Secret Passages

I read the first 30 pages or so of Secret Passages and thought what am I reading? Should I keep going? But as soon as the author appeared just to rip on her own comic I became more intrigued & I really liked the inclusion of that throughout the book.

I liked the adult perspective of the author telling her childhood story & then communicating with her childhood self at times in certain scenes that felt appropriate to speak with your past child self. I really loved this dual perspective of her childhood memories and adult reflections intertwined.

This graphic novel is very imaginative, quirky, and funny. The illustrations vary a bit in style & are all very well done. The pop culture references which are a large part of any 80’s/90’s childhood were done so well. The adult humour thrown over childhood nostalgia was clever and had me laughing. It was also a bit nostalgic to read and think about being a kid again, playing outside with siblings, anticipating the day when the huge Sears Christmas catalogue would arrive every year, having to go to dreaded school all the time, overthinking literally everything until you had weird nightmares, and talking to trees, yeah, who hasn’t?

I really enjoyed this one. It was a fun read. It did feel a little slow going and a bit anticlimactic but if this is going to be an ongoing series, which it seems like it will be, I’m so in & can’t wait to read more from Axelle Lenoir. The author seems to not give an eff & does her own thing and that’s truly metal! I love it! In the meantime, I’ll be checking out some of her other work.

Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.