Cover Image: The Girl Who Owned a City

The Girl Who Owned a City

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Member Reviews

Loved this book.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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I felt pretty neutral about the story (didn't love it, didn't hate it), but I really appreciated the format of the audiobook with the graphic novel. I think it's a great way to make stories more accessible to a lot of people. As someone who has a lot of trouble reading with my eyes, I loved having an audiobook to go with the graphic novel, and as a youth librarian I can imagine many of my patrons using this format as a gateway to graphic novels and reading in general.

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This graphic novel was ok. The heroine annoyed me so I was not loving it. I realize the story was Science fiction/fantasy but Lisa was way too bossy and too much of a know it all for my taste. It seemed too unrealistic. I'm sure it will pique the interest of anyone that likes sci-fi or futuristic type graphic novels. It seems like there will be a sequel. If not, then the ending didn't wrap things up very well.

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When the adults die off, the world is left to the children to run. One girl, Lisa, takes it upon herself to organize a group and make sure everyone is safe and fed. She, however, needs to fight off the gangs.
Opinion
I thought the idea for the book was interesting. This was the first graphic novel that I’ve read. For me, I didn’t get enough details.
I can see my students thoroughly enjoying it though. Great spin on a dystopian society.
Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

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Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

I loved this book. I had no issues following the story at all. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

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I've read the eAudio of the graphic novel version of this book, which would benefit more from having the graphic novel images to complement the story. As it was, it read like a radio drama, but some of the dialogue relied on an image that I did not have while listening. That being said, I can see this being a useful tool in teaching the book, offering a read-along to a graphic novel version. While not overly complex, this gets dystopia/survival details into a plot for young readers. And for anyone hesitant to introduce such thoughts to young mind, I can guarantee you young minds already thing about this. Being a precocious young reader myself, I would have leapt at this book had it been offered to me. Positive messages of using wit, smarts, and survival skills to soldier on in the midst of devastating pandemics. There are so many lessons in this book that I think could be used as positive skills learning.

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This audiobook is based on a galley, which in turn was based on a novel from the 70’s that is older than I am. It’s a short listen at only a little over an hour, but since it was translated from a graphic novel it felt like too much of the story was missing. No real chance at character development, and some action sequences are bereft. Like the translator had no idea how to translate the pictures to words. The story itself was okay, but nothing fantastic. Turning a school into a city in a dystopian world where everyone over the age of 12 has died in a pandemic hits a little close to home right now. Is this a stand out, not by any chance. There have been too many better books built around the same concept.

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A virus has killed every adult on earth and the kids must find a way to survive. Lisa is determined to protect her younger brother and in doing so, she must reach out to other kids around her to build up a community of safety. There are many outside threats to Lisa's supplies and resources, so she comes up with a plan to keep people safe. While her ideas work for a time, the outside forces continue to get more crafty and dangerous. As Lisa moves her people into the local school and creates a fortress, her ownership of the city doesn't sit well with all of the residents. In this constant battle for survival, will Lisa and her brother make it out alive?

I am familiar with the original book and absolutely loved it. I still remember the story even 10+ years later. Thankfully, I did have that knowledge, because the audiobook for this work does jump around. There isn't a slow progression to how Lisa figures out the world around her, or the times between major scuffles. Without the visual component the audio does feel like it is missing large pieces of the story. However, this audio would pair well with the graphic novel and help get the work into the hands of reluctant readers and younger readers. The writing level is challenging and with the audio component, more readers will be able to engage with it.

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I haven't been able to check out the audiobook. Every time I try to listen to it on the Netgalley app, the app crashes. So I picked up the actual book from my library. For a Middle-Grade book, The Girl Who Owned a City is a pretty dark apocalyptic dystopian story. In my opinion, it should be geared more towards YA. I like that the kids all come together to build a sort of society but I don't like the message of needing a 'savior'. Especially one whose opinions are the only ones allowed. Also, did none of these kids learn basic living skills? I wish the focus had been more of the survival aspects and not the 'rival' drama.

Trigger Warnings: animal death, face disfigurement, violence

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First audiobook. This reminds me of the War of the world's broadcast. While audio is good, if the narrator does not include the sounds that convey action, excitement or heartbreak, the story can lose some mojo. The story itself is a good one and has the possibility to come true. All of the adults have died and we are left with kids. The kids form their own types of families to stay live and the book chronicles their lives.

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The Girl Who Owned a City is an audiobook of the graphic novel adaptation of a YA novel. There seem to be elements missing when listening to the audiobook. I haven't read the graphic novel, but that is probably a better format. The narrator did a decent job. However, this audiobook needed sound effects and a full cast to make up for the lack of illustrations. I had a problem with the main character. She came off as bossy and judgmental. More character development was needed for me to relate to her character. I recommend readers listen to this audiobook along with the graphic novel.

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*received audiobook for free from netgalley for honest review* So im sure the normal book wasn't sp jumpy and I really wish id been able to see the pictures, might have bumped up a half star but the story was jumpy even for a graphic novel and the story didn't see to be that deep?

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It was such a neat experience getting to listen to an audiobook. I really enjoyed the voice actor, she really made the story come to life and felt younger.
The story was so interesting, I love pandemic stories, especially right now and the twist with the virus killing adults is so unique. It felt like a modern day Lord of the Flies scenario. I read another review who said that the kids were mean and the main character was selfish, but thinking about a 10 year old trying to run a new society, it felt realistic to me.
I thought it was great and definitely want more to the story! I am hoping this will be a graphic novel series.

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"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
A kid "friendly", graphic novel, approach to dystopian society. The story and main character were fairly well developed, but this definitely felt like part of a series rather than a complete tale. I listened to the audiobook, which was well done, but I think the graphic novel itself would be even better.
It was good enough that if a series does develop I would read the next graphic novel.

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Short and sweet, The Girl Who Owned a City, is the story of Lisa and how she handles life after a virus eliminates all people over about the age of 12. She must take care of not only her younger brother, Todd, but watch out for other younger and weaker children while avoiding the various gangs that have popped up. She creates the Grand Avenue Militia and comes up with sustainable plans for their uncertain future.

Written in the POV of Lisa, I enjoyed this look into a dystopia that has little room for growth. It is unclear if the children will die once they reach 13 so the hope of repopulation of Earth is grim.

I liked the audio version on this title. My only regret is I didn't get to see any of the art of the graphic novel by reading it in this format. I will definitely check out a hard copy so that I can appreciate the artist as well.

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Even if this book was fantastic, it would still only get three stars for me. Why, you may ask? Well for one, the audio was incredibly echoey-- I'm not sure if that was the app I was using or what. The Netgalley shelf app is still incredibly new, so there's bound to be some hiccups. I understand that and don't blame the audiobook itself, but it was still fairly distracting. Second: the book felt almost like a strange script. Because I didn't have the graphic novel in front of me with all of its pictures and context, I was relying solely upon the characters' dialogue to interpret the plot of the story. I think that this audio would have been significantly more enjoyable with the actual graphic novel to read along with. I can see how children who struggle concentrating on their reading might find the audio as a helpful way to read along as stay on course. I'm assuming that that's why this version of the book exists, and it that context the book might actually be enjoyable. Overall it was a very quick and easy read, and I wish I had read the physical graphic novel instead of the audiobook.

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I feel the audiobook version of this graphic novel is too sparsely narrated to be effective for most listeners, Listeners who do not have a basic understanding of this story will get lost and the 1 hour recording is too brief to give the listener a satisfying experience.

That being said, I would, most definitely recommend this graphic novel, in print, be purchased for middle school library collections. While it doesn't work as a audiobook, I can assure you that students will love this title, especially students who have been experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic - which is ALL of them!

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The premise was predictable, possibly because it was a tween book. The main character, Lisa, is exceptionally responsible for a ten year old girl and manages to take care of her brother and ultimately hundreds of other children with little to no guidance from others. In typical childhood fashion, cliques are formed, and those who need or want try to take from those who have. There are two incidents of violence. The first when a gang beats up Todd, the main character's 7 year old little brother, and takes the supplies she has just given him, and the second incident when gun fire occurs and the main character is shot. Lisa is very logical and mature in her thinking, and often reasons with others or logically figures out the best way to handle a situation without resorting to violence.

The book was an acceptable read for the third to seventh grade age group. Listening to an audio book version of a graphic novel occasionally lacks the description of the scene that would be visible if one were reading the book. There might need to be adaptations made to graphic novels that are turned into audio books. It was a very quick read and not unpleasant.

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I think this was not the best book for me to get as an audiobook. If you were using this as an audio tool while you child was reading the graphic novel to help them with their reading skills this would be useful. I feel like this would have been better with graphics as it has been adapted to a graphic novel and I would have been better off listening to the book it was adapted from as an audiobook. That being said this book has a plague that wipes out all adults and teens over the age of 12. This might be a little too realistic or close to home for sensitive children during and after the Corona scare. I also did not enjoy the us (good) versus them (bad) way the children were separated. It furthers the idea that stereotypes are okay and allows us to view people not as a whole. Might have enjoyed this more with the art.

I got an Audiobook version of this graphic novel through NetGalley(dot)com.

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I was intrigued by the possibility of a graphic novel in audio format, as this is a meeting of media that I haven't yet looked into much. I recommend this title for older readers, but appreciate its narrative power, with image, text, and sound.

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