The synopsis of the book really intrigued me, three kids searching for their mom in a post-apocalyptic world plus a graphic novel. I was hooked on the idea. But about half way through I wanted to put it down. Hoping it would get better, I read to the end. Boy, was I wrong. Should have put it down. The book is over 300 pages long and really could have been shortened by 100 pages or so. The journey to find their mom just seemed repetitive, they kept running into the same problems. Overall, I can't say I'd recommend this one.

I received a free copy from Netgalley and Oni Press in exchange for my honest opinions.

America has been ruined and three kids are on the search across a post apocalyptic America looking for their mom.  I enjoyed this book. I liked that the story tried to have some humanity and addressed some social issues. It was hard to put down, I was not a huge fan of the ending I feel that even for a continued ending it could have tied up a few more loose ends. Even with the ending though I will get the second addition. The artwork was a perfect mirror for how the author was trying to show the world. I think that I have many students who would really enjoy this book.

2.5/5  Honestly, this was a weird one for me.  I felt that the story dragged on and while it picked up at the end it stops with a to be continued just as things started to get interesting.  There's some low-key lgbt rep towards the end which is neat.  I felt that the relationships between the siblings just weren't fully fleshed out and I would have been a lot more invested in the first 2/3rds of the book if they had either delved into that a little more or just pushed forward and gotten to the more interesting segments of the last third.

Odessa was a wild ride. A ride I hope we get to finish. There were a few things I wasn’t expecting, but I’m so glad they’re there. The monochrome colors were such a good choice for this story. Also, all the lore regarding the disasters is so good.

"Odessa" is the first installment in a series following the adventures of three siblings embarking on a journey to find their estranged mother. Ginny, Wes, and Harry suddenly become aware that their mother is alive and decide to find her and reunite with her after eight years of separation. The catch is they're living in a post-apocalyptic reality, where danger awaits behind every corner. The siblings have to keep together to survive.

First of all, I really enjoyed the setting of the story and the world-building in general. Those post-apocalyptic worlds look amazing in the graphic form. Second, the art style was right up my alley - it reminded me a little bit of the style of the game Don't Starve. The choice of the pink tint of the panels was unexpectedly very fitting. 

That being said, I was a little bit disappointed with how stretched out the story was and its open ending. Going in, I didn't know the graphic novel was a start to a series, so naturally, I expected some kind of closure, but there wasn't any. Furthermore, there was no character development among the main team (maybe except Four Dollars). The plot was filled with convenient coincidences that pushed the characters forward in their journey.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the graphic novel enough to be interested in picking up the next volume. Let's hope it will compensate for the imperfect first.

Thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing me with a copy of the book!

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

Odessa is set in a post apocalyptic earth and tells the story of 3 siblings looking for their mum, unaware of the dangers that this new world conceals. 
I really liked the drawings and how Hill is able to express deep emotion through them. I loved the new earth even if it gives me the creeps because I can totally imagine a future not far away in which this kind of disaster will change our lives forever. 
I totally loved the secondary characters. I am deeply in love with Maya and Wes and can't stop liking "4 dollars" albeit his turbulent past but I have to admit that I totally despise Ginny. 
I can't understand her. She is totally selfish. She is ok to abandon her father and her brothers in order to follow a ghost. She is not brave enough to say goodbye to her brothers or to say what she really thinks. She is not the strong leading woman I was expecting. Sorry, not sorry.
Apart from that, the book is enjoyable and easy to read, I will probably want to read how the story continues.

***ACTUALLY 3.5 STARS***

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an eARC for exchange for an honest review.

Graphic Novels are one of the best forms of books. It is median that can tell a story not just with words, but with images as well. Odessa was a book I really wanted to love, but it was completely underwhelming. 

Odessa is the story about Ginny, Wes, and Harry, three sibling's who set off to look for their mother after she left their family after Ginny receives a package from her. The story takes place in California after a huge earthquake hits and basically destroys it and these kids traverse it looking for clues. I honestly was very intrigued from the get-go because I have lived in California, and was so excited to see how this author took  the concept of something that could happen, and make it a reality in the novel. 

I found the art style to be a bizarre choice for the book, considering it is set in apocalyptic setting. It is black and white with pink as the accent color, which to me suits a more a love story than a story about survival. The art wasn't to my taste at all, but the way the characters were drawn gave it a rustic vibe, which fit into the theme well. Just not the pink...   

I think if the story had been more fleshed out and didn't have so many convenient things happen, then it would have been wonderful. But all the characters were didn't develop beyond how they were introduced as, and about a quarter of the way in I just wanted to know if they found their mom, and lost any care I had about them.   

I liked the idea of the story. I think this could have been one of the best graphic novels I have read if the dystopian and scfi elements didn't come out of nowhere, and the LGBT representation wasn't executed so poorly. The dystopian and scfi took me completely by surprise because I originally thought it was about kids trying to survive but essentially throwing in things that didn't make sense (aka zombies). The rep for LGBT people was a good idea, but was done badly as well. Like out of nowhere it happened, with no hints of a crush between the characters anytime before that. Honestly, I was happy to see it, but there was no foreshadowing to two of the characters being romantically involved.  

Overall, it has a lot of potential to be a great book, but for me it wasn't. But for you it might! So I recommend giving it a try.

In Odessa, we are following the journey of 3 siblings who set off in the wild post-apocalyptic world of California in search of their mother.

I loved the relationship between the siblings, their determination to find their mother in this new and dangerous world. The ending of this graphic novel was so emotional, and then the cliffhanger! I was not expecting to be left off like that! I wanted this book to just keep on going. And the illustrations were beautiful!

3.5 stars, I really enjoyed this graphic novel and will be keeping my eye out for the second one.

**ARC provided by Oni Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This YA graphic novel a decently engaging read that constructs a post-apocalyptic story centered on the importance of family. It takes place eight years after the Big One hit, ripping open the West Coast along the Cascadia fault line and toppling society as we know it. The story follows three siblings—Virginia, Wes, and Harry—as they search through the ruins of the West Coast for their mother, who left their family shortly after the earthquake. They navigate the dangerous new post-Earthquake society, make allies and lose them, and face near-death situations along the way. 

Overall, this is a fairly enjoyable read, but nothing special. The plot is compelling for the most part, though it drags a little at times, and the book has some interesting things to say about family, grief, and doing what you need to survive. While the writing can sometimes be a little expositional and cheesy, the world that is built, with its rival gangs, broken-down ruins, and strange new flora and fauna that was discovered after the Earthquake, is strong. The art style is pretty good and the monochromatic pink color palette works well—the only issue I had was that the illustration of the kids is kind of cartoonish in contrast to the realism of adult characters and the environment, and it was distracting at times. That said, it doesn't diminish the overall quality of the art or story. This wasn't exactly for me, but it's worth a read if you like adventure stories.

Overall this graphic novel was very well written. I enjoyed the graphics and character development rhoughout. I really didn't like the uncle character, only becuase he was so shady. And I did feel like a significant amount of back story (such as why the entire world was in shambles the way that it was) was missing from the beginning to really pull the reader in. As we read we get more information, but the lack at the beginning comes across less mysterious to me and honestly a little annoying, even if it was just a little back story to get me up to date on some minor details. It just felt lacking in that regard. Overall though this was a great story and I really enjoyed a lot of different things from it.

“The world ended, right? But it didn’t. We’re still here. Things never end. They just change.”
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Thank you to @netgalley and @onipress for a free copy of this dystopian graphic novel in exchange for an honest review! This follows a young woman as she sets out to find her mother after receiving a surprise gift on her birthday. The setting was so vivid - a completely altered west coast after a massive earthquake has destroyed the cities and split California in two. I really enjoyed the adventure, which mingled in some urban fantasy as well, and can’t wait for the next in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 

In a post-apocalyptic world which had been struck by severe earthquakes, Ginny receives a letter on her birthday from her mother who had abandoned their family eight years before. Prompting her to leave behind what she knows in search of her mother only to have her two younger brothers decide to follow her and join the journey much to her dismay.

I liked this well enough. I love a good little adventure story and feel this story has quite a bit of promise. I would be interested to read the next one and see where it goes next.

I don’t know if the art style was really my thing, but I liked the pink colour scheme. The world-building of this was done really well and that was probably my favourite part of the whole thing so I’m interested to learn more about it. Plot-wise there was definitely promise in it as a concept but it was very slow and dragged out that I found myself getting bored a lot of the time. As for the characters, I don’t know if I was crazy about any of them whilst I’m sure given the circumstances they’ll grow and develop in further iterations but throughout this, I just found them a bit annoying and not as fleshed out as they could have been.

Overall despite not being super invested in this one, I’m definitely interested in reading more to see where the story goes.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc! 

"Odessa" nos sitúa en un mundo postapocaliptico luego de que un terrible terremoto destruyera todo, y nos cuenta la historia de tres hermanos de diferentes edades que viven con su padre. La hermana mayor en el día de su cumpleaños recibe un regalo de su madre, quien los abandono hace muchos años dejándola a cargo de sus hermanos menores. 
A partir de entonces, ella decide emprender un viaje en busca de su madre, a lo que se le suman sus hermanos. Los tres emprenden un viaje peligroso en un país apocalíptico. 

Me gusto mucho el arte y la paleta de colores en rosa pero el dibujo was okay. Me entretuvo bastante la historia pero se me hizo muy extenso, tiene 300 páginas y muy poco character development. No hay mucho más que decir mas que es entretenido pero fue una novela gráfica que paso sin pena ni gloria. 

Admito que le tenia un poco de expectativas ya que vi muy buenas reviews.

*2.5 Stars but rounded off to 3*

I read my first Graphic Novel only to be left disappointed.
Odessa is an OwnVoices post-apocalyptic graphic novel featuring Vietnamese characters. It revolves around three children who go in search of their mom after a huge earthquake hits the west coast of the United States.
I am not gonna lie, this was super boring and LONG. Not to mention that it was way too predictable. Literally some of the events made me wanna just DNF it so bad. It was like predicting what will happen if you open a chocolate bar. Yeah. There was also a lack of character development which added to the boring-ness of the book.
But it gets bonus points for a f/f relationship!!
The artwork was good but seeing that I was reading off my laptop because the file size was too big, it really strained my eyes with all that pink.

The story is about a teenage girl Virginia, Who sets to find her long lost mother. She has no clue about her mother now, the basic quest looks awesome on first glance. The book is set in a dystopian futuristic world & aftermath of a big earthquake. The artwork was good, but I think the story gets left behind and I felt there wasn't a single happy movement in the book, hope to see more characters in the follow up of this book.

A well-down post-apocalyptic, ownvoices graphic novel. I absolutely adored the art, colour palette and the characters. My only critic would be that it's a tad bit text heavy for a graphic novel, which slows down the pace. 
The story begins when an earthquake hit along the Cascadia fault line, toppling cities and changing landscapes up and down the west coast of the United States. Life changed forever for everyone, but for Vietnamese-American Virginia Crane, life changed shortly after the earthquake, when her mother left and never came back. With a wonderful cast of characters and an interesting story to tell, Odessa sets out to achieve what most graphic novels do, that is, to leave you with a warm fulfilment, and it does just that with a fairly moderate success.

Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down, despite having to reload it a few times.  I have to say I was drawn to the title, since I’m from a town of that name., but the reason for the title became clear about 1/2 way through the book.  The drawings are sparse and powerful, the action sequences are vigorous, and the storyline is compelling.  I was sorry/happy to see the ‘to be continued’ tag at the end!

This book is set in a dystopian world where an earthquake destroyed almost everything. This is the story of Ginny who lives with her father and two younger brothers. On her birthday she receives a gift from her mother. This convinces her that her mother misses her as much she missed her mother. So she goes on a journey to find her mother even though her father was against it. Her two younger brothers also joins her on this journey.

I did not enjoy this book. Firstly, nothing happens in this book. The story is very slow and nothing special happens. This storyline is very bland and I did not like any of the characters. I lost interest halfway through the book. Secondly, I wasn't a big fan of the art style as well. The illustrations are a very important part of a graphic novel, but in this one the illustrations weren't flattering and I did not like it that much.

Odessa by Jonathan Hill
Rating: 4 stars 

Odessa by Johnathan Hill is a post- apocalyptic graphic novel which takes place eight years after an Earth quake hits the Casadia fault line and devastates the West Coast of America. We follow Ginny and her two younger brothers, Wes and Harry as they set out  to find their mother after Ginny receives a mysterious package on the 18th birthday after not seeing her mother since she left them years before.

I enjoyed the characters and their development throughout the story as we see the siblings grow together out in the waste lands of America. I especially appreciated Ginny’s development as we see her attitudes towards her family slowly transforming throughout the story. The characters we meet a long the way, often felt convenient as they always came just in time to save the children or teach them something but I enjoyed the range and diversity they added to the cast.

I loved how the seemingly simplistic art style lent itself to the world building and with such a limited colour palate its incredible what Hill achieved especially showing the complexity of a ruined world and adding new elements which shouldn’t be recognisable to readers. 

For me the plot let it down a little as things seemed to happen at convenient points along the journey leaving the character in the perfect position to escape or find a way out. I wish things happened a little more organically but I appreciated the journey aspect which for me really honed in the apocalypse themes. 

Overall I enjoyed this graphic novel and will defiantly be picking up the next volume to see where the story goes and how the characters continue to survive in the waste lands. I would recommend to anyone looking for a cute, easy to read graphic novel especially if you like apocalypse stories like me. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgally for the review copy.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for giving me a copy of this comic in exchange for an honest review. 
What I liked the most about Odessa was the art: the characters were really good sketched and I really liked the subtle color scheme of it. 
When it came to the story, I actually found myself a little bored. I might be guilty of ending up just staring at the pictures and not reading the dialogue because it was dense.