Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios!

The illustrations in this graphic novel are stunning, and I adored the colour palette. I unfortunately found the panels a bit too busy and found it difficult to keep track of the story. There were some beautiful lines in this novel, and I think the plot would have been really interesting if I could have had a better grasp on it.

Thanks to NetGalley & Mad Cave Studios for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

The art is absolutely stunning and fantastic--but the confusing, bizarre, and trippy plot makes absolutely no sense.

The Mushroom Knight is a unique and wonderful graphic novel about a mushroom faerie knight on a quest to save his kingdom.
This was so much fun!! Even though I didn’t fully understand the storyline at times, the book had me hooked. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and magical!! I enjoyed this a lot and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very interesting fantasy comic with a very unique and mysterious universe inspired by a more euro-medieval folkloric belief. There is something fascinating about the world drawn in those pages, it feels ancient, new, and foreign, and nothing is given straightforward. The collision with our modern world is strange and makes you wonder about what it's going to amount to.
This is the type of comic you want to revisit with each new volume of the collection, to look at the images in depth, immerse yourself in the lore and escape reality.
Though I can't really say what any of it was about as this is very much an introduction to the two main characters and their own personal desires and conflicts... which like real people are complex and multi-leveled, or at least it feels like this is not going to be what is claimed at the surface.
I am very curious as to what will happen in the next volume and this will decide on whether I like this series, for the moment I can only say it is very promising and has amazing potential... now we have to see if it provides answers.

This is easily one of the most gorgeous and charming graphic novels I've read. The storyline is intriguing, the weird is just unsettling enough, the magic is both whimsical and dark, and the illustrations are complex but not overwhelming. The little world feels lived in, and timeless. The dialogue is hilarious, a combination of 50's noir and pseudo-medieval, but it works! I am seriously impressed and cannot wait for the next installment!

In “the mushroom knight” you are thrown into a world unknown to humans where bugs and magical creatures reside.
Due to the abrupt beginning I found I hard to follow but what it lacked in plot it made up for in the art style!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.5// This is a book for those who love nature, lyrical writing, and quirky world-building. There are also fantasy and horror elements too. Although I typically love many of those things, I did not mesh with this one. The art is very intriguing though.

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in each for an honest review.

While the art and the storytelling was beautiful, it felt over saturated. There were too many things inside each panel, it made it super difficult to read.

I would like to say that this book was interesting, but I actually have no idea because I had no idea what was going on with this plot. The story line with Lem was easy to follow, but the Gardener's story line was dense and complicated. This was a very short book; only 100 pages. I feel like some space could have been dedicated to unraveling the background a little more.

The artwork in this book was beautiful, and the style reminiscent of vintage comics books. Based off of artwork alone, I would have given 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for an opportunity to read this graphic novel.

The artwork in this book is so unique and enjoyable to look at. In many places it was also the saving grace, as the plot was a struggle. The story was a challenge for me to focus on, understand, and want to stay interested in.

I think the concept was super fun, but I just feel like the delivery lacked a little.

I'm still grateful to have experienced this and I think it will find its audience.

While the art is beautiful and easy to enjoy, the plot felt very difficult to follow. This media style is out of my regular repertoire and I would say this is a pretty steep curve to try to deduce. However the concept is very intriguing and I would have loved to be able to fully comprehend the story.

An adolescent girl searches the deep dark woods for her missing dog, entangling her destiny with a chivalrous mushroom faerie on a mystical quest to protect the biome from catastrophic ruin.

Cute and interesting. I liked it plenty but I didn't love it.

So so good! I loved the cottagecore vibe, and the artwork was lovely. This is a tale surrounding woodland creatures, a mystical forest, and a little girl on the search for her lost dog. It was chaotic at times and I didn’t know what to expect, but I loved it nonetheless.

This was such an imaginative tale. After a brief (and slightly disorienting) prologue, The Mushroom Knight introduces you to a magical woodland society and a heroic mushroom determined to protect it. And, as this is volume 1 in what will hopefully be a multi-volume story, we get a set-up of future interactions between our heroic mushroom and the human world.

I highly recommend this book. The art is meticulously detailed, colorful, and a real treat for the eyes. And the story drops you into a fully-realized fantasy world, while always zooming out to make sure you understand what is going on. (Unlike some high fantasy books with world-building that can be alienating to a reader.) I eagerly await future installments.

#TheMushroomKnight #NetGalley

If a cottagecore setting and sentient, chivalrous mushrooms strike your fancy, then The Mushroom Knight is the perfect graphic novel for you. The Mushroom Knight, a clever creation from Oliver Bly, is a fantastical tale about tiny woodland creatures, a changing forest ecosystem, and a young black girl who has lost her dog.

Review:

Although the synopsis of The Mushroom Knight sounds so promising, with a quest for a missing dog and a sentient fungus, this is, unfortunately, one of those times where I wish I liked the book more than I did. Things I love: Bly’s depiction of nature, his odd-ball fantasy creatures, and the general tone of the writing. The writing is somewhat ethereal and pretentious but in a nice, light-academia way. However, I spent much of the book pushing through a story that, while lyrical, also felt somewhat confusing and incongruent.

The story is divided in two, with little crossover between the two parts. There is a story of a girl mourning her missing dog, and there’s a story of magical forest creatures. While these two stories cross at points, they do not connect enough to make sense to me. I found the ending of The Mushroom Knight melancholy, though I can see where others could construe a different meaning.

Art:

While the story in The Mushroom Knight confused and frustrated me, the art did the opposite. The art is clear and beautiful. I have never seen a better version of cottagecore-meets-scientific, and I really, really loved it.

Final Thoughts:

The Mushroom Knight is beautifully illustrated, and its concept is mostly solid. I think the story would have benefitted from further review and possibly more exposition. I do hope to see more from this writer/creator in the future, as I think his depiction of nature is gorgeous, earthy, and fresh.

Review will appear on Back Shelf Books at the link below on February 26, 2024.

Posted on Goodreads:

A young girl is going into the dark woods looking for her missing dog. A mushroom faerie is on a mission to find out what is happening to his home. Their worlds collide in this dark fantasy.

Story: 3 stars
Art: 20 stars

Okay. So this was very different from what I was expecting. I was expecting a tag team of the young girl and the mushroom faerie, kind of like we help each other out. But no. I'm sure it will happen in further volumes. That being said, it was very hard to understand what was going on. There was a very chaotic story happening. Everything and nothing all at once. I felt like I had been dropped in the middle of an already built story and I was expected to understand the slang, recognize the creatures and understand what was going on. The mushroom faerie's (Gowlitrot) world was the most confusing, but the young girl's was easier to follow. Not to mention my gal (Lemuelle) is adorable and overly dismissed. All she wants is her dog Beans back.

Now, the art. GORGEOUS! The intricate detail. The colors. As another reviewer mentioned, you could even use just the art by itself with no text and you can see the story happen. I found myself looking closely on every panel because there was so much to see. Especially when you're in the mushroom faerie's world.

In conclusion, I don't know what was happening but I was enjoying the view.

TW: animal abuse (what was the reason!!!)

Thank you Netgalley, Mad Cave Studios and Oliver Bly for the opportunity to read/review this ARC.

The art was super cool and it had a good setup and backstory for what's to come. This wasn't my favorite but I know many people who would be interested in this.

I would lie If I say I didn't enjoy this. I did, but I didn't love it, tho. Furthermore, I don't know why. Likewise, I found that the art is captivating, but at the same time it wasn't my type of art. It's weird. And I like unusual, but in this case it made me feel uneasy. The story is pretty and complex, the inner worlds of the wood it's such a beautiful, violent and dangerous one. So, This is probably a good shot!

This was something. I don't know if I was surprised or not by the uniqueness of this graphic novel but it definitely felt like you were on a mushroom ride.

The story didn't grab me, I found myself mostly looking at the art and following along that way. I did reread it and still didn't feel interested in the story itself but again the art was amazing.

I think if you want a trippy ride and like fun unique adventures this is for you. I give the story 2 stars but would give the art 5!

Thank you to NetGallery, the publishers, and the author for letting me review this title!

Wow, this was so whimsical and sweet. The artwork was amazing and it has encouraged me to read even more graphic novels. The juxtaposition between the mushroom knights' story and the little girl was interesting and kept me interested.