'We Live' by Inaki Miranda and Roy Miranda is a graphic novel about a dying earth and one last chance to save humanity.

It is about 60 years from now and the earth has become a hostile planet. Weird diseases turn humans in to zombie-like creatures. Plant and animal life have become predatory. In the midst of this humanity is dying, but there is one chance. Strange alien bracelets appear on specific children, and they, and one guardian, are invited aboard a rocket to another planet.

This was a bleak story. Characters appear and disappear in sometimes horrific ways. In spite of that, it's not a bad story. Also the art is pretty good. As a bonus, there are QR codes in the story that lead to music to be listened to while reading the story.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

TW for book: gore, hanging, murder.

The book contains images with gore.
The book contains an image of a hanged person.
The book contains explicit images of murder.

These images are not shown in my review.

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this graphic novel.

I feel bad for not liking this book, because the art style was absolutely gorgeous. I also loved the use of colours: for sadder, more grim scenes they used pretty desaturated colours, while they used very vibrant colours for more lively scenes.
I was however very surprised by the gore in the book and definitely wouldn't have read this graphic novel before eating lunch, had I known about the imagery.

The story takes place in 2084, after earth has been hit with multiple catostrophies. After earth has been hit with one final catastrophe, the earth is doomed and a group of children is allowed to leave the earth to continue life on a different planet. We follow two characters called Hototo and Tala as they travel to a location where they will be rescued. Since Hototo and Tala were children, I personally didn't love them as characters, but that it simply because I don't like children. I did like that they had a little backstory so we got to know more about their past, and I also think the authors did a good job exploring the relationship Hototo and Tala have as siblings.
(Note while editing the post: I just discovered Tala is actually supposed to be in her teen years. This doesn't change my opinion on her though.)

I thought the idea behind the story was very interesting, especially since it made me think of the environmental problems we currently have and what we could be facing during our lives.
However, I didn't quite like the execution of the ideas. I felt like the authors had many great ideas for catastrophes that hit the earth and that people now need to deal with, such as mutated animals and plants, and a zombie-like virus. Maybe the amount of ideas were simply too much for such a short graphic novel, considering the main story focuses on Hototo and Tala, but the authors also tried giving attention to different characters and even to the catastrophes I mentioned before. So maybe the authors should've spread the idea, but seeing as the majority of people who read this graphic novel have enjoyed it, this is probably just very personal taste.

The plot of the book seemed a bit all over the place, especially the ending of the book. It was super random to me. As I mentioned above, the story focused on many different subjects, which for me personally didn't work very well. The book also had some, in my opinion, pretty awkward time jumps that seemed very randomly timed. This made the story more confusing for me.

I personally wouldn't recommend this graphic novel, but many others did seem to enjoy this book, so maybe it just wasn't for me. So if the synopsis sounds interesting to you and my review hasn't scared you, the book might be something for you!

The world is dying.. or being taken over by monsters. It's a bit unclear. Aliens off planet have taken pity on humans and allowed 5000 children to be saved. Randomly throughout the world they sent pod caring arm bands that bone with the child who puts it on.
They are considered "chosen" and must wait until the date, which marks the end of humanity, in order to be saved from the fate of the rest of the human race.

The idea is pretty out there, dialogue is cheesy at times, and while the world that's been created is interesting... Things change at a moment's notice and the underlying theme is very dark.

Art style is fantastic. Vivid colors with amazing details to animals and monsters. THERE'S ALSO A SOUNDTRACK. At the beginning of each chapter is a QR code to scan that goes to a youtube link where there's a song for that chapter. Such a creative idea!
I read this as a digital book, so it was difficult to figure it out, but I can imagine it'll be an amazing element for a physical copy.

This story is a cluster of confusing events and what exactly is going on and what the overall goal is.

All together, I felt pretty overwhelmed by all the different elements.
Ended on an interesting cliffhanger, but can't say I'd go out of my way to read more.

**Thank you to Diamond Book Distributors and NetGallery for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

I was unable to download the file properly. It was broken and I was unable to open i, which is unfortunate since it looked like a good book. I will try to catch it on release.

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did! I was intruiged by the premise of the book but I didn't expect it to be more than a simple childrens book. It absolutely was though!
The graphics are gorgeous to begin with. I loved looking at the drawings. They are not just there so you can imagine what the people and surroundings look like, they are actual works of art.

The other thing I did not expect which made me love this book even more were the QR-Codes. They are youtube links and when you scan them you can listen to the soundtrack of the book. I loved the songs and the videos were really cute as well! I generally don't listen to music while reading and sometimes hearing the singing voices of the song made it harder to concentrate. I would probably have prefered just listening to the instrumentals. Besides that I loved the idea and also the music!

Like I said, the story was way deeper than I expected it to be. The ending was super unexpected and I loved it. I rarely read books I cannot guess the ending of so this was very refreshing.

I would absolutely love to read more storys about this universe and about Hototo and Tala!

We Live follows the story of two siblings, Tala and Hototo, trying to survive in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world. It's not explained how planet Earth ended up this way, but we see genetic mutations, zombie-like creatures, animal-like monsters and the only hope is for the 5.000 children who were "chosen" to survive in another planet. But to reach that, they need to face a dangerous journey.

I usually like sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic stories, and I did enjoy reading We Live, I just think it wasn't for me. I don't like gore, and I like graphic novels that explain how the world came to be that way, which didn't happen in this one.

That said, I didn't care much about the characters (since there are so many, and the story is more focused on the siblings), but my favorite ones were Tala and Humbo. If there are more volumes on a future to come, I hope the plot will be more focused on these two, since they felt more real and charismatic compared to the other characters.

wow.

what a story and what an experience. i love the soundtrack idea, with the qr codes. it really added to the whole experience of reading the book and is the main reason i'm giving this five stars. the story itself was also fantastic; original and emotional at the same time, i really felt connected to what was happening.

overall, 10/10, will definitely read season 2.

WE LIVE by Inaki and Roy Miranda is an interesting story that imagines the final days of humanity that follows Hototo and his older sister, Tala. The story starts in the eerily not too distant future, the year 2084, when the Earth is crawling with monsters among other calamities, and if that’s not worse enough, Earth receives an ominous message containing a countdown to the extinction of humanity and those messengers said they’ll only save five thousand children, Hototo being one of the five thousand. This story reminded me of an interesting combination of The Last of Us, KIPO, and The 100 - which was something I didn’t know I needed until I read it! The story immediately gripped me, and the ending was amazing; it does an excellent job at setting up future stories, and I can’t wait for more!

I love dystopian comics and the cover looked so beautiful that I had to try this! The premise is really interesting as the humans are about to become extinct and only five thousand children will survive. They will get these bracelets and they need to travel to beacons. There are monsters and blood is shed on their way and our main characters are siblings Tala and Hototo. Only the little brother Hototo has a bracelet. The zombie like mutant monsters were awesome and I really liked our kids. The problem is that the plot keeps jumping and it's hard to keep track what is happening. The events don't follow one another seamlessly and everything is sporadic. This first part would've needed more pages to work, since all the pieces were there, but there wasn't enough time to grow them.

The art looks great and I enjoyed the color world. Perhaps too much slaughter and blood, but otherwise this looked very interesting. In a way it felt like there was too much happening in this first book as Hototo is suddenly an adult superhero. Where can this go from here and how long? I'm just asking.

Content Warning: Graphic depictions of death and violence. More specifics below.

The Hunger Games, But Illustrated.

The description of this book says the story takes place in a world of violence and beauty, and that’s pretty accurate. I didn’t realize how graphic the illustrations would be - hopefully this aspect is made more clear in the published version. So, not for me, but if you like action, blood, gore, and an abundance of children being murdered, you would probably enjoy it!

I was drawn to this story because I was interested in the apocalyptic future of humans continuing to either sit by or take part in destroying everything and everyone around them in their greed. Once I got started, I enjoyed the strong bonding and loyalty that the characters had in protecting each other on their dangerous journey. There was lots of action and tension, but I appreciated that there was some time up front to get to know and love the main characters before they got swept up in the fight for their lives.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing digital access to this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Hm. The concept of this story is incredibly interesting. At first, it even made sense. But then (around page 40ish) I was completely lost, left with only glimpses of understanding for the rest of the book. The art style was very unique, but I felt it was ruined by the inconsistent color scheme. Every page just felt so busy.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Aftershock Comics.
2.75 stars
The art was excellent. The plot was pretty good, did not require a lengthy explanation of what is going on. The earth is on the verge of dying, diseases, genetic mutations, war, climate crisis, natural disasters and aliens have sent pods to earth with bracelets so that children can escape to where they are. Quite a few questions come up. Who really are these aliens? Why only children? Will these children be safe? Howcome the government just accepted this? How do these aliens know about what is going to happen? What exactly are these bracelets? All this with a plot twist towards the end. Loved the brother-sister relationship though.
The con is the writing style. It was poorly written, needs a lot of work. Also, I understand that all the pain/hurt is added to emphasise this world but it felt too unnatural? There must be a better way to execute pain without making it seem like it is just something to make the story deeper than it is.

The story follows a small group of adults and children as they cross a dangerous post-apocalyptic wasteland. The overall plot of these children needing to reach a specific location before a countdown reaches zero is cliched, but serves its purpose of shuffling the characters though several different areas. The art was colorful and well done and having several accompanying music tracks through the use of QR codes was a nice touch.

An interesting post-apocalyptic tale about humanity's last ditch effort to save themselves from extinction via a few select children. These children have to face the harrowing world as they make their way to a beacon that will supposedly send them on a ship to a new world. I loved the concept, but the story wasn't exactly pieced together smoothly. That aside, the coloring was fantastic and I loved that they included QR codes to music for certain parts of the book. (Which is always a great touch!)

I received a free e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[This review will be posted on my blog on 2 June 2021]

WE LIVE vol. 1 is a superb start to a new graphic novel series, collecting issues 1-5.

It is 2084 and the world has been irrevocably changed by environmental destruction, war and disease. Humans are teetering on the brink of extinction in a world that is vastly different from our own. Humanity's only hope comes from the stars - an unknown race of aliens have sent bracelets to earth to save 5000 children. Hototo is one of those children, and it's his teenage sister, Tala's, mission to make sure he arrives at the beacon extraction point on time so he will be saved.

There was a lot to like about WE LIVE. The plot was fast-paced and action packed. It's a cross between a quest and a road trip, and it does not let up. It was exciting, and I devoured this volume in one sitting. There were twists that I didn't see coming, and I'm not sure I'm completely sold on the big reveal at the end of the volume, but I'm still looking forward to volume 2.

Despite being fairly short, there was just something so engaging about these characters. It's hard to achieve good character development when there is so much going on around them, but somehow the Miranda brother managed it. Hototo is a boy around 8 years old who dreams of becoming a superhero. He is a sweet kid, and his sister does her best to allow him to be a child in an environment where innocence is a bit of a luxury. Tala is brave and loves her brother unconditionally. She is prepared to do anything, and sacrifice all she has to make sure he lives and has a chance. They also make friends with another boy who has a bracelet and is travelling to the beacon. His name is Humbo, and he is hilarious. He's super intelligent and tech savvy, and frankly, a bit bonkers. He is fiercely loyal to his companion, Alice, whose true nature is a mystery for a good portion of the story. I loved these characters to bits.

And then there was the art and the worldbuilding. It's hard for me to separate the two. This is a dystopian world, but it is filled with colour. Human buildings and tech are rusting, and crumbling to dust, but the world is full of mutated plant and animal life that is both beautiful and extremely dangerous. Both the concept and the art are reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä, with a little bit of James Cameron's Avatar. Which is to say, it is strange and gorgeous.

An interesting addition is the use of QR codes throughout the book at pivotal moments. By scanning them you're taken to videos on YouTube containing songs from an original soundtrack made for WE LIVE. It's a super immersive experience, and I really enjoyed how much atmosphere it added to the story.

In the end, it is a story of humanity - both the good and the dark. There's the greed, selfishness, fanaticism, and sense of superiority that has literally destroyed the world. But there's also the resilience and bravery of humans who strive for something better.

I will note that there is some graphic violence, horror, and mature themes, so I'd recommend this for older teen audiences and above.

I LOVED THIS. The art and the story are both some of the best I've seen this year, if not in the last several years. The characters will have you oogle eyed and full of joy, sadness, and such sappiness.

Thank you for the e-arc!

It doesnt support or open after I download the protected pdf version of it.

It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read

Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com

I cant read the book from here. Please look into the issue and deliver me the book to review properly moreover i was pretty excited about this book

A violent but beautiful graphic novel perfect for fans of The Last of Us. WE LIVE is set in a future-Earth, 2084. The world is now ravaged with monsters and natural disasters as Mother Earth aims to fight back against the humans that plague the earth.
The countdown begins to the extinction of humanity when a mysterious intergalactic messenger offers to save five-thousand children from this horrible fate to live up in the stars.
Here starts the story of Hototo, one of the lucky children and the journey he takes with his older sister, Tala to safely deliver him to the Extraction Beacon before time runs out.
This story was incredible. We face the desperation of humankind and the lengths one will go to save themselves and the ones they love. The artwork was incredible, we learn about many different monsters that are common within this world - all with unique abilities that Mother Nature has transformed them into.
As always within a dystopian story, there are those who can’t be trusted and frequent the journey with nefarious purposes. As well as unexpected loyal friends. There were so many shock-moments, and every time I had to put this down, I was desperate to pick it back up again.
I also love how this comic included QR code’s throughout that linked to some beautiful musical pieces to listen to within the story. The few that did include lyrics (sung in a different language, I’m not entirely sure which) were partnered with captions which I very much appreciated and brought something extra to this story. There is a level of violence within this story that should be expected within a dystopian graphic novel of this kind, but content warning for gore / some medical procedures.
If you love The Last of Us (video game), or Green Class (comic) - this would be a perfect pick for you.

*reviewed by uncorrected eARC via netgalley*

teen/adult graphic novel (violence, death) - sci-fi/fantasy post-apocalyptic adventure
Super gorgeous artwork and a fast-paced story that will keep you reading... Yes! Absolutely loved this. The writing (translation?) was perhaps clunky at times but since I was skimming this over on an e-reader, I just got the gist and quickly moved on to the next spread, so it wasn't a huge distraction/detraction.

(I will update the review published on our blog closer to publication date).

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.