I've got mixed feelings. On the one hand, I like that the authors did not hold back in portraying the gruesome dynamic between slave masters and slaves (particularly female slaves), as well as the dynamic between (white) men and (white) women. However, I think that there may have been a bit of glossing over when it comes to other dynamics and that sort of idealization left me a bit bereft. Of course, there has to be room for creative license and I'm sure the authors are focused on a greater story arc than what was covered in this first volume. I just think that some of the female characters came off more as caricatures while others are given the full hero treatment. There's just a little bit of white savior-ness sprinkled in here and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know that I'd continue with the series... but I might? 3 out of 5 wine glasses.

(Personal review and opinions submitted via private comment to the publisher out of respect to author and illustrator).

Thumbs down from me. Gratuitous violence and overly sexualized artwork. I don't think the world needs more stories from the plantation owner POV.

Gritty, harsh but reality. Life in the deep South from a white slave owners point of view. To learn more sometimes one has to see the opposite views. Being from the area it may be a hard read but it's honest.

Louisiana in the 1800s were not a happy place for many except slave owners. This graphic novel told the harsh truths in detail, both word and art. This book may offend some but unfortunately this is the truth of the deep South and America. I look forward to reading the full story. My thoughts Alma is a black woman or Louise is.

DNF
This is more of a personal preference but I didn’t like the art style. I typically prefer cutesy art styles this one was harsh. The text was hard to read too. I didn’t realize this story was about slavery but from a white slave owners point of view. This wasn’t what I usually read or want to read.

This is a not unsurprising story of the decadence of how the masters treated their slaves in the south. So far, the story told as a family history by the matriarch, is about that. About the rapes, about the killing, about the beating.

I suppose for someone who is unfamiliar with this part of history, this will come as shocking, or disturbing, which it is, but it is not new.

I suppose I am a little jaded, because I *do* know that "Gone with the Wind" is not how it used to be. And that is the whole point of this book.

So, for those who think that "Gone with the Wind" is the true story of the pre-civil war south, then this will be shocking. For the rest of this, this is just stuff we already know.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.