Cover Image: Creatures

Creatures

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I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

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This was an interesting graphic novel. It would be fit for middle grade and be aware that you will need all volumes. New York has been destroyed and only a small group of misfit kids can defeat the creatures. But beware the crazy librarian, for he says the danger is not over, and more is to come. I need the sequels now please.

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In the wake of the apocalypse, we follow a group of misfit kids struggling to survive in a world full of adult zombies.

This felt very middle grade, An enjoyable art style but we haven't learnt much about any of the characters or what happened to the world.

I hope that vol 2 will answer these but I think it will probably just pose more questions.

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I received a free ebook of Creatures for reviewing. All opinions are my own.
One of the kids was racist, and some others were sexist. Not what I would want any kids reading, to be honest.
It wasn't the kind of people that you're supposed to dislike, either -- they were the main characters and "Good guys"

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While the art style is nice, the story was not there. There was no introduction to the characters or the world, so it was just confusing most of the time, and since we don't know anything about the characters, it was hard to care about what happens to them. There was no flow in the plot, we knew who the bad guys were, but don't know how they became like that and what happens if the bad guys "win". It really felt like the plot is just standing at one place and didn't advance further. The basic idea is great don't get me wrong, but the lack of foundation in the story makes it boring and confusing.

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This was an interesting graphic novel. It would be fit for middle grade and be aware that you will need all volumes. New York has been destroyed and only a small group of misfit kids can defeat the creatures. But beware the crazy librarian, for he says the danger is not over, and more is to come. I need the sequels now please.

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Apocalyptic Graphic Novel of a group of young children taking on and surviving zombies in abandoned New York. Awesome graphics!

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Thank you to Europe Comics for a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Creatures 1. The City That Never Sleeps’, written by Stéphane Betbeder with art by Djief.

This graphic novel leaps right into its setting of post-apocalyptic New York City, where bands of children struggle to stay alive following the Big Night, an event that had wiped out most of civilisation. There are clouds of toxic fog and roaming zombies seeking the kids!

Yet one child within the group has the power to hold the zombies at bay. Then a new threat emerges from the Hudson River - the terrifying creature depicted on the cover. We are also introduced to a raving old man, who has locked himself away in a house full of books. He says that the worst is yet to come…

This was a bit confusing for me at first as there was so much action that I felt dropped into it wondering what was going on. Yet I did get into the swing of it soon enough. At the end of this volume there was a reveal that left me wanting to find out what happens in Volume 2.

I felt that the art work throughout captured the action and characters well and its muted palette conveyed the sense of oppression with the sickly greens and browns stressing the toxicity of the environment.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

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Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

In "Creatures", something strange happened in the world and we can't fully comprehend what it was exactly. All the grown-ups seems under the power of a mysterious creature. The kids, which can't be controlled, are hunted by the zombified adults and need to hide themselves to survive. I guess the representation of each kid (or their role in the story) would remind movies like "The Goonies" but I am not sure about this since I've never watched it—anyway, it should be better if there isn't some things.

First, what I liked: - I really liked the art and the colors. This kind of story, easily, would be darker if it isn't for the art and I think it's positive to children to find a dark story like that in a subtle way.
- I didn't see THAT end coming too, what was way impressive since I'm reading comics for like... 14 years? Nowadays it's hard to catch me off in my guard, but dude, that end done that. Congratulations, I totally wanna read the second volume.

Things I disliked: I feel like the representation of the black characters was... strange. Not wrong, but not right either. The art of them was wonderful but their development on the story bothers me—and I felt the same for the native-American character, Chief. It was really necessary remember all the time he was a native-American in a joke way? I don't know, that sounds really awful sometimes. The "you're-not-a-real-girl" jokes with one of the girls were uncomfortable too.
Since children are the target audience to this comic, I think pay attention on this aspects would be important in a next volume.

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Before I say anything, I just need to talk about the art for this book, because it's just so adorable and somehow fits so well with the dark story that the plot holds, I wish I had it on my walls. It's unlike anything I've read lately, and I really just can't get enough about it. Following a group of young people in a zombie apocalypse, this one's a little different, seeing as the zombies are attracted to sugar and food instead of human flesh. That's not going to stop the last living people though, some have turned to cannibalism. This was a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

A family, and a group of kids with their back up against the wall, fighting for every day. That's what this book is about. Just trying to survive. And that's what makes a great zombie book. It's also about a boy with powers, and a girl who's trying to keep her family together. The worst part is yet to come though, because when an eerie green storm takes over their city, that's when the creatures come out. Trapped out in the storm surrounded by monsters, the small group of children are forced to fight their way back to their base, and make it to safety.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more! With the art and the unique story, I was sucked in from the very beginning, and I loved how detailed everything was. I didn't feel like I was missing anything at all, and I would love to have a copy for my bookshelf and comic collection. I really liked that all the characters were so different and had their own struggles and still their stories tied together really nicely. I can't wait to check out the next volume!

(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

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This review is based on an ARC copy.

I enjoyed this graphic novel. The illustrations were gruesome and detailed, which for a Zombie book was on point. Kids on a mission to find food run into a situation and make choices to get out of the situation that ultimately leads them to discover something worth fighting for. I was let down at the end on such a cliffhanger and felt it needed a bit more character development in order to pay off but I am definitely hooked for a sequel.

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4/5
Quality of writing: 4
Plot development: 3
Pace: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of reading: 5

Badass kids, apocalypse and monsters... That's it, that's the premise.
Really, really, really short, but I'm interested to see where this story will go.
The art's nice, love that it has diverse characters.

Review copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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This comic follows a group of kids trying to survive in an apocalyptic world where adults are basically zombies and there is a dangerous mist that comes at night.

I really liked the art style, I loved how it portrayed the desolated landscape of New York and the color pallet is exquisite. However, the plot is a little bit underdeveloped, we don’t get to know much about the world or why everything is so messed up. The characters are fine, but I only liked Peanut and Vanilla, the other kids were a little annoying to read about. I hope we see more of their personalities later on, I feel like we’re just starting to get to know them.

Overall, I enjoyed the reading experience, but this is a very short introduction to the series. I would like to read the next volumes when they come out and see if it the story gets better.

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DNF - did not finish

The storytelling aspects were really lacking. The art is fine, but nothing kept me reading, as the story was not there. I decided to quit, did not finish.

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The best way to describe this is your take; your standard adults have disappeared kids (adolescents) struggled to survive in the wake narrative. But then add a singular magic kid and adults are zombies into the narrative.

I feel like I can't say much more about Creatures outside of that synopsis. It really is the setup for a larger story that I really am excited to read more of.

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Creatures: The City That Never Sleeps is the first volume of Creatures, a graphic novel that takes place sometime after an 'event' that turned many people into zombies of a sort. We follow two groups of kids: one brother-sister pair and another rag-tag group consisting of two brothers and two other kids. The first group is trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic world while caring for the survival of their seemingly vegetative mother. The surviving mostly falls on Vanilla, the older sister, as Peanut, the younger brother, appears to be quite young. The other group is a gang, more or less.

We're introduced to two main plotlines, really. The first is the conflict between our first pairing of children and the gang and its fruits. The second is between half of the gang, the brother pair, and one of the brother's quest for knowledge while braving a seemingly crazy old man.

For most of the volume, I was rather neutral. The characters don't inspire me to care about them much, aside from Peanut, and three out of four of the 'gang' members are downright unlikeable, in my opinion. Also, the dialog is a little stilted, and I wonder if it wouldn't be better in the original French. The hook in the last few pages of the volume was fantastic, though, and the alienesque antagonistic force looks to be interesting.

Is Creatures a unique concept so far? Not really. Was the execution great? Also not totally, although I really liked the art. Do I think this has a ton of potential if some of the more fantastical elements are well-explored? Absolutely.

All-in-all, I'd give this a 3.5/5 or so, and I'm pretty excited to learn more about the titular creatures.

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Creatures was entertaining; however, I was left with many questions. I liked the characters Vanilla and Peanut. I wish that the characters were a bit more developed. It was short, but within both the illustrations and dialogue, there was very little to infer as the reader. The art style is absolutely stunning. I want to know more about the creature!

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The story follows some kids surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, always in danger of being caught by strange zombies and a creepy creature. I really loved everything about this comic: plot, characters, full-color illustrations. It was easy to 'fall' into the story and I was disappointed to see it was over too soon - and with a mighty cliffhanger as well. I hope the sequel won't take too long.

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<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

I really did not enjoy my time with this graphic novel. The characters used jokes that were point blank racist and not funny at all. Not to mention there were a few ableist comments made too.

The overall story was also never explained or expanded upon, we were just thrown into this dystopian world with this cast of children. We don’t know anything about them or how the world ended up as it now is.

Overall, this one just didn’t hit the mark.

1/5 ⭐️

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I received this and as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for giving me access.

This has a really interesting storyline, I enjoyed it and the story that was there was solid...downfall is I felt like I was just dropped into the middle of it with no explanation of what happened prior to page one.

What's the mist? Why does it only affect the adults? What is the creature thing that the adults flock to??? I am left with more questions than when I started reading.

Hopefully future issues will explain the situation of the world we are in and what happened, otherwise this one will just be a massive time waster.

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