The art in this is absolutely gorgeous. I can tell the author is very knowledgable about nature and what makes up nature. The colouring is also very well done.

Unfortunately, the problem with this graphic novel is that the storyline is very confusing and I think it's taking on too much for the format that it is. The mushroom man's connection with the girl is confusing, and we seem to have been dropped into the middle of a kind of theft from another character who has betrayed someone? It definitely needed more explanation, which often can't be done in graphic form.

Tl;dr: I absolutely ADORED Mushroom Knight! I can't wait to pick up a copy for myself, and I'm loving the quality of graphic novels that Mad Cave has been putting out.

Debut author Oliver Bly has successfully pulled off one of the greatest feats in all mankind - a killer debut. This graphic novel features one of the most unique storylines that I've read in quite some time - and a beautiful art style to support that. Beneath this fluffy, bright facade lurks a carefully crafted element of horror that compliments the story wonderfully. In this story, we follow a young girl from Philadelphia looking for her pet dog, a sentient and chivalrous mushroom that acts as her knight, and a colossal frog. We encounter creatures that are magical and whimsical, creatures that make us shudder, and a wildly imaginative tale of what happens when a young girl goes on the adventure of a lifetime.

All in all, I truly cannot recommend this graphic novel enough! All my thanks to Netgalley and Mad Cave for allowing me the opportunity to review this ARC.

The Mushroom Knight is such a beautiful graphic novel! The art in this one speaks for itself, but if I had to use a word, it would be 'lush.' The character designs are equally stunning and truly unique. I found the mushrooms absolutely darling. Overall, the aesthetic of this graphic novel is superb. The author clearly thought out the world inside this novel, but I feel that readers don't have a lot of insight into world-building. Occasionally, I found myself lost or as if I missed a prequel. The plot meanders a bit, but I enjoyed spending time in this unique, colorful world.

3/5 Stars

Thank you to Mad Cave Studios and Netgalley for providing me with an arc.

I picked this up kind of randomly because it looked cute and it was but I also found I had issues with it keeping my attention. I am insanely picky about art style for graphic novels and this one wasn’t for me. It was more classic comic book style art and that isn’t my thing which contributed to me being able to stay focused on it. I do this a lot of people will enjoy this as it was a cool concept and what I do remember was decent but it just wasn’t for me.

This was such an interesting read!! I was not expecting this to be as fun as it was! I definitely struggled at times following what was going on but I think this is just because of the big words they used! I thoroughly enjoyed this otherwise! The coloring and drawing was amazing! It was so vibrant and stunning! I would definitely check out vol 2!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own!

2 stars out of 5

This was honestly a pretty quick DNF from me, I got almost halfway through but just couldn't read anymore. I actually really enjoyed the first 10-15 pages (they were very very heavy with information though) but then it just had a completely different atmosphere afterwards and was overall just very confusing. I feel like in even just the half I read, four or five comic books worth of information were stuffed into it. If it weren't for the synopsis I also wouldn't have had really any idea what was going on and what I did read of the story was definitely not for me.

Disclaimer: I received a digital arc copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oliver Bly for the ARC.
This comic is a combination of Arthur and the Minimoys and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It felt like reading either a fever dream or someones D&D campaign. It was not really for me, but I am sure that there are people who will enjoy it very much.

The artwork of this comic is amazing! So detailed and vibrant. I loved it!
It was a good comic, though I found myself confused at times and I didn't know what was happening.

The Mushroom Knight by Oliver Bly is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel following the day-to-day adventures of a mushroom faerie gardener in search of a stolen artifact. This delightfully chaotic story unveils a mystery of betrayal that our hero, Gowlitrot must solve despite the interruptions of a young girl desperately searching for her missing dog.

The artwork in the graphic novel is detailed and rich, using bright themes and muted tones in juxtaposition that aptly convey how the emotions of this story winnow from one panel to the next. The artwork transports you to this fantastical part of the forest where mushrooms ride froggy steeds, summon magic, and interact with a myriad of strange, unique creatures.

This is a light story with dark themes and heart-wrenching moments that give this volume depth and keeps the reader on their toes. I would heartily recommend this to anyone who enjoys their whimsical fantasy with a dash of horror, and of course, for the cottagecore girlies who want more mushroom and frog content in their lives.

Who doesn't want a noble frog to lollop about the forest on?

3.5 ☆

Firstly thank you Netgalley for providing me with this e-arc

I really loved the art style and the story is interesting, however its also very confusing. Even though this is only the first volume it already feels like you're missing context and started reading in the middle of the story

This book opens on some rather scientific names and facts about various plant and animal life, predominantly in the dirt. And admittedly, I was kinda into that and forgot what the plot was that I was supposed to be reading.

Then we're dropped in the story and I found it very confusing. Because it felt like I was supposed to have read a lot of back story before this point, even though I know this is labeled volume 1. And even though I've finished it now, I still can't help the feeling that I missed several prior volumes.

I quite like the art style and the colorful panels, though it has a more adult leaning style than the cartoony panels I normally prefer. The two main drawbacks were that 1. many of the panels were so crowded with tiny text that not only were they occasionally difficult to read, but they obscured the art (>50% speech bubbles on probably the majority of the pages), and 2. there aren't a lot of reactions on the faces (in fact the titular character doesn't have a single feature on their face with which to express).

Add on the fact that the characters would say things like "And now you've made me squirt out a cuss," while not emoting and with a lot of the image covered up, so ultimately it was rather hard to parse what was happening and its import to the story. I know this is an intentional choice because the dialogue had no issues when following the human girl searching for her dog, but it's not a choice that made a lot of sense for me and the story I was trying to glean.

Thank you to Mad Cave Studios and NetGalley for granting me an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have to admit that I'm a little overloaded. It speaks to three kinds - with knight and gardener being two different ones. Yet he's a Gardener who gets called a Knight? Which is it? And the info-dumping was en masse. I understand that this little world is so different, but I feel like there could have been a better way to go about it. It really just muddled everything. I loved the art and I loved the concept. I just found it difficult to follow along due to the info-dumping. By the time we got back to the plot, I had forgotten what plot point we were on. The language was just so different too that it made it challenging.

Gorgeous art, awful writing. The art is simply beautiful, but it just can't make up for the "plot", if you can even call it that. The story meanders and jumps from scene to scene without much coherence, the pacing is completely off and we don't learn anything about the world or its characters. At one point, the main character magically absorbs the soul from a girl's leg to heal himself, promising to return it later, and there is NO explanation of how that works or why someone has a distinct soul in their freaking leg. When the story finally gets some semblance of coherence, it's over and we're left with a cliffhanger.

I was very excited for The Mushroom Knight, but it lacks the basics of good storytelling. Even though the world seems really interesting, the comic book fails to properly convey its rules and inhabitants, which is a shame. I'd be open to read the next volume to see if it gets better, for the amazing art alone.

- ARC provided by NetGalley-

Graphics that leave you with your mouth open!
This is your story.

We find a beautiful story inspired by a world where nature is very present as we follow the protagonist in his adventure.

The style of this protagonist refers to a fairy-like mushroom that turns out to be a knight who is on a quest while being accompanied in the story by a girl whose purpose in that forest is to find her dog.

It is a light and cozy read with which you can have a very entertaining time while immersing yourself in the knowledge of an ecological fantasy. I feel it is a great approach to this genre and leaves a very nice message about forests, nature and the thousands of species that inhabit it.

#TheMushroomKnightVol1GN #NetGalley

3,5⭐️

Talk about some weird, eerie, fantastic comic, and this one truly serves. Do I know what I read? Not to the full. Did I enjoyed ut? Oh hell fucking yes I did.

The Mushroom Knight is a whimsical, beautifull illustrated and cozy book with a really unique world. Where the story fell kinda flat for me, was the at times very confusing and hard to follow conversations the characters were having.

The art in this book is amazing! There's so much to look at. The plot was pretty confusing at times. I think it could have been longer with more attention paid to world building. I found Lem and Gowlitrot to be endearing characters and I might read the next volume just to revisit those two.

Thank you Netgalley, Oliver Bly and Mad Cave Studios for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

I really enjoyed reading this story. The art was beautiful and intricate and built a fascinating world.
Gowlitrot is an interesting hero and the rest of the characters were charming and fun. The story is filled with intrigue and mystery that left me wanting even more.

There were some moments that I found a bit confusing in terms of the timeline of the story as well as the heavy world-building.

But overall, this is an exciting and charming story and I am looking forward to reading the next volume!

This just wasn't my cup of tea. I really enjoyed the illustrations but the story was confusing and it was hard to focus while reading it.

I need to start by saying that I really, really, really wanted to like this. It sounded like the cottagecore graphic novel of my dreams. I feel like I was sold something else though. The conversations were hard to follow, and I don't think it was very whimsical (but maybe that was the point?). The art had the whimsy I was looking for, but the narrative just did not match the style. The world-building, though, was immaculate. I loved its depth and detail. I just wish I had felt more connected to the characters and the story, but I found myself more confused than anything.

I do think that this graphic novel deserves a higher rating though because I rate based on if I would suggest this to a library patron. I think this could easily be enjoyed by an avid graphic novel and fantasy fan who has a love for complex worlds and (sometimes confusing) an excessive amount of detail. I just don't think that this was what I was expecting when I read the title and the description.