Ionheart is definitely a wild ride. The art is cool - weird, bright, and it really brings the mash-up of medieval fantasy and sci-fi to life. I liked the strange world with knights, castles, and random bits of future tech showing up and being treated like magic. It’s a super creative idea.

But the story is pretty hard to follow. It jumps all over the place - different timelines, different dimensions, different genres - and I often felt lost trying to keep up. Some parts were really cool, like the brutal chase scenes or the world-building, but the plot felt too messy, and I didn’t feel much for the characters. I liked the ideas more than the execution.

If you enjoy trippy, experimental stories and don’t mind working to piece things together, this might be for you. For me, it had great potential but needed a clearer way to tell the story.

A much needed escape, the narrative moved slowly as points but I'm glad I took the time for this one.

2.5⭐️

Did I sometimes have no idea what was happening? Yes. Did I still enjoy myself? Also yes. But, at the same time, no...

The constant shifts in the timeline throughout each chapter really threw me off.

This book is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, combining futuristic technology with medieval elements. At times, it can be quite gory and action-packed, and the neon-colored artwork is fun and stunning to look at.

It’s an interesting story, but I found it difficult to engage with, and I didn’t connect with any of the characters. Honestly, I felt like I didn’t really like any of them (sorry).

It might be one of those books that resonates with some readers while others simply don’t connect with it. I definitely fall into the latter category—I didn’t get it. However, I’m sure there are many who do understand and will appreciate this graphic novel.

Thank you Netgalley, IDW Publishing | Top Shelf Productions, and Lukas Kummer for an eARC of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

Ionheart has niche appeal, and I am not part of that niche.

First, the artwork is lovely, with some attempt at distinguishing storylines/time jumps with color palette. The generally warm, cheerful colors are an interesting contrast to most of the story.

The actual story will appeal most to those who prefer their main characters unlikeable and their storylines complicated. The narrative interweaves a high-tech future world with a vaguely medieval one. The two are connected via the manipulation of a few of the characters from the high-tech world. There are numerous time jumps, unreliable narrators, and shifts in perspective. The characters themselves are, at best, complicated, and mostly right bastards that aren't even well-realized enough to be interesting.

I finished this, but probably wouldn't have if I wasn't reviewing it.

If there was one suggestion I would make that would resolve the vast majority of my issues with Lukas Kummer’s Ionheart, it would be to add some sort of label to indicate what time of the story we are in. Though a fun and intriguing tale, the lack of coherency in the “when” of the moment was often jarring and, at times, took several moments to reorient to which piece of the timeline I was now reading about. And even then, I’m not certain I can say that the story should have jumped around as much as it did.

In the end, there simply was far too much piecing together for the reader to do for this book to exist as a true service to the story Kummer was trying to tell. And here’s the thing: the story and plot he put together? Pure brilliance. The world building? Excellent. There’s so much to love about the manner in which Kummer blends futuristic technology with interdimensional travel posited against a world whose advancement has not moved past what appears to be comparable to the middle ages.

Enter a world where technology is considered magic and the destruction of nuclear fallout was the only way to stop a power hungry tech bro from conquering other worlds. The survival of this realm something achieved through the well-meaning mistakes of a person with both great knowledge and great secrets. As a story, the plot and the twists were phenomenal. It’s more so in the execution where I think Kummer loses his readers—the difficulty of following the changing timelines, the manner in which he reveals the twists (unfortunately not as dramatic as it should have been due to the convolution of the story), and the condensing of everything into a single graphic novel (there’s an irony here, since I often have found it frustrating when a full story is not told, but there is a happy medium to find and I really think Kummer should have gone for it).

The tale also feels as though it ends rather abruptly, something that I think hits even harder given that so much of the graphic novel seems to be the main character summarizing all the events that brought him to his current state. I think this could have worked, too, had it not jumped around so much as he told the tale and been more of a reveal later on—perhaps even at the end of the first episode?

I suppose, at the end of the day, I think there were a lot of great thoughts and ideas thrown behind this tale. The artwork is fun and dark, though not exactly my personal style it still has a certain charm to it that really supports the reader in engaging in the story. Unfortunately, those thoughts and ideas could not make up for the haphazard presentation and so many of the exceptional story beats that should have elicited intense emotions feel rather flat instead. It’s a shame given the high level of potential I think the story has, overall.

Ionheart is a time-bending, graphic novel that fuses fantasy and science fiction together. It's set in a medievil fantasy town, complete with knights, towers and a princess, but there's also a portal from a future world that ocassionally spills into theirs, bringing with it magic in the form of future technology.

The magic system was excellent, and I really loved the idea of future tech appearing at random in this medievil setting and how that, and the people that understood how to weild it, being seen as magic. The illustration was wonderful and perfect for the story; it was simplistic but vibrant and the use of colour brought it all to life and gave such a vibe!

The story jumps around the genres, a lot! There's sci-fi in there, fantasy, and a murder mystery. Whilst I'd normally love that, it did feel like a bit too much in one story. The jumps aren't just between genres, as it also hops across timelines and dimensions, and it got a bit confusing and hard to follow at times. There were a lot of sub-plots and a drip-fed backstory, but there just wasn't enough context for me to get super invested in the world or the characters. It was an enjoyable read, but I finished it feeling a bit confused and wanting more depth to it.

This debut graphic novel is fast-paced, original, and packed with ideas. Like a medieval, cyberpunk <i>Dark Tower</i>. Definitely worth a read if any of that floats your boat.

So I just finished Ionheart by Lukas Kummer, and man, it's... something else. This graphic novel mashes up sci-fi and fantasy, creating a world that's just wild to look at.

First off, the art style? It's definitely weird, but in a totally fun way. The colors just pop, and it really makes this whole "techno-fantasy" vibe come alive. And get this, the story doesn't hold back – it gets super brutal and bloody sometimes, which was honestly a cool, unexpected shock. Seriously, there were moments with the relentless chase scenes that totally gave me "Terminator" vibes. Plus, the way they blend medieval stuff with futuristic tech, like a flying car being an "iron mare," is just genius and super creative.

Now, for the flip side. This book can get "way too weird at points" to actually follow. The storytelling is so non-linear and fragmented that you're often left scratching your head, trying to figure out what's even going on. It makes it pretty tough to get into the plot, and honestly, the main character, Sir William? Yeah, I just didn't like him at all. And it's not just him; most of the other characters are pretty forgettable, which makes it hard to care much about what happens.

So, here's the deal: if you're into something truly out-there, and you don't mind a story that makes you work a bit to understand it, "Ionheart" could be right up your alley. The art is awesome, and it's got some surprisingly intense moments. But if you're looking for a clear, character-driven narrative, this one might leave you feeling a little lost in the sauce.

Great use of time and space, the art is unique, and the non-linear plot makes for interesting storytelling and world building. There are a few translation errors, but nothing that takes away from the story. Excellent and looking forward to reading more from Lukas Kummer!

Eine interessante Graphic Novel in einem verwirrendem Endwelt-Setting. für Fans von Adventure Time aber in sehr erwachsen. Potential ist zwar da aber für mich war es einfach zu verwirrend. Es gab Zeitsprünge, die mich aus der Story rausgehauen haben. Es war definitiv eine Erfahrung.

there was just a lot going on with this one! it needed to pick more of a lane and stick to it, it was so intrigued but it fell flat sorry!

Thank you Netgalley and IDW for the readers copy. I unfortunately don’t think I am the demographic for this. Which is sad because the premise sounds so fun and the art on the cover really captured my interest.
Basically where this fell short in my opinion is it couldn’t decide what it ultimately wanted to be.
I’m not talking about the blend of sci-fi and fantasy, that was great, I’m more referring to the big swings this was taking narratively and tone. Was it a satirical comedy? Was it a jaded, cynical insight into unhealthy relationships? (no but really who hurt the author?)
Was this a murder mystery? Who knows. It could be all those things.
I’m also struggling to remember if this passed the bechdel test, or really even the villarreal test. Regardless after completing it, it’s clear I’m not the intended audience.

I really loved the artwork in this; overall, I enjoyed the non-linear storytelling and the story overall, although I felt that there could have been a bit more character development. Overall, recommended!

Maybe 3.5. I was really into this at first. The art is a cool blend between medieval fantasy and futuristic. I liked the plot of a knight being chased by a demon, the use of modern/future tech in an ancient world, and the unfolding mystery. As things went on, I started to feel a little less interested, not because it was boring but because I wanted the backstory to be woven in more and the continuing plot to have a better flow. Instead, the first chapter had great pacing and a story that felt complete, if open-ended. Each chapter after that dragged a bit and didn't always provide more substance. Still a cool book and idea though.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this graphic novel. It was boring and stereotypical to me. I only finished it to give this arc review. I hope there are some changes made in the final version.


It lacked any themes. It felt like “spaceships, robots, damsels in distress how cool!!”. The humor wasn’t very funny. At all. It all felt so empty and I just felt so confused. I didn’t like the art style and the repeated use of drawings with only text changed was painfully obvious. The formats for the pages were always the same two layouts.


I don’t even know what I would’ve wanted instead for this because it feels so far from something good. I understand that I’m probably not the intended audience but I think its flaws are still very clear. It needed more depth. It could’ve been an enjoyable read. It needed fleshed-out characters and themes, to be less confusing. Billy felt like a typical hero and Ellie felt like a typical princess. It is something you’ve probably read before.

It had plenty of potential. I love nonlinear storytelling and robots. Not this time though, Unfortunate.

Ionheart was a stunning book! The authors use of various color pallets to evoke different moods and differentiate between different settings was excellent and I enjoyed the art style. The story itself felt mostly well paced and I think the author did a great job moving through time periods in the story in a way that told a compelling story and kept my attention throughout.

Ionheart by Lucas Kummer was not exactly the novel for me, but if you love Sci-Fi, steampunk, a dark story, and a hero on the run then you will enjoy this. I struggled with the switching timelines and the dryness of characters. However, I loved the simplistic art with the complexities of the story to balance it. And I found the medieval and futuristic elements mixed together enjoyable albeit sometimes humorous with how they described items that we find to be commonplace now. The colors chosen work beautifully together in the graphic novel as well! The story kept me going enough to finish it even though it may not be my cup of tea, but the pacing and the timeline jumps were a bit confusing.

The colors in this were an absolute treat every page! In this techno-fantasy, we follow our main character through different points in his life as he tries to save the world. I found the strengths were in the artistic choices, and again I’ll mention the color work, specifically for how it was used to distinguish between different eras. As a big fan of non-linear storytelling, I thought this was a very effective method in helping readers keep track of the story across sections. The technology in this was also very fun! However, it was hard for me to get attached to the characters because development fell flat for those aside from the protagonist and relationships were rather shallow. I also felt the lack of diversity became rather glaring towards the end, most notably when the main female character finally got a name about 90% of the way through. Overall, I enjoyed aspects of the art and story, but it wasn’t the book for me. [2.5/5]

Thank you NetGalley and IDW Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Ionheart is such a strange mix of fantasy and technology. The art style gives me the same vibes as the art in the card game “Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards”.

The art style is simplistic but I really loved the author’s use of color. This is a story of a medieval fantasy type world with castles, knights, and a princess but there’s a rift between their world and a world full of modern tech. This technology keeps leaking through until the “cursed seed of a tree of fire” destroys their world.

My biggest issue with this is that the story jumps around the timeline frequently, with little indication other than a shift in the color scheme of the art. It was a little difficult to keep up with these shifts at times and so it muddled the plot.

Thank you net galley for this graphic novel one thing i liked about this one was it was long and had a lot of cute art but i will also say that its hard for me to get into this genre and i struggle with it so i definitely feel this book will be a lot better and more enjoyable for people who read this genre. I did enjoy the start of the book with the storyline i thought it was going to be more based like that so when it started becoming more sci fi and stuff it was a little harder for me to follow and confused me a bit but overall i think people will enjoy this one just because it had 300+ pages and a lot of story it just wasn’t really for me.