This book suffers both from its webcomic origin. A lot of webcomics start off looking unpolished which more professional looking pages as the story goes on. As this is only the first volume, the art is not that appealing. I really like worldbuilding. The tower and the systems people need to climb it are pretty interesting. I do wish we got a bit more about what was going on in the main characters’ head as he seems a bit of a blank slate, but perhaps we will learn more about him in later issues.

*This graphic novel webtoon series was read on an iPhone 12 Pro through the PocketBook app*

Thank you again, NetGalley and Wattpad Books for lending me an ARC of this book!

Tower of God Volume One takes the first several chapters of the hit WEBTOON series and places it into a neatly tied up “unscrolled” version of the webcomic. If you have never been on WEBTOON before, you scroll vertically to see the comic panels. It has been adapted very carefully so none of the actions has been lost in a flip page method of reading.

For fans of Tower of God, there has never been a better time to jump back to the beginning and refresh yourself on what has happened in the series. The art is loose, fresh, and unique with humor and action in each panel. While the art style may not be what the anime looks to be or later chapters in the series, it is still nonetheless colorful and exciting. Each page directed me and through composition, word bubbles, and SFX text, I could understand most of the action and characters in their emotion. My small issue early on is that when panels on Headon showed up, sometimes it was hard to understand what was even being shown. Sometimes a small smile? Just a face? His design, while creative, was hard to express without motion at times what was really going on.

If you are a fan of action-packed storytelling, a colorful cast of characters, clever bouts of humor sprinkled through, then this series is for you. Wattpad Books has done an excellent job adapting the material for this volume, and it excites me for the future releases as they come!