Thanks Netgalley for my e-ARC!

I really loved the premise of this story. I think the only thing that I really struggled with was how they fell in love. I understand that they’ve been seeing each other so much, but it kind of just felt forced. I think they kind of redeemed themselves when they faced issues together—it did feel like they were in love, but my brain just had a hard time piecing that together by itself because it didn’t feel “organic” so to speak.

Otherwise, it was a really great read! The art was great too!

Completely weird failure of a sci-fi graphic novel. In a narrative and timeline that has as many jumps as a hyperactive kid in a long wait for the cotton candy we see the story of first contact – and boy is the contact, well, contactful. Our hero is a linguist, brought up to the point in space where we – ie the Americans, despite this being French – are allowed to meet the Eo'tarx for the first time. His counterpart from their side is No'mi, but wouldn't you know it – she wants to know about kissing, first and foremost. And his history, which comes out in fits and starts, shows he likes a bit of miscegenation, and so whaddaya know, the next thing is they're tupping in zero-G.

Yes, he likes her hairless, tongue-less, nearly ear-less head, and her soft skin and surprisingly humanoid boobs, but with aliens, who is to say what motive they have? Is she a wrong'un – after all the book also demands we watch the fall-out of a prior relationship our lad had, which was forced to end due to race.

Yes, this seems to be asking if prejudice is inherent, but does it in the most clunky manner. Way back when, when our guy was a top footballer, his belle was a poc, and from him being told that was not the right look to a horrid, torrid end it was downhill from there. But that just does not begin to fit, justify or match up with the psychology of this guy suddenly wanting to bump bones with No'mi. This is a "let the bonking begin!!" kind of Barbarella, that thinks it's 2001.

Ultimately, No'mi's motive, lifestyle choices, decisions and character fully work – and as a feminist piece this really would have worked if it had thought to realise she was the better character. But no, it looks at our cock-sure, cocksure fella. And the arc of the book falls apart when his is all we see. It leaves the message being "actually, guys, once you go black you can go back", it leaves our response to him as some kind of icky, sticky "wow, he tupped a person of colour – ohmahgawd he's doing it again, sort of thing!!" reaction. Which helps absolutely nobody, either in enjoying these pages or in understanding race relations anywhere, ever. I honestly think this wants us to throw the blinkers off, and get jiggy with who we like, which is a fair approach to life to take, but boy this advertises that thought in the most juvenile way.

And the quantum-kinda space travel science stuff is hooey too. One and half stars, to be generous.

Thanks NetGalley and Humanoids Inc for this arc

1/5 stars but would give lower if I could lol

My romance readers will understand when I say this: this was a space romance written by a white man. This was terrible, and I had such high hopes for this. Not only was the main character an annoying reckless man child, but every female character in this (human or otherwise) was one dimensional and had the personality of a flat pancake. I won't go into spoilery detail, but there were aspects of this that dealt with race and reproductive rights in such a tone deaf way that felt inappropriate and insulting. Our couple we were to be rooting for would be talking in one frame, then you turn the page and suddenly they're naked and having sex? And she's asking him what pleasure is while they're doing it?? I get shes an alien and is learning about her new humanoid body, but why not like, ***show her*** what pleasure is for her body type, if you know what I mean, instead of just doing the deed and that's it?? 🤣🤣🤣😭😭 a single panel with just silhouettes would've been fine, even, just to show he actually cared and wanted to show her how good it feels ro be human. The art was... fine.

Man I feel bad for being so harsh, but I haven't felt this strongly against a book I've read in a loooong time hahaha 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for this advance copy.

This is a tale of when humanity is coupled with the unknown reaches of space, with romance added. I appreciate the dedication to worldbuilding, but I found the romance rushed and so disjointed. It felt like a major whiplash to see the main two go from talking about their worlds to sex so suddenly. I really wanted to like it, but I was a bit disappointed.

It kept me captivated and I kept coming back for more. Many beautiful images and a story that made me think.

Summary:

Humanity has been discussing first contact with aliens for as long as we've daydreamed about space. In the far-flung future, that time is finally here. The Eo'Tax is an advanced civilization, and they're willing to work with humans to reach an understanding.

Enter No'mi and Danko. Danko Orton is a CIA linguist, and he may not have been Earth's first choice for the job, but he's qualified and present. No'mi is the chosen representative for the Eo'Tax. We all know what happens next.

Review:

Uh. Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. I will start by saying I did not enjoy Star-Crossed as much as I hoped. I was really excited at the idea of Romeo & Juliet in space. And honestly, if this book had stuck with that concept, it might have been fine. But it didn't.

The truth is that Star-Crossed tries to do too much in too little time. We have the Romeo & Juliet retelling alongside attempted conversations about racism and procreation (pressure for abortions due to racism and similar themes). I feel like these conversations were far too rushed. More like they were brought up and left alone, so it felt...callous at best.

Speaking of callous. I don't like Danko. It feels like everyone around him (especially the women) paid for Danko's choices and mistakes. Combine that with the fact that he's just not a likable character? Yeah, it made my skin crawl.

Highlights:
Romeo & Juliet Retelling
Space-based

Trigger Warnings:
Racism
Abortion/pressure

Let me start this review off by saying I was very excited when my request for a copy was approved—I love sci-fi and fantasy romance, so the plot summary had me hooked from the jump. However, I found myself very disappointed while reading it and left wanting more. It is a Romeo and Juliet inspired story, in the vaguest sense. There was little build-up or tension in the romance and the pair went from being diplomats for their races to having sex and declaring their love for each other within a handful of pages. The writing felt very rushed and a bit lazy at times. These two are overdue for some good old-fashioned longing and sneaking around to hide their relationship. The alien just asks nicely and suddenly the cameras in the discussion room are turned off and she’s meeting with a human ALONE multiple times. So much for security and diplomacy!

Danko is exhausting at times. We get it. You don’t like to talk about yourself. You have a secret that you pretend to be dark and mysterious in order to keep hidden. I obviously don’t want to reveal what his secret is because spoilers, but rest assured it was unnecessary and potentially triggering for some readers.

The ending comes and goes quickly, with little fanfare. Faster than you can blink, an unsatisfying attempt is made to tie up every single loose end within about 10 pages. I’m honestly confused about what exactly happened to No’mi in the end.

The art style itself was great, no problems there and it will definitely be what draws in a lot of readers. The story has some promise; overall, it would have been much better if it had been allowed to flourish more and if more focus was put on making sure the characters weren’t falling into basic tropes. A mere 100 or so pages is not enough for this sort of story to be told with the depth it deserves.

If you played the Mass Effect games and romanced Tali, give this story a try.

Thank you to the author, artist, publisher, and NetGalley for my advance copy.

All opinions voiced in this review are my own.

This was wild from start to finish. The storyboard were also all over the place, sometimes jumping back and forth between scenes. I felt like the story wasn’t thought out at all and most of the writing was pretty awful, if not completely problematic and or racist. But homeboy hooks up with an alien, so one star for that I guess.

This felt like someone recounting one of their insane LSD trips, but they forgot most of the details and made half of it up on the spot.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the opportunity to review this title in exchange for an honest review.

The artwork was enjoyable. I definitely think this will have an audience, particularly for the sex scenes. However, the story was lacking for me in several ways, particularly regarding the pacing, script, and plot.

Posted on Goodreads:

3/5⭐️

A secret mission to establish a treaty with an alien race called Eo’Tarx is underway. Linguist Danko Orton begins an exchange with No’mi that blossoms into more.

This story attempts to tackle big issues with humanity, racism and more. However, much gets missed because of how rushed everything was. The relationship between Danko and No’mi needed to be fleshed out, Danko’s backstory fell flat and didn’t leave much room to care. And the tackling in humanity was too generic.

I truly feel that this could have been a strong graphic novel if there was more care put to building this relationship while weaving in the big things like racism and humanity. I could see this as a great sci-fi tv series.

Thank you netgalley, humanoids inc and creators.

Star-Crossed • By Jerry Frissen & Roberto Zaghi
✨Graphic Novel✨Sci-Fi✨
__________________
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Netgalley Arc Review:

Romeo x Juliet retelling but make it alien and human, set up for a good premise.

First of all the artwork and colouring to this story were done beautifully the story just needed a better script.
The main issue I had with this story was the pacing of the timeline, large periods of time were skimmed over and I get the novel only has just over 100 pages things aren’t going to go into great detail. But for me there were parts of the story were our main character was having a really important conversation with the alien species and then literally the next page it’s him having sex with and alien. Because of this there was no character development, you barely get a glimpse of the extraterrestrials way of life, the ending felt like it was cut short so you got no real answers.
This had real potential if only it was longer and had a better script.

2.5 ⭐

In this graphic novel, we follow linguist Danko who joins a secret mission to create a treaty with an alien race. There he is put into contact with the alien lingust, No'mi. From there they build a relationship with each other in secret and things start to fall apart in their fight to stay together.

I'm really not sure what to feel about this. I think the overall idea is an exciting one and I enjoyed the build up of the story, right until we hit the point of a really random sex seen that just escalates from seemingly nowhere. The way that the relationship between Danko and No'mi is written felt a bit juvenille and had absolutely zero build up. They go from strangers to desperate lovers in the span of a page or two. I really couldn't find myself empathising with their plight because they just felt so childish.

I did enjoy learning about the alien race and I thought their story and culture was fleshed out really well. It was interesting to see how they travelled and spread through the universe as well as their intentions with planet earth and the human race.

For as much as a lot of this book had me raising an eyebrow and cringing a bit, I did feel engaged with the story the whole way through and appreciated the ending which left you wanting to know more.

Be advised there are serious references and visuals of su*c*de as well as anti-ab*rtion messaging and r*cism. Please read with care.

Thank you NetGalley and Humanoids, Inc. for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

1.5/5

I love Shakespeare, and Romeo and Juliet is a favorite of mine. Picked this one up because I also love sci-fi, and the premise sounded so interesting. The art style and colors are great, some alien character designs were interesting, and there were several fun moments where I got to freak out over parallels or references to Romeo and Juliet, but it just wasn’t enough for me to like this story.

Sex scenes in books don’t bother me, but there were just way too many here for absolutely no reason. I’d turn the page, and they’d be revealing plot as if it was a normal conversation, but while having sex.

I’m very confused about the security measures on this ship and on the alien ship. I know this is nitpicking, but let me just rant for just a second. Multiple characters talk about how important security is, but the main character seems to have no issues getting around the security at every point. The two main characters are left alone and the cameras are turned off, because one of them asked nicely. A window on the ship is broken very easily by a grappling hook that goes off during an argument. The main character takes responsibility, and his restraints are immediately removed, but he’s “confined to his cabin”. Except he then immediately LEAVES his cabin! Without anyone noticing until he’s gone! And he gets onto the alien ship! And nobody can prove he’s on that ship!

There’s a part in the book where the main character’s highschool girlfriend shows up in a flashback out of nowhere, has an abortion, and then commits suicide, all within four pages. Somehow, the main character hadn’t known that she’d died before now. It doesn’t really add much to the story, and I’m unsure whether it’s trying to make some sort of point or not.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher

ARC Copy...I admit I did felt the narrative at the beginning was promising and art work is gorgeous but narrative felt hmm. Sex scenes were on the graphic side and felt too rush to happen in a blooming relationship and also the ending left me sad and empty.

"Star-Crossed" is an apt name for this book, not because it profiles a pair of unfortunate lovers, but due to the fact that it is a poorly constructed train wreck of a book. This book is clearly meant to be a complex, "big concept" science fiction epic along with a solid indictment of racism, sexism and a whole slew of other Isms. However, the plot is remarkably convoluted and difficult to follow to the extent that the story is often barely possible to comprehend. Additionally, the book's examination of social issues is turgid, heavy handed and often unconvincing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Humanoids, Inc. ,for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Insta-love is a big pet peeve of mine... and in a graphic novel with way too many sex scenes this problem is exponentially amplified.
I recognise that there was some desire to "say the right message" in this graphic novel, but sadly it was done very heavy-handedly and very much kept the hat of the white male throughout.
Women in this SF comic have an awful time... but men are a little emotionally bruised at most. Seems very unfair and was utterly unpleasant to read. But I should have expected that after reading the opening 4 pages. They summarize the comic entirely: the military guy is a racist violent bully, and the hero is a non-being who lets life happen to him without expressing anything.
This wasn't a romance, for the good reason that there was nothing romantic about it. Romance isn't even a genre I enjoy, but even I'm offended by the wrong label. Saying this comic is a SF romance, it's like labeling Game of Thrones as a romance because there are so many graphic scenes.
This wasn't for me at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book before publication.

Disclaimer: this is not a graphic novel for children. There is sex and nudity, death and violence, and themes that may not be understood by younger minds.

With that being said, I enjoyed the story. The idea of humans and aliens meeting and negotiating isn’t as far fetched as it used to be, so it hits differently than it would have, say, years ago. I do feel that the story was a little rushed and could have been slowed down. This could easily have been a trilogy or longer. We get to see this alien world, but only in small snippets and there isn’t much time spent on getting to know it. The relationship between the main characters also felt rushed. It felt very insta-love, and like we only got to see the surface. The art was clean and beautiful, especially of the alien world, aliens themselves m etc.

This story has a lot of potential. I hope they decide to continue it and hopefully clear up the innumerable questions brought out of the first one.

This was an interesting and unique quick read that left me with more questions than answers. I would suggest the author add potential trigger warnings to this... abortion, suicide and high risk pregnancy/potential pregnancy loss. I did take off a star for not warning readers of the topics shown.

This is a lovely science-fiction romance. While not usually a genre I read (or see much of! More sci-fi romances, please!), I enjoyed the read.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free graphic novel.*

I don't see any "Romeo and Juliet" in this one, "Star-Crossed" is purely about sex: imagine Star Trek Original Series's Kirk meeting a sexy alien species. Yup, he's going to f*ck them and well: f*ck around and find out, I guess, because the species kinda wanted to fall pregnant.

Apart from this very stereotypical and silly story, I found the drawings to be stereotypical too: he's a muscle-y Clark Kent / James T. Kirk who is easily seduced by the hypersexual and sexy alien with huge boobs who's very willing to be taken by him. Yuck.

Overall, this felt a bit like a TOS episode but even more American. I found the conclusion disappointing and overall the graphic novel focussed way too much on alien sex instead of proper world building, story, character depth.

Some cool ideas in here but this just annoying me.

1.5 stars