This book is definitely a light and easy read. Despite the end-of-the-world atmosphere, the tone remains relatively upbeat and sometimes comical as the group of siblings travel across the country. I thought that the art was very well done and I liked the choice to only use three colors as I felt it added to the feel that their world is relatively stagnant. I can recommend this if you want an art style that was vaguely reminiscent of James Patterson's Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.
The characters were reasonably fleshed out although I didn't feel as though they developed as much as they could have individually. We see the relationship between Wes and Ginny improve towards the end of the novel which feels somewhat rewarding, but the lack of characterization makes it hard for you to bond with these characters. It feels very much like every other apocalypse story you've read but the art style and the way it works with the overall tone of the story add it's own flavor to the genre. I was under the impression that this was a standalone but I do feel like it could be read as one despite an impending sequel. I could see myself reading the sequel if I saw it, but I would not actively search it out.

3.25 stars

I feel conflicted. :/

On one hand, Odessa is a very heart-warming graphic novel about a sister and her two younger brothers on a journey to find their mom. On the other hand, Odessa wasn’t much of anything.

This graphic novel is set 8 years after an earthquake wrecked the world. Life changed for everyone, including Virginia Crane, who’s mother left shortly after the incident. When on her 18th birthday she receives a gift from her mother, Ginny is set on finding her and goes on a journey throughout post-apocalyptic America with her brothers.

If there’s one thing I can say about this book, it’s that there wasn’t anything special to it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however. Not all books need to be revolutionary in order to be considered good, but this one fell below my expectations.

Starting off with the things I liked: the art. I don’t read graphic novels very often, and I sure ain’t no art connoisseur, but I loved the illustrations. The way Jonathan Hill portrays this post-apocalyptic world in his drawings just amazes me. Most of my favourite drawings were landscape shots of the ruins. Being able to capture the essence of this sort of world in three colours just amazes me.

While I can’t say this about most of the other characters, I also really liked Four Dollars. While he is a changed man, there’s still a part of his old life he can’t seem to shake off. Four Dollars stood out to me the most and his conflicting motives and loyalties made me appreciate him as a character. His dialogue was also my favourite out of all the characters, and the way he interacted with Ginny and her brothers really warmed my heart... except for when they first met him and he almost scammed them out of all their money but that is besides the point.

Now onto the not so good parts: the characters. With Four Dollars aside, I could not make myself feel anything for these characters. Ginny had nothing else going for her except being a heroic bigger sister. Wes was just another one of those kids who wanted to grow up, and Harry was just...plain. I understand that this is Hill’s first attempt at writing and drawing a book all by himself, and I get it, characters are hard to write. But feedback is feedback, and I have to say that the characters are just too static for me to enjoy. I couldn’t sense any development throughout the novel despite a lot of the harrowing events the group goes through.

As they went along their journey, I was just waiting for something to make me like these characters, but nothing happened. I felt so detached to them that I didn’t care much for their story at all. For example, why did Ginny abandon everything she knows just because of a necklace? What made her suddenly have an urge to find her dead mother despite her having left them years ago? In this sense, I don’t see what Ginny’s true aim is here. It seems as though this is a sudden impulse which is never a good motivation for a character; it’s just lazy.

One good thing I can say for all the characters is that I do appreciate the representation of Asian-Americans and queer characters in the novel, so brownie points for you, Jonathan Hill :D

With all that aside, I did like how this chapter of the story ended. While I’m not too sure if I’d read the second part, maybe something in me will want to give this story another go.

Overall, if you’re looking for a nice graphic novel to pass the time during quarantine, you might want to give this one a go. Maybe you’ll enjoy it more than I did.

This a journey story, only the journey is taking place in a world mostly destroyed by a massive earthquake. Eight years later, and Ginny receives a package from her mother, who left her, and now she wants to find her, thus the trip.

The name of this first volume is the feminine version of Odysseus, the wanderer. And like her namesake, Ginny has to wander pretty far to get to where her mother is.

It is interesting seeing the artists version of San Francisco ruined by this massive earthquake. And quite plausible.

But since this appears to be a series, it does not wrap up in this volume, so we have much more of the journey to go to find the resolution. And that being so, it is hard to rate how well this will end, with only having the beginning.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I think this book suffers from not enough exposition. I wanted to learn more about Ginny's past, what it was like to live with her family post earthquake. But I will continue the series!

Odessa follows the story of Ginny and her two younger brothers in a post apocalyptic USA, where an earthquake has devastated the country. After receiving a birthday gift from her mother who has left them, Ginny decides to go on a journey to find her mother, and get the answers she's been looking for.

It's a story of survival and family, heartbreaking at times with it's wholesome moments showing through too.

The three tones in this graphic novel startled me at first as this is the first graphic novel I've read that only uses three colours (white, black and pink), but it was beautiful, and it ended up being one of my favourite things about this.

The story was interesting, albeit a little slow at some points, but I found myself getting attached to our main characters, and rooting for them the whole way.

This is the first in a series, and I'd definitely be interested to see where the next part of the story goes.

Closer to a 3.5 than a 3.

The file is too big to download so I can't even read it to review it - great job guys. Why not test these things out before you put them on the site? This is just a waste of everyone's time.

A post-apocalyptic graphic novel! This unusual and highly readable book serves up a "Walking Dead"-meets-"The Road" feel. I enjoyed the world-building, however the set up for Ginny leaving was a bit unbelievable. There's not enough character background provided to help the reader understand why she would abandon her father and brothers to set off on a dangerous hunt for her long-lost mother. Overall, however, once I bought into the story, I was hooked.

First of all, I read this in one sitting. While that happens often in graphic novels, I found it too gripping to even pause.
Odessa is the mom everyone is searching for, and in this fictional account that happens 8 years after a disaster, many questions remain. Perhaps if this plot was a novel, we'd have more explanations, but as far as the visuals ad the storytelling is concerned, this is a concrete, packed-with-thrill graphic novel.

I did like the villains and the heroes and such. I liked the characters a lot!

I really liked the use of colour in this graphic novel. The two tone art was interesting and added a lot of depth to the drawings, and I think I find two-tone less distracting than full colour art. The linework really stood out to me, and the monochromatic nature of the art made me see more of the jagged post-apocalyptic landscape and really added to the mood of the book in places.

I liked the three main characters a lot. Ginny, Wes and Harry had a very realistic sibling relationship and seemed appropriately aged, though the younger ones switched between childlike immaturity and moments of forced responsibility - which I think makes sense for the setting of this graphic novel and was well done. The setting was well-developed and well-explained without the use of exposition. I managed to predict a could of the twists in this story, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable, and this was an easy and interesting read. It didn't shy away from the dark moments that post-apocalypse stories call for and I'm nervous and excited to find out what happens to the siblings and Maya next.

I found the digital format a little hard to read and blurry in places but that may just be an issue with my eARC. I'd definitely be interested in seeing this one in paperback because I think that would make the art really stand out. Definitely looking forward to the rest of this story, and to seeing more of Jonathan Hill's work.

"Odessa" is the first long chapter in a sumptuously-drawn post-apocalyptic tale following the journey of teenager Virginia Crane as she searches for her missing mother in a broken West Coast landscape that is stranger than it first appears. Jonathan Hill has created a beautiful and fully-realized world here, drawn in a soft black-white-and-pink palette; he is equally at home crafting scenes of urban chaos and moments of bucolic natural beauty. His character designs have strong elements of iconic cartoon design, but the look Hill has created is quite unique. Despite their cartoonish feel, Hill's characters retain a surprising sense of realism; the reader gets the sense that every line is important to the full expression of Hill's protagonists, their allies, and their many enemies. The small panels (Hill favors a tight 9-panel grid) are full of details that build the world, provide subtle characterization, and foreshadow upcoming plot points in a concise manner (it is no surprise that Hill teaches comics at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, his sequential beats are just about textbook perfect). Action is always clear, grounded, and propulsive, even as the story moves ever further from realism.

The plot and dialogue is perhaps a bit less polished than the artwork and visual storytelling (this is Hill's first outing as a writer), but overall the story is still compelling. The main characters are a trio of siblings, and there is some fun "you can't pick your family" style chemistry between them. "Odessa" clocks in at over 300 dense pages, much of it full of expansive stretches of dialogue as the protagonist Ginny, her brothers, and various other characters bicker, barter, and belittle each other. A bit too much space is given to explanations of the politics, history, and mechanics of the post-apocalyptic world, much of which could have been cut; Hill's lush backgrounds and unique character designs are more than capable of showing the obvious richness of his creation.

The tone varies quite a bit as well: Pitched as a young adult GN, on the one hand "Odessa" is a grounded, near-future post-apocalyptic story that frequently feels like it is about the become a very serious and very scary tale in the vein of the graphic novel "The Land of the Sons" by Gipi or the video game "The Last of Us"; at other moments it feels like a fantastical and light-hearted romp that is more in line with the films ""The Goonies" or "Home Alone." This makes the stakes difficult to ascertain or understand at times: "Odessa" begins as what is essentially an impulsive decision to leave a safe and comfortable home and quickly turns into a violent tale where characters are frequently injured and die and quite young children are frequently placed in mortal danger. The characters frequently make flagrantly dangerous or foolish decisions, which can make for a frustrating read (bad judgement isn't limited to the kids; parents and adults are near-universally absent or criminally negligent, a theme which may or may not be explored more closely). While this can feel realistic at times, at other moments I had the strong urge to round up the wayward adventurers and send them marching back to the safety of home.

Future chapters of the story (this volume ends with a clear "To be continued...") might clarify the narrative arc, and despite some criticisms I am definitely looking forward to future installments in the journey of Ginny, Wes, Harry, et al. Jonathan Hill has created an expansive, rich, and compelling world and filled it with fun characters, now he's just got to stick the landing. I've got every faith that this talented and meticulous cartoonist will succeed.

I read this in one sitting! I'm not usually a fan of graphic novel but this was compared to Neal Shusterman and Scott Westerfeld so I knew I had to request this immediately. I really enjoyed this, it was heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. I thought the drawings were nicely done (even though it was 3 colors only) and I love the cover. I also enjoy the end of the world settings. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for this advanced copy!

I love Oni Press as a publishing company as I am a big fan of Scott Pilgrim, so I was excited to read this.

Virginia has been taking care of her brothers since her mom left them 8 years ago and then receives a package on her 18th birthday from her mom. She decides to leave home and search for her mother. The book started off slow for me. I really wanted background on why the world was the way it was, but it immediately started on the main character, Virginia's, journey and that threw me off a bit. I loved the minor characters in this story such as TK and Four Dollars as they not only gave context to the background of the story, but they aided in character development for Virginia. At times I got frustrated by the decisions that Virginia makes, but I had to remind myself that she's only 18 with her mind set on finding her mother. By the end of the story, you'll be rooting for the characters on their journey!

Excited for the next one!

Odessa is an amazing Graphic novel with beautiful cartoon line. This novel is about the adventure of siblings. When old sister gets the necklace and letter from their mum, who left their family 8 years ago, Ginny decides to find her. Their living in California, after a big earthquake, which change the world and the people. There's a gang war on the streets, but they are still moving forward despite the many losses.
I really like this book. It was funny and amusing. I appreciate showing the characters of the main figures and their problems. Also I liked theme od end world.
I recommend it, it's worth reading.

Didn't quite like this.

Got this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Wasn't too into this one. Thought the story was quite boring and couldn't really get into it. I had to take little breaks form this in between so I wouldn't get too bored sadly. I did like some of the characters however I thought the lack of the in depth of the story was sad. I just wished for so much more when I read the blurb.

Sorry but a 2 star from me.