The premise of this graphic novel is intriguing and fun, but the execution simply is not there. The plot drags along for most of this novel, and the book could have easily been 100 pages shorter; this would have provided a concise and impactful story. There were a lot of convenient moments that did not seem realistic, and I would have appreciated the characters struggling a bit more.

This book definitely got me with the cliffhanger at the end! Thanks again to NetGalley and Oni Press for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for feedback.

This graphic novel by Jonathan Hill was very interesting, as it follows three siblings (Ginny, Wes, and Harry) as they embark on a journey to find their mother. Their mother left unexpectedly when Ginny was young and the three siblings hadn’t heard anything from her until Ginny had a birthday. Ginny received a letter and a gift, making it seem as if her mother was out in the world somewhere and it was her duty to go look for her. As the siblings make their way, they meet many unexpected and interesting characters along the way, learning more about the earthquake that happened during their mother’s departure to the sea monster that is speculated to be real. Now, I have to wait and see what happens when the next book comes out!

This graphic novel charts the progress of a young girl as she seeks her mother in a post-apocalyptic America.

The story is absorbing and the characters well considered for the most part. There are unexpected quirks of character and this enhances the story. They are sometimes drawn in and out of the story somewhat too conveniently, but the plot stays consistent and quirky.

The world as drawn is sketched in few shades, but the sheer scale of the destruction is well presented and believable.

The author clearly knows his stuff and this wil appeal to graphic novel fans of the post-apocalyptic and action viewpoint. The story is to be continued, and I look forward to the next in the series.

A story about 3 siblings, Virginia, Wes and Harry as they traverse a post apocalyptic United States. Eight years ago, a major earthquake destroyed much of the Western U.S. But, for Vietnamese-American, Virginia Crane, her life changed shortly after the earthquake, when her mother left the family and never returned.

This story follows the siblings years later while they go in search of their mother and meet many other characters along the way.

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I expected it to be…more. The bad guys didn’t have any real reason to be bad other than the fact that they just were? Their motivations felt a little non-existent to me. There was more action at the end of the novel, so the rest felt slow moving.

The relationships in here felt like true sibling relationships. They bickered and fought just like siblings do, and they also had some heartwarming moments, which I appreciated.

The art style was okay? It wasn’t for me, but it definitely fits with the narrative of the story and the rough nature of the world that the story takes place in.

It looks like this might be the first book in a series, so there was definitely a lot of set up that is going to lead up to future plot lines. I would be interested to see where this goes.

while odessa is highly readable and quick to get through, an added 50-100 pages might have made it more successful.

the characters lack a certain amount of development that would usually make an apocalyptic narrative more engaging, as this setting is almost the perfect setup for showing growth and change in a character as they experience hardship. there are missed opportunities in making ginny more of a sympathetic character as she goes through next to no development, selfish and abrupt throughout and unwilling to compromise, something that always goes unchecked with her character. harry and wes are lovable, the endearing yet annoying younger brothers of ginny who follow her out into an apocalyptic wasteland, almost out of pure spite for being left behind. jonathan hill isn't afraid to put them through hardships, too, which is always a good thing in a world as merciless as the one in 'odessa'.

the narrative is also clunky, characters introduced more for convenience than for having actual personalities, which means any character is kept at a distance as there's a very likely chance they won't matter beyond conveniently supplying ginny and her brothers with a way out of a difficult situation. there's also a lot of melodrama in the plot that doesn't work, and with ginny's lack of development, any instance where she's supposed to be shown as feeling genuine anger came across as more childish than anything, even though she's supposed to be an 18 year old navigating a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

what really stands out in odessa is how lovely the colour palette and line technique are. the character designs are all unique and expressive, the pink tones with thick black lines making panels visually beautiful. i love the way it is, visibly, and i genuinely believe if jonathan hill were to add 50 pages, with more development of ginny's character and more attention paid to what, realistically, an 18 year old girl would behave like in the environment she's in, this could have been a very successful graphic novel. if there is a sequel, i will be reading it, as jonathan hill should hopefully take the opportunity to spend more time on character.

Odessa follows Virginia Crane as she travels through the post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of her mother. Focusing on the familiar bond between siblings and the longing for a mother who abandoned them this compelling story really hits you with the feelings stick.

The atmosphere building was great, I was so tense and worried about the characters.
The use of colour and art style work really well to support the end of the world feel of the story.

I cannot wait to see where the next volume takes us.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me. While there were interesting post-apocalyptic elements, the storyline was a bit oddly paced, and I had trouble connecting with the characters because of it. I would have preferred more of a backstory of the family or the earthquakes, etc., for the first story. Everything seemed to rushed and forced after that. While I appreciate the sci-fi elements, they seemed oddly out of place given the rest of the storyline. Thank you to the publishers and #NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I loved the use of pink throughout this graphic novel, it created a sense that the events of the story were happening in a time different to our own and yet familiar, a bit like looking at a sepia photograph. The plot is surprising too and cannot be categorised as just one thing. The story starts with us focussing on a family as they struggle to cope in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake that has brought about an end to the world as they knew it. The mother of the family has left and Ginny, as the eldest, has taken on the responsibility of helping her Dad to look after her two brothers Wes and Harry. Early on in the story, Ginny receives a letter from her absent mother and she decides to go in search of her. So begins the adventure portion of the story, which is by the far the larger chunk of the book. I am not huge on adventure stories but it was well done, the pacing was steady and characters were introduced slowly enough that you got to know them a bit before being introduced to someone new. The world building is also good, there is some info dumping as you would expect at the start of any series but it wasn't too much and you got to learn details of their world through dialogue and by following the characters.
The story of Ginny, her family and friends does not end with this book so if you enjoy this, you'll be pleased to know that the door is left open for more instalments.

I really liked this story. The side characters were a bit questionable, but I liked the main family, and I liked the best friend. I thought there was a good build up to the story, there was a lot of intrigue with the chase throughout the story, and the suspense of whether they'd find the mom. I'm a little sad about the loss of the one character (won't spoil), but I am very excited to read the next one, whenever that may come out.

Eight years ago an earthquake—the Big One—hit along the Cascadia fault line, toppling cities and changing landscapes all up and down the west coast of the United States. Life as we know it changed forever. But for Vietnamese-American Virginia Crane, life changed shortly after the earthquake, when her mother left and never came back.

Ginny has gotten used to a life without her mother, helping her father take care of her two younger brothers, Wes and Harry. But when a mysterious package arrives for her eighteenth birthday, her life is shaken up yet again. For the first time, Ginny wants something more than to survive. And it might be a selfish desire, but she's determined to find out what happened to her mother—even if it means leaving her family behind.- Goodreads

Minor Spoiler...?

Kids sure do mess things up thinking they should know everyone's story.

I loved this graphic novel and finished it in one sitting. The story of kids trying to find their mom after a massive natural disaster destroyed the world as we know it may seem basic but this story is not.

Ginny, Wes and Harry are extremely entitled and if they weren't arguing with each other, they were arguing with other people telling them how right they were. The kids don't just leave to find their mom but they abandon their father to do so and that is just rough (and hypocritical in my eyes).

However, despite my issues with the kids, this story was phenomenal to read both with words and the illustrations. 

The art style is great. Its clear, detailed, original and pink. I liked seeing the lines of the characters because it makes me see envision the illustrator sitting at their desk drawing. It feels personal and I like that. 

The pace of the novel moves really well. They are not constantly at threat but the tension even when they are sleeping is real. You can feel it and see within their body language. I wish there was more clues about their mother because they are running on pretty much nothing. I also wish there was more background about their relationship with their father. I get that all anyone is doing is trying to survive but there had to be some form of relationship at least between Ginny and her father. 

Beyond the fact that Ginny, Wes and Harry were extremely entitled they were also stupid and so many lucky breaks that the ending really surprised me, which by the way I loved. 

I wonder how many volumes this book is going to be and what new characters will be introduced AND if there will be any actual growth. 

Overall, 

4 Pickles

SO GOOD!

Really enjoyed this. Found myself utterly hooked and loved the art style. It was probably aimed at an older reader but it wasn't terrible. Teen maybe?

The post-apocalyptic story has been done, sure, but I liked the search element of it and although there were one or two twists that I saw coming, it was still an enjoyable ride.

Can't wait for the follow up now!

What a ride! The book starts with a simple premise, Ginny, the eldest daughter of a tight-knit, but struggling family, wants to look for her estranged mother. To do this, she has to journey from the northwest to her last known whereabouts in San Francisco. It then dials it up a notch by placing it in a post-apocalyptic setting where the world slowly reveals itself to be more dangerous and strange as the characters venture further south culminating in a truly tragic and bizarre turn of events.

Despite the bizarro setting, the graphic novel is grounded by the relationships the characters have to each other, especially between Ginny and her stowaway younger brothers. They fight like siblings, but have each others' backs in times of crisis. I won't spoil it, but the other characters they meet along the way are just as interesting and read as people doing their best to survive the new normal.

The art is really cool. I loved the black and white with pinks thrown in for effect. It also made some of the more sad or disturbing elements of the plot more bearable, because it wasn't a hyper-realistic style.

I would highly recommend this for anyone looking for a graphic novel about a post-apocalypse that's made less bleak by the friends we make along the way.

This was pretty okay for me. I wasn’t as in love with the color scheme of this as I had hoped. It took me a majority of the book to grow attached to the characters (I’m talking about 85%) but by the end I was really curious as to how this would play out. The ending does have me intrigued for how book two will play out and what the title will be. I think if you’re really into post apocalyptic stories you’ll enjoy this, it just took me a bit longer to get into things considering this isn’t my typical genre. There were also quite a few misspellings I noticed throughout the book.

I have been on a graphic novel kick lately – and something about the post – apocalyptic nature of the plot of Odessa–a quest of a teenage girl to cross the post-apocalyptic city to find her mother who left their family before a day long earthquake brought on the end of the world.

I absolutely adored the premise of the end of the world scenario –especially the illustrations (I really hope that the drawings are called illustrations; if not please do let me know) are portrayed realistically and somehow EXACTLY what I had imagined the world to be like if it had actually ended through some natural disaster (is it weird that I think about such things?); so it was actually amazing to see such detailed illustrations as well as the color palette is such the perfect combination that it was a treat to read through this graphic novel.

As for the plot itself – it took a little while for the plot to start and the characters weren’t easy to like – Virginia took off to on a whim to find her mother in a world that is hard to navigate and survive after receiving just one letter from her; one letter after years of silence from her – so it was really hard for me to like or even root for her. Plus, the fact that she is aggressive and rude showing her immaturity in circumstances where she should have been mature leader; didn’t endear me either!

Though I loved how her younger brothers kept her in line; and the Vietnamese + the surprise LGTBQIA+ rep in the storyline had me squealing with joy! All in all; Odessa was a surprising read; and interesting enough that I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel!

This was really good overall! I never know what to say on graphic novel reviews because I finish them so quickly, even though this was longer than average.
The style was cute, the font was readable, the characters were likeable. It felt a little bit slow on the beginning and the ending felt rushed, but nothing too bad. I didn't see the plot twists coming, and it has the right ammount of out-of-page gore for me. The subtle queer rep might've felt like the author was trying too hard at the beginning, but it weaved seamlessly into the story.
I didn't know that this was first in a series when I requested it or started reading, but now I'm waiting for the sequel!

Odessa is beautifully illustrated in black white, and muted pinks, which complement the bleak world that Ginny and her brothers are growing up in. The United States changed drastically after a giant earthquake destroyed land and divided the country. Ginny's mother left but now, years later, she receives a letter and decides to go searching for her mother. Even though she has been responsible for taking care of her dad and brothers, she decides it is worth the risk to travel through the dangerous landscape for the sake of answers. The story centers around the importance of family and protecting one another.

Thank YOU to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Odessa by Jonathan Hill promises an exciting post-apocalyptic tale of three siblings as they search for their mother. However, while there is a tale to be told, it is not quite as exciting as the blurb or synopsis would initially have you believe.

The artwork throughout this graphic novel is sublime and does little to detract from the story at hand with a unique style which is dynamic and enjoyable throughout, creating an easy read which allows for this to be read in one sitting, if the reader so chooses.

However, while the artwork is enjoyable and the concept of the tale is intriguing, there is very little depth to the story which may come down to the fact that this is to be continued, with further volumes perhaps exploring more of a story. The main characters seem rather flat, though the minor characters do make up for this, with Four Dollars being a particularly enjoyable read.

This is an easy read, but not one which will leave a particularly long-lasting effect on the reader. Bonus points are given for the inclusion of queer representation, but even this is not expanded upon or developed well enough to warrant an extra star.

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novelS. The characters are well-developed and the plot engaging. Definitely a favourite graphic novel and will look forward to more in this series.

This tells the story of Virginia and her siblings who decide to try to find their mother who left 8 years ago. The world has changed after a big earthquake so this also has dystopian themes as well.

I highly recommend this.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me a copy of this book!
This book was very good and a fast read. While I enjoyed it, nothing about it stayed with me. It was interesting and fun to read but there was nothing that jumped out at me and took ahold of me. I would definitely want to read the next volumes though.
This review will also be posted on Goodreads.

Odessa takes place after the "Big One" hits the Pacific NW - and follows three kids as they search for their mother who left them 8 years prior. This is a dystopia and a kind of Western, that is told in pink and white gradient colors, and with descriptive art. This is pretty long graphic novel, but is only part of the story - and I didn't feel connected to the characters or the story in the end to want to read more. The lead character, Virginia (Ginny for short) seems to create situations that unapologetically put people she cares about at risk, and her anger is a driving force. These are understandable traits in a challenging world that is now rules by gangs and has mysterious monsters, but I never felt like her motives felt justified or that I could have empathy for her as a character. I do think the story was easy to follow through the dialogue and the art, and that for someone looking for a darker, grittier post-apocalyptic tale, this could be a good read.