because of her. These two broken girls get on a train that breaks down in the middle of nowhere and they start their escape journey trying to survive and fight the monsters. The atmosphere is crooked as it's cute and horrifying at the same time. Vieweg is awesome at picturing the girls mental state and how that kind of paints all the things that happen and merge in with it. The comic is deliciously suffocating and weirdly broken.

The art is great, so out of place, which makes this wonderful, since it's unexpected (probably why I missed the whole point). The colors are rich and the comic is smudgy, which is a nice contrast. My only concern is that the comic is slightly out of rhythm and at times hard to follow. This eats out the pleasure and horror of the reading experience. Still, a good and interesting comic!

The cover art was beautiful and the artwork in general was good. I liked the overall plot which immediately caught my attention. I was excited to read this. It was an okay read and had some parts that didn't come together as well as it could have. There were also some parts that I was confused about. Not bad, but also not that great.

We start with a content warning: graphic violence and attempted suicide. Olivia Vieweg certainly delivered graphic violence.

Ever After has my favorite dystopian tropes: zombies and asylums. We follow Vivi, who has suffered a breakdown after getting separated from her sister during the zombie apocalypse. The creepy woman who runs the asylum where Vivi is staying treats her like her daughter, going so far as to get Vivi to dye her hair pink to match. Which was totally creepy to watch. Like there isn’t enough going on in Vivi’s life and now some creeper wants her to look and act like her dead daughter.

But Vivi doesn’t seem to care about that. I mean, in the grand scheme of things if it’s the asylum or zombies, I’d go with the asylum too. To teach Vivi a lesson, the warden sends her to fence-mending duty. And the worst happens: a zombie attacks.



Vivi witnesses a girl get bitten and then shot. And she knows she has to leave town.

On the way out she encounters Eva who has a bad attitude and a dangerous secret.

Vivi and Eva never really become friends. And to be frank, they’re barely traveling companions.

I ate Ever After up in a single sitting. More than once I audibly gasped at what was happening on the page. Part of my intense reactions, I think, was due to the art. Not just the graphic nature of apocalyptic fiction but the contrast between the childlike illustration and the dead and bloodied bodies.

While the title and cover art are, incredibly misleading, I still think Ever After is a great addition to any graphic novel collection. The story was had me on the edge of my seat and I was attached to these characters. Well, to Vivi anyway.

Eva got what was coming to her. You’ll see.

This was a story with a very interesting premise, not everything went as I expected, in fact I was surprised by some moments of it.

I think Vivi's story was a little bit poorly worked, I believe there was a lot to explore on her plot, i wanted better explanations and motivations stronger even though it was a zombie story. I didn't expect the whole plot of the story to be about Vivi's "liberation", so I was a little upset about Eva's fate, as well as I was a little confused by her ending.

But undoubtedly the reading is fun and delivers good entertainment within what it is predisposed to deliver, the drawings are so beautiful and I really liked that the graphic novel was made using warm tones, which for me demonstrates life, generally these types of stories use cold tones. Not everything is perfect here, but I really enjoyed the reading.

I was excited to read this story after seeing the cover and reading the description. I think it was a little darker (ok much darker) than I was anticipating.,

Ever After tells the story of two girls in a post apocalyptic world. Eva is tough and though it's not explicitly stated you get the feeling that Eva has had only herself to rely on for a while. Vivi is soft and passive and when we first meet her she is living in a mental hospital under care of the head nurse. Vivi is mentally unstable and bothered by things have happened during the apocalypse. Something happens to Eva and she needs to make her way to the city Jena where she can be helped. They manage to hop a freight train out of the city on its way to Jena. They have to rely on each other to survive.

The story was a little difficult to follow and seemed somewhat disjointed in a few places. However, the illustrations were beautiful and the colors used in them added to the story. I would not recommend this book for the 10 year olds I work with, but I am sure there are older students who would really enjoy this book.

"For the ghosts who'd steal my breath"

This is about a 'dead' world where these two girls, Vivi and Eva, ended up together and trying to survive.

There's a lot of disturbing things going on and the art is just as creepy (in a good way). These girls aren't really okay but who would be in a post-apocalyptical world right? They were dealing with an outside threat and their own inner demons. The whole 'facility/hospital' place gave me all the chills for several reasons in the beginning.

Vivi and Eva's relationship grows while they try to stay alive after they had to escape for different reasons. They talked about their past and discussed how things used to be and how they are now. It was really nice seeing them bonding and how things ended.

There were some parts that confused me, especially with the gardener the main character meets along the way. The female friendship was rocky and the ending wasnt very satisfying. There was some mental health representation with the main character but her weird relationship with the psych warden wasnt explained in a way that made sense to me. I was a little disappointed with the art style because I thought it would be just as bold and colorful as the cover but it ended up being a little more muted. The zombie elements were interesting but I think the overall story just wasnt for me.

I don't know why I didn't expect it to be a zombie story. How is it possible? This graphic novel has been on my tbr for a few years since I've seen it on German bookstagram and I haven't known it was about zombies? (I don't like zombies) Also, i didn't know it had a film adaptation!

Anyway, my three favourite things were how female-driven the cast was, how there was no sex or romance (tho possibly some minor sapphic vibes? Or was it just me?) and that it was probably the first European dystopia I've ever read. I think? So even if it was a zombie scenario, by far my least favourite type of dystopia, at least it didn't take place in America which is always a nice change. It makes books so much more relatable.

I liked the art, too.

Unfortunately, I absolutely didn't care about the plot but it might have been the zombie thing.

I was originally attracted to this book based on the blurb and the cover, but honestly, the story felt like it was missing a lot. It was also a lot darker and more graphic than I expected it to be.

I did enjoy the artwork and felt that it added to the scenes, moving from dark to light as they moved from indoors to outside. I also liked that the bright colors were such a dramatic contrast to the darker storyline, especially once the girls moved out into the countryside. The landscapes were especially beautiful.

Overall, the storyline was somewhat muddled, jumping from scene to scene. The storyline was pretty confusing, especially in the beginning, and I had to go back through it twice to really understand what was going on. Sometimes it was difficult to tell what was a memory/flashback, though one flashback was emphasized by a more monochrome palette.

I did like the character development of Vivi, as she grew from being fearful and became more assertive based on her experiences with Eva and the zombie encounters, even though it was rather sudden. I would have liked to see more of that development building over the course of the story. The ending was rather powerful and a good closure to the novel.

The graphic novel 'ever after' is one in a kind. The soft pastel colors hide the true colors of the story. It's a very dark and apocalyptic theme with current topics. I expected it to be a graphic novel for kids, but I would recommend it for readers 14+ and up.
The pastel drawings are very beautiful. They are detailed and contain a unique art style. I also loved how every character seemed to have something typical about their appearance.
On the other hand, the story was a bit messy. It felt more like a scene, not as a whole story on its own. It's hard for the reader to understand what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Also: the setting is a bit vague. But I feel like it was vague due to the main character. She's a bit mad, to say it nicely.
Most characters were round enough to be interesting in a graphic novel. I mostly liked the main character because she is so sweet. It's a very creepy and dark world, but she stays herself and is truly the sunshine throughout the whole story.

I liked the graphic novel, but it didn't blow me away.

Originally a German graphic novel, Ever After by Olivia Vieweg is publishing its US/English version this 2020.

In a world where zombies have attacked, there are barricaded cities that act as safe havens, keeping citizens safe from the infected that dwell outside. The story starts two years after the apocalypse and we are introduced to Vivi and Eva in the city of Weimar. The only way to get between cities is by driverless trains, and Vivi and Eva just manage to flee Weimar and get in one leaving for the city of Jena. They decide to stick together to survive, only Vivi has a past and Eva has a secret of her own.

There are a few disturbing parts especially in the beginning, but it's all what you'd expect from a movie about zombies and survivors. The story itself was okay, interesting and emotional towards the end but also slightly confusing and with a few unanswered questions. I wish some parts were longer and others shorter and the author had written more about the creatures the two girls met on the way. The artwork is beautiful with colours slightly faded to give more atmosphere to the story, and I especially loved the cover art which is what attracted me to the story in the first place.

CW: Light gore and suicide attempt

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story is set in Germany after a zombie apocalypse. We follow two girls who flee one city to try to get to another. Both are dealing with their own issues.

The story was ok. There were a couple of really interesting and somewhat exciting parts, although these were never really explored in depth. For me, the story was hard to follow and mostly confusing. It seemed to consist of a lot of different pieces that just don't really fit together to make a complete story. I also didn't really care for the main characters and I was way more excited about the creatures they encountered along the way.

I love the cover art, but found the art and colors that were used for the story hard to read at times.

I really wished that I could get into this graphic novel. The illustrations are a major part of whether or not I will enjoy a graphic novel and unfortunately, they were not my cup of tea. I found the story line to be quite confusing and could not devote the energy into reading and re-reading.

This one didn't work for me. I wasn't crazy about the artwork since it was so simplistic. The story was disjointed and not particularly interesting.

Hmmm… A book that wants to do more with the zombie apocalypse than others before it, and that ends up doing less. Two girls hitch-hike on the unmanned freight train from their city to the next, only it never gets that far. Instead it's up to them to get to a potential new home, even with the undead around every corner – and their own issues as baggage, too. So far, so good, but it's actually a bit too woolly, ill-defined in concept and content, and doesn't really answer the questions it thinks it's clever in asking. So for every effort it takes to be about resilience, hopes and dreams, and shrugging off a past life when tomorrow is a lot closer and much shorter timespan to have to worry about, there is an encounter that doesn't really make sense with its dreamlike qualities, an openness to the explanation for this beat, and a question mark over that piece of action. Some take to that lack of explanation better than I – it's not to say I need my hands held as a reader, but I do seek for greater clarity in what's supposed to be the plot and what we're supposed to think about it. Perhaps the movie adaptation would make things a bit more clear, but for now this book is a little too obscure.