I honestly don't really know how to feel about this book! The concept is definitely interesting and I love the setting and atmosphere of the story. I think most of my issues have to do with the specific file downloaded rather than the book itself. I really would have loved for this to be in color and the majority of the words were blurry and not completely penciled in, so it was hard to follow some panels. The story felt a bit rushed and I'm left with many questions, but I think that part of that was intended. Overall, it was good but nothing I'd rush to read once published.

Nnedi Okorafor is a powerhouse of fantasy and cultural crossover fiction. This short story turned graphic novel is a horrifically beautiful depiction of the inner struggle of a woman grappling with who she is as an American and who she is as a Nigerian. The Yoruban folktale elements are haunting and gorgeously rendered in illustration, giving the imposing sense of their power along with their integral oneness with nature.

Anyone who loves Okorafor's gorgeous, smart, and essential fantasy will need to add this to their book collections.

I received an uncorrected digital proof of this book from NetGalley. The digital copy was all black and white- I would love to have seen it in color instead. While the lack of colors diminished the reading experience to a degree, I still enjoyed the story and illustrations.

After the Rain was just the right amount of strange and mysterious without coming across as horror. I wish the ancestral connections had been explained a bit more; how did the family know our main character would prevail? Why does this type of thing only happen once a decade? Tell me more about the supernatural vein of this story!

Wow, what a great story! It’s like a tale of Nigerian spiritualism from Chinua Achebe run through a filter of Clive Barker with a dash of Evil Dead thrown in. I can’t say too much without spoilers, but this was such a creepy and engrossing read for me. It’s rife with imagination and moments of straight up horror.

I loved the emphasis on Nigerian spirits and folklore. I also appreciated its attempt to explore Chioma’s double consciousness through a lens of magical identity. And the art is so cool in a fantastical sort of way. It does inventive and amazing work with the pages and panels like I’ve never seen before in a comic, every border bleeding into another and overlaid with smaller images to reflect the conflict and Chioma’s emotional state. It’s hard to explain, you just need to see it for yourself!

My only complaint is that the ending left me without a clear understanding of what all had taken place. That and the copy on netgalley is pretty fuzzy and hard to read at times. I truly wish I had a physical full-color copy of this beauty.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this amazing book!

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, though I have not read the original short story it is based on. The art was evocative and worked well with the text, and I think the graphic novel format worked very well for telling this story. Although the story itself is short, it really hits hard and I found myself sucked in from page 1 all the way until after I finished the last page. It is thought-provoking and beautiful, and the main character, Chioma, is very sympathetic. I especially liked the atmosphere that the artists created by the ways in which they portrayed both the realistic aspects and the fantasy elements of the story. Definitely recommend!

This graphic novel absolutely caught my eye. I already recommended that we buy it.
The artwork is absolutely captivating to the store.
You go thru the main characters story as if you are there as well.
The story depicts how your life choices, or situations that happen can lead you to a new future.
What you experience shapes who you are to become.

Hi! Thank you so much for letting read this book! As a Black/African reader I LOVE reading African stories! Even though I haven’t read “on the road” yet (which I’m so excited to read!) it was pretty good! Sadly I had a hard time seeing the words on my kindle so I was a little bit confused but from what I can see the storyline was really good! I don’t read a lot of graphic novels but the illustration in this was so AMAZING! The author did an amazing job on showcasing on what was happening! Overall It was a pretty decent book & again I love reading about the culture since I could relate to it lol! I definitely recommend this book to everyone!💓

Thank you NetGalley and Abrams for a copy of the eARC of After the Rain. This is a surreal horror novel told in the graphic novel format of a woman traveling to visit her family in Nigeria. It is the adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road", which full disclosure, I have not read. The Graphic Novel is beautiful with many full page and double page illustrations. The depictions tell the story well. The story does leave me with wanting more and many unresolved feelings.

I’m going to preface this review by saying that I haven’t read the short story upon which it’s based, but WOW. Nnedi
Okorafor packs a powerful punch into this graphic novel, and the illustrations are haunting and vivid tools to bring the story to life. Chioma is our main character, and she is thrust into a tormenting and ultimately healing world after having a strange encounter with a boy who appeared at the door of her grandmother and great-aunt’s house in Nigeria. Chioma is a cop from the US who has experienced some trauma that continues to impact her at 39 years old, and this raw, partly fantastical journey ultimately has the potential to heal that trauma.

One thing that I can say as the reader of an e-ARC is that this was pretty tricky to actually read, but that isn’t factored into the rating because it has nothing to do with the story or author’s capability. It’s more a note to the publisher for next time they’re release e-versions of graphic novels.

After reading AFTER THE RAIN, I definitely need to pick up Okorafor’s prequel short story. Okorafor is a brilliant storyteller of our times and I am so glad this book will be out in the world. It offered poignant insights into how humans operate, some culturally specific references that will speak to own-voices readers, and an expertly crafted SFF graphic novel and plot that you won’t want to put down. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance e-copy!

Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road" is brought brilliantly to life in this beautifully rendered graphic novel adaptation. There are only minor differences between the narrative of the short story and the narrative of the graphic novel. Many sections even match word for word. While readers may be left wanting more explanation and answers at the end of the book, so too is the protagonist. This is a story to sit with and ponder. There are some rather grisly and graphically violent parts to this story, so squeamish readers may want to pass on this one, although those sections are short. Recommended for most collections.

Taken objectively, this is a good story with very good ink work. Truly enjoyed the art (with a caveat- see below). The emotions & power in the last third especially improved the whole.
That being said, the electronic copy I received was difficult to read and this made the story harder to follow. The choice of black and white for the comic was interesting stylistically, but i feel that color would have made some of the images clearer and the decorations around the images really pop.
The story is ripe for a sequel or longer treatment and I look forward to that occurring.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this book.

The graphics were beautiful and really well done. I went into this thinking it would be sci-fi, but it's actually more of a mix of horror and mysticism. I'm not a huge horror fan so this wasn't something I loved, but if that's a genre you're into than you'll probably enjoy this story!

After the Rain is a graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s short story “On the Road.” The drama takes place in a small Nigerian town during a violent and unexpected storm. A Nigerian-American woman named Chioma answers a knock at her door and is horrified to see a boy with a severe head wound standing at her doorstep. He reaches for her, and his touch burns like fire. Something is very wrong. Haunted and hunted, Chioma must embrace her heritage in order to survive. John Jennings and David Brame’s graphic novel collaboration uses bold art and colors to powerfully tell this tale of identity and destiny.- Goodreads

I have never read the short story "On the Road" but I have read other works by the author and was looking forward to this read. However, outside of the artwork I did not like this book.

It was vague as if it wasn't a complete thought which is unfortunate because there is a lot of background information, a lot of depth, character development that this book could have went. It did not need to be as short as it was. The ending of the novel felt empty because I still didn't understand what happened. I had to go back in order to get a gist of what was going on.

This graphic novel has a lot of potential but as it is there needs a lot of work.

1 Pickle

A was sent this as an ARC from Netgalley. This book is beautifully illustrated, I could look at it all day. It's very interesting and I loved all of the cultural points of the book. I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy.

After the Rain by Nnedi Okorafor, illustrated by David Brame.
First of all, let me talk about the illustrations because wow. The art is amazing and bold, it does such a wonderful job illustrating Chioma’s sense of paranoia, and feelings of being hunted and haunted. The bold strokes, the overlapping panels, everything about this was amazing and sensational. I honestly can’t see this story having been told any better way than through this artist.
The story now. Chioma opens the door following the rain when she hears a knock. There stands a badly injured boy and when he touches her it unleashes an unexpected journey upon her.
I think it had to do with the way it was scanned because there were times where I had a hard time reading it but could still just make it out. The story was haunting and wonderful. I’m not familiar with Nigerian culture so I might be missing some depth to what was going on with Chioma a bit but what I got was amazing. It’s both a horror story and also a story of hope. It’s a story about being Nigerian and being African American. It’s about both things meeting in the middle.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an E-ARC of After the Rain from netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

First off it is kind of hard to give this a fair rating because there seems to be a problem with the font that was picked it's basically illegible for half of the book so I felt like I missed a lot of the stories beratin I couldn't actually read it. So I can't really give it a fair rating.

What I can review though is the artwork which is frankly gorgeous I really really enjoyed it even though I couldn't read it I still felt like I followed along with the story pretty well just through the artwork alone. The only thing I would say is if this was in color it would be a hundred times better because there are a lot of details that if it was in color it would just be phenomenal. The story for what I could follow along was very interesting my only problem really was the ending it felt very abrupt and a little odd.

I haven't read the original story that this is based on and I am interested in it though. I would definitely be interested in actually reading this when the font is fixed because it definitely piqued my interest.

3.5 stars maybe?

I really loved the atmosphere of this book and the art style really topped it off, though it was really hard to read sometimes (the words were blurry on my device)
The fact that there wasn't any explanation near the end kinda rubbed me the wrong way, but then I thought, it leaves a long impression and has you forever guessing like the characters in there.

Love the mention of food, the culture shown, and just the vibes. But the execution felt a bit flat in a sense to me esp the ending felt quite rushed ?

I love the illustrations in this graphic novel and the story itself. It had the right amount of creepiness to match the intrigue, which kept me engaged. I also really enjoyed the cultural aspect of the story. I will admit that the ARC was a little difficult to read, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story itself.

I love Nnedi Okorafor's work, though I haven't read the short story, "On the Road," this is based on yet. The story in this graphic novel is steeped in Okorafor's deft Africanjujuism, though I'd argue the characterization here is much slighter than it could be. A 'reveal' of a crucial moment in the protagonist's past occurs about 80% of the way through the book, and it didn't seem to pack the emotional/climactic punch that was intended. Instead, it seemed random and anticlimactic. However, the art is generally amazing, and I loved the creative framing of panels, page-wide spreads, and all the different ways that the artist, David Brame, showed encroaching nature and menace.

After the Rain is the graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s story “On the Road”. The story is adapted by John Jennings and illustrated by David Brame. After the Rain is slated to come out in January of 2021. I received an advanced copy through NetGalley. The story follows Chioma, a Nigerian-American detective from Chicago, who is on a trip to a Nigerian village to visit some of her relatives. After the beginning of her visit is plagued by a fierce rainstorm lasting days on end, Chioma finds herself in trouble when she answers the door to a boy with a serious head injury. His touch burns Chioma and things begin to spiral out of control.

Chioma’s Grandmother and Grand-aunt are less than thrilled at Chioma’s choice to open the door for the wounded boy. There are strange forces at work in the village and now Chioma has invited them in. Okorafor and Jennings do a good job of gradually building horror. The book hits the ground running, but after the initial jolt, the pace slows and there’s a more gradual descent that starts and stops. One moment, things may appear to be close to normal and then Chioma comes face-to-face with another creepy experience. It leaves Chioma questioning her sanity and it helps build the reader’s anticipation as to what Chioma is going to face next.

I found the scripting by Jennings to be an interesting balance or modern comics story-telling and traditional prose. Knowing that this graphic novel was adapted from a short story helped illuminate some of the story telling choices. A lot of the narrative is driven forward by Chioma’s running internal monologue that is very reminiscent of a prose-style narrator. Comics in general have moved away from that style over the past few decades, but I thought Jennings did a pretty good job balancing the monologue’s presence without over-filling the page. The narration wasn’t duplicating what was shown on the page, but describing Chioma’s reaction and interpretation of the events. It did get a bit wordy in the third act. There were a few pages that were pretty stuffed with blocks of text at the climax of the story. The pace was still pretty quick, and there are quite a few pages here that rely solely on Brame’s illustration to move the story. I find the use of inner-monologue to be a difficult balancing act, but Jennings did an adequate job in After the Rain.

Brame’s use of the page is visually striking. There are generally only 5 or 6 panels on each page. Much of the rest of the space is filled with arresting background details. Menacing vines and flowers weave between the panels and add to the encroaching sense of horror. Even in seemingly innocent trips to the market, Brame’s page design permeates the foreboding and maintains the tension. I found the technique to be a welcome departure from a straightaway grid structure and it did feel like it helped make the book more visually distinct. Brame’s rendering of the climax of the story was certainly the best looking part of the book.

After the Rain is a story about horror, ancestry, and healing. Okorafor wrote a compelling story and it was adapted admirably by Jennings and Brame. The graphic novel gets a bit verbose in the third act, but otherwise I found it to be enjoyable. You should give it a read when it hits shelves in January 2021 and maybe give the source material from Nnedi Okorafor a read between now and then.