I gave up on graphic novels a couple of years ago – mainly due to their shortness and underwhelming narrative. I gave Odessa a chance after reading the description and deciding that it was time to try another one. Graphic novels tend to be aimed at the young adult audience, which is not my demographic, but Jonathan Hill has created something special here – I really feel this will appeal to any age group who appreciates a great story.

Odessa is a post-apocalyptic tale that centres on three siblings on a journey across California in search of their mother. The characters are realistic, dynamic and most importantly, likeable! Their journey is so well scripted, that you almost feel a part of the story too – I’ve never experienced this in a graphic novel before, but I think this is why I rate this one so highly. As I was reading, I couldn’t help but imagine this story played out on screen – stunning visuals with just the right blend of action, suspense, family drama and mystery…

Artistically, the drawings are fantastic and fit perfectly with the narrative – I love the rose tint of the book – it softens the brutalness of some scenes and gives the impression of an overcast skyline you’d expect in a post-apocalyptic world.

Easily the best graphic novel I’ve read in a long time – most definitely looking forward to the next book in the series!

I liked the art style. It's a dystopian graphic novel set after an earthquake. Three kids set to find their mother. I did not like the repetition in the book. Overall it was good.

I am not big into graphic novels but i have read a few and this one was a beauty for sure. I really really loved the story and the dialogues. The artwork is so so beautiful, i like how the author has attempted to imagine a world after whatever the future holds because climate change is real and we are headed in the wrong direction. The Artwork as i said before really tells the story more than the writing. Characters are pretty well sketched out and developed. I can't wait to read the next part.

While not exactly exploring new territory and reliant upon coincidences to propel the plot, it was an enjoyable read until the end when the main question driving the plot remains unanswered.

This graphic novel has a beautiful and unique art style. I adored the pink color palette and was immersed into the story quickly. I also loved how the story focused on family dynamics. However, since family was a focal point of the story, I felt that other elements such as the world building were a bit lackluster. The world building was decent, but I did not fully understand the dystopian setting. I enjoyed looking at the full page panels where you could see the setting, but found myself less intrigued by the dialogue explaining the world itself.

Additionally, due to the family focus of the story, I wish that the story had a more concrete conclusion. The group of siblings we follow sets out to find their mother, and by the end of the story they have not made much progress. I would have liked to see them at least have more information about their mother's whereabouts.

I did note a possible grammar error on page 119 in the first panel - "and" should be "an" in the context of the dialogue.

I enjoyed my time reading Odessa, but it felt like an average read to me. I do not see myself continuing the series. 2.5/5 stars, rounded up to 3 on NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Reviewing Odessa is... conflicting.

See, here's the thing. On one hand, I get why people would love this novel. It has so much potential. The post-apocalyptic factor is enough to draw people (namely: me) in, and it's easy enough to like after that. The characters are well-written, the family aspect heartwarming, and the plot's adventurous.

On the other hand, I really just didn't like this. There was little to no character development. The characters themselves didn't draw me in, although their family banter was very entertaining. I found Ginny especially to just be kind of stupid, to be honest. I think there was a lot that could have been done with them that wasn't. Beyond Ginny, Harry, and Wes, all the characters just seemed to be there for their convenience. They didn't have any real substance to them. There was so much potential with TK and Four Dollars especially, but all of it was overshadowed. Part of it is to do with the fact that, well, this is a graphic novel, and they're notoriously harder to write good character development in, but it also seemed like Hill wasn't really trying.

On that note, the plot also felt extremely convenient. The antagonists' motives were stupid and unrealistic, the conflicts and their solutions way too coincidental and strange. Everything just felt pretty half-assed, to be honest.

The art style was also not to my liking. It fit the storyline, I will admit, but it wasn't to my tastes. It was too strange and disconnected for me, although I did love the colour palette. The black and white with pink was very fitting and provided an easy-to-read graphic novel, so I really did enjoy that.

Altogether, I can't say I hated Odessa. I just really didn't like it. What could have made me feel didn't due to the underdeveloped characters, what could have made me gasp didn't due to the pure incredulity of the situation. I think this novel would have worked better as middle grade than YA. Two stars for it being an OwnVoices post-apocalyptic graphic novel (I mean, come on!), the potential, and Maya. (Yes, I am in fact that predictable.) This really could have been good. It's a shame that it didn't live up to expectations.

Recommended to any younger readers who are fans of graphic novels.

This could have been about so much. Instead, it managed to not really be about anything.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one. I wasn't at all compelled to continue reading for either the plot or characters. The artwork was beautiful but that's really all it had going for it.

Odessa begins with the reader being introduced to a family of a father, daughter, and two sons living in a post-apocalyptic world with zombie like beings as well as gang rivalry. Their mother left the family and the children never found out why. Virginia is tired of her father never wanting to talk about their mother and when she receives a birthday gift in the mail from her mom, she is determined to set out in the dangerous world to find her. Her brothers end up following her against her wishes and thus begins our graphic novel adventure.

What I liked:
The “zombies” and how they became that way, the post-apocalyptic story, and the adventure.

What I didn’t like:
It felt like a good introduction to this world and family, but heavily drawn out. At times, I got very annoyed with the characters as well with the immaturity of the adults not the kids.

Overall, a fun graphic novel and I might look for the next one. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me to have early access to Odessa!

I admit my interest in graphic novels arose when I found out that several of the TV series I loved where based on comics and graphic novels. Before then I had never been a big fan of the genre. Well, reading ‘Odessa’, all I could think was: “This could be an amazing TV show.”

First of all, I loved the context. Sure, it is a post-apocalyptic world like we have seen too many times, but this one is somehow plausible. People living in California have been expecting ‘The Big One’ for years, the strongest earthquake ever registered which would change the US West Coast as we know it forever. So what if it finally happened? In this case, 8 years after the Big One destroyed California and hit the whole coast, people live a perilous life, commerce is based on the exchange of goods, the most valuable goods are weird roots which started growing after the earthquake, and San Francisco is controlled by rival gangs.

Secondly, I loved the characters, even if I would have liked to get to know them better. I can only hope that, as this was the first volume of a series, in the second one the story and lives of the main characters will be further explored.

Thirdly, the artwork is incredible. So beautiful with its black&pink colours.

Finally, I could not stop myself from reading it. The plot was so adventurous, a very nice page-turner. I can only say I cannot wait for the second volume to come out.

I would like to thank Oni Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The idea of this book sounded very good, travelling through a post-apocalyptic world. I mean there were bound to be great adventures. But it all felt a bit mediocre. They coincidentally found the right people along the way to help them, which made every struggle point a lot easier!
I wasn't a huge fan of the art style either, allthough it did fit with the roughness of the story.
I was a bit disapppointed with the ending, meaning there was not really one, and it just said 'to be continued'. Since this was quite a long graphic novel, I did expect it to finish actually.

I thought it was al alright comic, wasn't a huge fan of the art style (just not a fan of the three-toned colour scheme in general) and I thought the story could have been a bit shorter but still tell the same story. I might still pick up the sequel because I am curious how it goes on, but I'm not in too much of a hurry to be honest.

I really loved this first instalment in this graphic novel series. I loved the artwork and all its pink tones. I loved the premise of a dystopian america that has been destroyed by an earthquake. The characters were amazing and I loved the relationships and the family dynamics of it all. I can't wait to see some of those relationships grow in the next instalment. I don't normally grow so attached to characters in graphic novels, especially first in series, however I found myself to be quite attached and emotional for these characters and I only want the best for them.
I cant wait to see where this one goes.
5 out of 5 stars

Three siblings search for their mother in a post-apocalyptic U.S. (major earthquake that separated California from the rest of the country). But this is only the first in series, so it spends a lot of time world-building and ends on a cliffhanger. The pacing felt rushed when it came to conflict/action along their journey. Those moments resolved a little too quickly and neatly. The bickering between the siblings was a bit overdone and started to feel like filler. But the art is fantastic, the premise is cool, it held my attention, and the book left me feeling like I *must* read the sequel(s) to find out what happens next.

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕖𝕟𝕕. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖.
~ 𝕆𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕒.

The aftermath of the Big One, the earthquake that shook the Cascadia fault line into ruins 8 years back, changed the lives of those dwelling on the west coast of the United States forever.

As for Vietnamese American Virginia Crane, life took a grim turn of events starting with her mother leaving her with her father and brothers and never turning back. Wise and mature beyond her years, Ginny takes on the role of a caretaker for her brothers, Wes and Harry, providing them with the best of what her can aquire. But her routine and monotonous life comes to a standstill when she recieves a mysterious gift parcel from her mother.

Surged with the long-forgotten memories of her childhood, Ginny is hell-bent on finding her mother and make sense of everything, even if it means to abandon her family.

This is an own voices, post-apocalyptic graphic novel set in a world divided by society. I really liked how familial relationships were explored in this novel and it also features a sweet sapphic romance.

Although I quite enjoyed my time reading Odessa, it was a bit too slow to my taste and wasn't feeling any sort of attachment to the characters except for four dollars maybe ( Ginny's uncle whom she seeks to help her out ). However, I adored the art style and Ginny's journey through the harrowing days.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @netgalley 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @onipress 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.❣️

This book talks about three kids trying to find their mother in an after earthquake era. The world turned upside down, there are weird plants, monsters, dead people, and more of these horrible incidents. Though the subject is interesting, it didn't go far from the usual cliché. I felt like I was watching any of these world-ending movies, and there were a lot of coincidences too.
The illustrations were cool, and they match the overall theme. I didn't hate it, but it didn't blow me away either. It was OK.

Beautiful to look at and read. I thought the characters were realistic and likable; the format of graphic novel suits this story well. Happy I read it and will recommend.

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.