I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

When you first start reading, Dryad appears to be purely fantasy....but it's clear you're missing something as you're thrown right into the two main characters, Morgen and Yale as they flee from something or someone with two children.

You quickly learn that Dryad is, in fact, part fantasy and part sci-fi, very reminiscent of Saga. The story is fast-paced and gripping from the start, as you first see Morgen take on the role of a sleepy forest town's guardswoman and Yale be a (very attractive) teacher to the town's kids.

This idyllic life doesn't last very long, because 12 years into their retreat, the town is overtaken by what appears to be an enemy force. Morgen and Yale are forced into old roles to protect their children, which it is clear that they'll do no matter what the cost.

This was such a good, quick read. I adored the banter, both between Morgen and Yale, and the siblings Rana and Griffon. The story was quick to unfold and draw you in and kept you hooked until that ENDING. I need Volume Two immediately.

While I enjoyed this read immensely, I did have to drop it to four stars because even at the end of the first volume, I was thoroughly confused about some aspects of this world. It was almost as if some exposition was skipped (maybe on purpose?) because the kids were kept in the dark and the reader was supposed to learn as they did, but it left me mostly confused for 140-something pages.

The art style, while beautiful, I felt could have clarified certain scenes a little better. There was quite a bit of action and fighting that I had to go back and examine closely in the hopes that I would better understand what had just happened.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this, however, and will be looking forward to the next volume. Trigger warnings for explicit content and violence throughout the story.

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

The art in this book is good and is definitely one of the highlights of the book.

It has definite Saga-vibes. I found the story confusing though. There's a lot of things thrown out to raise the mystery of the characters former lives. But it felt choppy - the jump from the woods to the city and everyone acclimating and moving on so quickly.

The pacing of the story moves quickly but I couldn't help but feel I was missing things that would have helped me understand the story.

Overall it wasn't my cup of tea but would love to see more of the art.

This is fast paced and overflows with action and colour. It has a 'Saga' feel to it and it will be interesting to see where the series goes. It starts off really quietly with the Glass family living in the quiet village of Frostbrook but this all changes when enemies from the past discover them.

And suddenly we and they are thrust into a high tech world of magic, weapons, twists and turns and a struggle to stay alive.

I thought this was a great start to the series with good world building and enjoyable artwork.

Copy provided by Oni Press via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated in the review are my own.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Dryad is a graphic novel in which we follow the Glass family, who find themselves being haunted by the past years later. It puts a lot of focus on family love and I have to say this novel had it all for me.

First off, the art style is out of this world. The world and the characters were all so sutnning and I loved the colours. You could really tell a lot of care was put into each frame. It made the reading experience very enjoyable.

I really liked the world and the stark contrast between the village and the town. I was especially interested in the ruins and I really hope we get to learn more about it in the next volume. I really liked the design of the "demons" the twins stumble across.

The plot was explosive, full of twists and turns. There wasn't a single moment where I found myself bored.

The characters were stellar as well. I think Morgan would be my favourite so far. Her and Yale's love for the kids was really heart-warming. I thought all of the characters were potrayed well and I am so excited to read more about them in the future. I am also lookin forward to finding out more about the side characters.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Summary:
I can't recommend this graphic novel enough!! The plot was fast-paced, the characters were remarkable and the world was complex. I would urge anyone who enjoys fantasy graphic novels to give this a try.

I was very kindly given an Earc by the publishers via netgalley in exchange for an honest review: Wow!!

Fantasy! Science fiction! Elves! Ancient magic! Wizards!

This graphic novel was absolutely spectacular! It has a feeling of saga with the interspecies couple (an elf and a human) who ran away from their home to live a normal life. When you think it’s one thing it becomes another. I love the relationship between the twins and between the parents. Each character was well fleshed out even in a short amount of time. Especially loving the family dynamic and the still obvious love between two parents fighting for their kids!

I cannot WAIT to read more!

I was really looking forward to delving into this as it is completely out of my comfort zone. I loved the characters, I thought they were very unique, and also the drawing style and colour choices were so vibrant that I felt this was a highlight for me, I found it very visually pleasing. As we ended on a cliffhanger I would be very interested to see where we go from here in Vol..2. Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to read and review this!

An exciting mix of high fantasy and futuristic high-tech societies!! Gorgeously illustrated and with a gripping plot, I can only recommend this one to anyone looking for a new series to immerse yourself into!

Volume 1 reads as a solid introduction into the Dryad universe.

The chapters read like animated episodes. While this may seem action-packed or too fast-paced for a first volume, it does help the comic cover a lot of ground, especially considering the amount of world-building that needs to take place.

The Glass family presents themselves to us in almost an idyllic fashion. As a reader, we know they are running away from a past that doesn't seem to have a place in the future that they need for their family.

I love how this first volume is a story about family and the sacrifices made by families of blood and choice, in order to protect one another. There is also a huge emphasis on past vs the present and the flow of information within a family. Which while not themes that make sense initially are themes that I hope will unravel itself with each volume.

The illustrations by Justin Osterling like simply brilliant. The pictures, play a big role in contrasting the past with the present, whether it be through technology or art. The details of which were really interesting and I found myself on more than one occasion scrolling back to discover new details that I had missed previously. Sometimes I did find the colour palette too moody, especially in contrast to panels where much brighter colours were used.

I guess things that were detrimental to the reading experience was my unfamiliarity with the universe. Although this is only the first volume there were a few moments that I felt overwhelmed due to my lack of understanding of the universe. Sometimes sections read like info-dumps without telling the reader much at all.

The weakest characters were the twins, Griffon and Rana, because while a huge plot points seemed to be centred around them, there was nothing memorable about them other than they were part of the Glass family. I do hope that the next volume will be able to clearly answer the question I had as to why they were so important. I was also getting "forbidden love" tones from this work, although that could just be unwarranted extrapolation.

Overall, this was a strong first volume and I'd definitely recommend this to any sci-fi and/or fantasy fan who is looking for something new to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for allowing me to read an arc of "Dryad, Vol. 1". All opinions expressed are my own.

Dryad is a wonderful sci-fi graphic novel and a great introduction and starting place to a series. It seemed quite slow paced in places but that can be expected for the first volume of a series. Fortunately, where it fell short in pacing it made up for in world building and character development. I look forward to volume 2, and seeing more from this world and these characters

This was such an interesting world to dive into. It was so unique and honestly reminded me of the technology vs the environment dilemma our world is facing now. I loved the unique world and I look forward to finding out more about the characters and especially the magic. This is something that fans of Saga will want to read.

I couldn't get into this rather tedious fantasy/sci-fi comic. It's trying to be the new Saga and it doesn't work. The characters weren't appealing, the story wasn't there for me - it's like a watered-down, lethargic Rat Queens. The art's fine but genre fiction isn't for me and I really hate when characters talk and behave like people do in our world but transposed to a fantasy setting - it's such lazy writing and so unimaginative. Dull dull dryad.

Part fantasy, part cyberpunk, Dryad Vol. 1 is the introduction to a fast-paced series about a family on the run.

Content warnings include: graphic violence and gore, child injury, non explicit sex on-page.

On first glance, Dryad seems like fantasy through and through. There's elves and orcs, basic clothing, no electricity, a small village, overgrown ruins of an ancient people and monstrous creatures.
But that's not what Dryad is.
The cyberpunk element comes as a surprise, and when I first noticed hints that things weren't as they seemed I thought I looked wrong - and I have to admit, I wasn't pleased. I usually dislike it when genres mix like that, especially when it happenes unexpectedly. If I go into a fantasy book, I want fantasy, not SciFi. But here it all slotted together in the end, and I was very intrigued by the direction the plot developed.

At the center of the story is the Glass family: Yale, a history enthusiast who is a little goofy; Morgan, a scarred soldier who doesn't quite know what to do with herself in the quiet village but loves her family nevertheless; and teen twins Griffon and Rana, one exuberant and one more reserved, but sharing a deep connection.

It's clear from the start that Yale and Morgan were fleeing from something, and hiding a lot, but Dryad Vol.1 doesn't exactly give answers. It sets the scene and introduces a lot of players, and I couldn't always follow who was who and what was what, because despite continued assurances of sitting down to explain soon... that doesn't happen. Not that I fault the characteres for that - they don't really get a break to breathe, either.

The art was great, vivid and lively, the fantasy and cyberpunk elements weaved together seamlessly and very aesthetically without shying away from graphic subject matter - without being too gore-y, which suits me perfectly.

Overall great start for a series, and I'm curious to see where the plot is headed.

The first volume was quite slow, in setting the tone and characters. I did get 'Saga' vibes at times, particularly with the bad-ass female warrior, who is also fairly rash but cares for her children, and the male protagonist who is more thoughtful and methodic - it wasn't really until the end where things start clicking into place and you find more of their back story. I did also get 80s films vibes at times (Demolition Man, Judge Dread) when the story moves back to the city - very nostalgic.

The artwork and ambience set the tone of the story well, particularly around the city settings. It did convey a seedy, horrid underbelly of society.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, and could sense that the tale is developing and honestly speaking it did leave me wanting to read the new editions when they come out. My only critique was the first volume was a bit on the slow side to develop. After the cliffhanger of that volume, it moved at a pretty rapid pace and pushed this from a 3* to a 4* for me.

I loved this. I bloody loved it, because a) it was giving a lot of Saga vibes, mixed with Rat Queens energy (these two are my favourite comics of all time!), and b) we need more comics about loving parents who would do anything to protect their children.

The story starts with Morgen and Yale on the run, accompanied by their twins, Griffon and Rana, until they find a heaven on earth called Frostbrooks, a small sleepy village hidden from the world, and vowed to protect their children from the past. But the past came knocking on their doorsteps when the twins are about to be thrown into a world they can't understand.

The art of this comic is great, so smooth and so pleasing to the eye, and I love how the colours change gradually from the serenity and the peacefulness of Forstbrooks to the city of Silver Bay, which is giving me major Paper Girls flashback.

The cliffhanger, man! It's killing me.

I can't wait for volume 2 to drop and read it!

On a bit of a fantasy kick, I was drawn to this comic because I thought the cover looked nice and the synopsis sounded interesting enough. I’m glad I picked it up because I had a good time reading this.

The first thing to stand out about Dryad is just how beautiful the visuals are. It’s colourful but suitably so and most importantly, clear to follow. It was a pleasure to flip through the pages. As for the characters, it’s not often that I read something where I find all the characters interesting but that’s what I got with Dryad. I thought the generational balance was done really well - I’m intrigued by the children but to be honest, it was also just fun reading about bad-ass parents.

I admit I wasn’t expecting the turn to sci-fi based on the synopsis. I actually liked the sci-fi/fantasy blend though I can see where it might put some people off if they weren’t expecting it and don’t like sci-fi and technology mixing with more typical fantasy elements and visuals.

The volume ended on a good cliffhanger and I’m excited to find out what happens next to all the characters as well as get to know them all a little more now that a lot of set up has been done. It’s definitely a series I’d like to continue and would recommend.

Twins Griffin and Rana are living life in their small rural town when they are suddenly taken, with their parents, back to the city, which they didn't know existed. They actually didn't know enough to fill several books with, like how their mom is technologically enhanced or their dad is a conductor and can use magic or that an organization called Muse has been after them for 13 years. I love the artwork. The style and colors are beautiful. This volume ended with a cliffhanger, and I'm so excited to read the next volume.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Dryad and it was a refreshing experience to go into a comic book/graphic novel blind.
What I found was a very pleasant surprise. Good quality art that, most importantly, suited the tone and themes of the story perfectly.
The characters are well formed and the themes of the story; familial bonds, the urge to give children a safe home and the irrepressible sense of adventure kids have, all come through well and combine to make you keep flipping pages!

First off the art is beautiful and absolutely perfect in everyway. I loved the story, I thought it was a good twist in the adventure, I loved the combination of sci-fi with traditional fantasy story telling aspects. The characters were perfect in everyway, there's not a single character I wasn't in love with. I definitely look forward to reading more, the beginning of the story was my favorite and the more that went on the less I was interested but I think it was only because the story is laying ground work to build up the epicness headed in the next books.

An entrancing art style and quick-witted dialogue!! What's not to love? I loved how the different character dynamics were portrayed, and the special emphasis on family!

•ENGLISH/ESPAÑOL•

~ENGLISH~

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let's see ... how to start ...?
Actually, I LOVE graphic novels, illustrations and fantasy too much. If you add a little drama to all that, I'm fully on board to embark on a great adventure!
Maybe that's why, at the end of this graphic novel, I was very disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, the story has so much potential!
This one focuses on the Glass family. 13 years ago, Morgan and Yale Glass decided to get away from the city and set out on a very long journey with the only goal of finding a safe, hidden and peaceful place to raise their twins: Rana and Griffon. They grew up in a small naturalistic town called “Frostbrook”, but although their life is monotonous and simple, the twins are full of curiosity and want to go on adventures.
When one of the aventures leads them to a huge mysterious door inside an ancient temple, they don't know that their life will change forever, because they have allowed dangerous, different and more advanced people to enter their lives. People who come to attack your village... And who know their parents.

Now the Glass family must venture out of their little town and return to the city of Silver Bay, a dangerous place full of magical creatures and technology, the place their parents came from. Now they must face reality: the world is bigger than what they believe. And more dangerous too.

I was very struck by both the synopsis and the cover of this graphic novel and I expected a lot more from it, but I think I liked it to some extent but it also disappointed and it confused me.

The drawing is beautiful! It is divine and charming and I adored each page so much, especially for the colors they used and how fanciful the story looked.
There is also the fact that the entire life of the Glass family is full of mysteries and magic and is intriguing at every turn!

However, there is a lot of information presented very quickly. Sometimes they mention names or places but they don't explain who (or who) those people are, what is happening and throughout the graphic novel you wonder when you are going to get your answers.
Personally, I think I never got them.

The story unfolds but there is a lot of information but it is not fully explained. Most of the time I was confused about people or places and how magic or the universe worked. Despite the parts where there are samples of the wonderful world of boys, I kept wondering the hows and why. Terrorists? Naturalists? A lot of technology? Little? Who are the bad guys? Why? What's their objective? And ours? All those questions and more are still in my head and I don't know if the second volume will bring some clarity to the situation.

I would love to try reading the second volume to see if in it are more answers, maybe in it the author can explain more everything that happens because, certainly, the story has potential and is very striking! I'd be interested in following it if you can give me some answers in the next volume.

~ESPAÑOL~

Este ARC fue proporcionado por la editorial vía NetGalley a cambio de una reseña honesta.

Veamos... ¿cómo empezar...?
La verdad, AMO demasiado las novelas gráficas, las ilustraciones y la fantasía. Si agregan a todo eso un poco de drama, estoy completamente abordo para embarcarme en una gran aventura!
Quizá por eso, al terminar esta novela gráfica, sentí mucha decepción.

No me malinterpreten, la historia tiene muchísimo potencial!
Esta se centra en la familia Glass. Hace 13 años, Morgan y Yale Glass decidieron alejarse de la ciudad y emprenden un viaje muy largo con el único objetivo de encontrar un lugar seguro, escondido y pacífico para criar a sus mellizos: Rana y Griffon. Ellos crecieron en un pequeño pueblo naturalista llamado “Frostbrook”, pero aunque su vida es monótona y sencilla, están llenos de curiosidad y desean salir en aventuras.
Cuando una de ellas los lleva a una enorme puerta misteriosa dentro de un templo antiguo, no saben que su vida cambiará para siempre, porque han dejado entrar a sus vidas personas peligrosas, diferentes, más avanzadas que ellos. Personas que vienen a atacar su aldea... Y que conocen a sus padres.

Ahora la familia Glass debe aventurarse fuera de su pueblito y regresar a la ciudad de Silver Bay, un lugar peligroso y lleno de criaturas mágicas y tecnología, el lugar del que vinieron sus padres, y deben enfrentar la realidad: el mundo es más grande de lo que creen. Y más peligroso también.

Me llamó muchísimo la atención tanto la sinopsis como la portada de esta novela gráfica y esperaba muchísimo más de ella, pero creo que, hasta cierto punto, me gustó pero también me decepcionó y confundió.

El dibujo es precioso! Es divino y encantador y adoré demasiado cada página, especialmente por los colores que usaron y lo fantasiosa que se veía la historia.
También está el hecho de que toda la vida de la familia Glass está llena de misterios y magia y es intrigante a cada paso!

Sin embargo, hay mucha información presentada de forma muy rápida. En algunas ocasiones mencionan nombres o lugares pero no explican quién (o quiénes) son esas personas, qué está sucediendo y durante toda la novela gráfica te preguntas cuándo vas a obtener tus respuestas.
En lo personal creo que nunca las obtuve.

La historia se desarrolla pero hay mucha información pero que no se explica del todo. La mayor parte del tiempo estuve confundida sobre las personas o los lugares y cómo funcionaba la magia o el universo. Pese a las partes donde hay muestras del maravilloso mundo de los chicos, seguía preguntandome los cómos y los por qués. ¿Terroristas? ¿Naturalistas? ¿Mucha tecnologia? ¿Poca? ¿Quiénes son los malos? ¿Por qué? ¿Cuál es su objetivo? ¿Y el nuestro? Todas esas preguntas y más siguen en mi cabeza y no sé si el segundo tomo podrá traer algo de claridad a la situación.

Me encantaría probar leer el segundo tomo para saber si nos explican más todo lo que sucede porque, ciertamente, la historia tiene potencial y es muy llamativa! Me interesaría seguirla si pueden darme algunas respuestas en el próximo tomo.