It has potential but it’s very short, like a fragment of a story short. I also wonder if something has been lost in translation from French.
An autistic girl in a boarding school has a magical inner world of dreams that she lives in constantly to the detriment of everything else. Then someone else shows up in her dream world...

Olive was an incredibly beautiful graphic novel about an autistic woman traversing her own imagined world and the real world.
I honestly enjoyed Olive. The illustrations were beautiful and dreamy. The story was a little confusing and has a lot of unanswered questions, but it’s the first in a series so I’m sure everything will be answered as the series goes on! I can’t wait to read the rest!

Thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.

Difficult to judge the story in this one, as it is only the first part and ends right when we learn something important. I was confused at times, especially concerning the astronaut and how Olive’s imaginary world ties to the real one, but I’m guessing it will make more sense in future installments.

I liked the characterization. While I have never been diagnosed with autism, I could relate to Olive better than I would have expected (I tend to live in my imagination at times, too!). I loved seeing the friendship starting to form between Olive and her roommate.

The artwork was gorgeous, especially in the imaginary world. Great use of colors.

Overall, I am intrigued by this story and look forward to seeing where it goes!

I was sent a copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Olive is a gorgeously illustrated graphic novel centred on an autistic girl, living at a boarding school in France. Olive lives in a world she has created within her mind, which is beautiful and safe for her, whilst she traverse's the hardships of daily life. Her real world is sent spiralling by the arrival of a new roommate, and her internal world is rocked by a surprise guest.

The only reason this wasn't a five star for me, was because I felt that it ended abruptly (I know there are other volumes, so look forward to those) and I felt that it needed just a little more within the story about Olive, besides her attending therapy and class. I wanted to see a little more of her within her inner world, and get a feel for her. But overall - beautiful and unique.

**This review contains spoilers**

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Europe Comics for giving me access.

This was by far a confusing first issue of a series. As we open up, there are two brothers and a pregnant lady on a plane. Then all of a sudden we are in Olive's 'other world' without any indication that we knew Olive from the plane or that the opening scene was of any importance.

Later when Olive's 'other world' gets interrupted with a newcomer, we find that he is the missing astronaut. I am somehow hoping that he is one of the boys from the beginning of this issue and that she was the unborn child so that the story ties up nicely. Which might actually be the case if you look closely to the art.

I am looking forward to future issues of this to see where the story goes and if I am right about the opening scene.

We follow Olive, an autistic girl, who spends the majority of her day living inside the her own head, away from the world and people around her. Unbeknown to those around her, this world that she had shut herself in, is a world of her own magical creation, until one day when something is different, something that she didn’t design. People around her can be unkind and don’t understand her, not taking the time to get to know her, to understand.

What I really liked about this graphic novel was the incredible artwork, because it really was beautiful. Those scenes that captured Olive within her own magically universe were so beautiful, with soft and subtle colours that are familiar and calming to her. It’s nice to see this topic being brought to life, with such beauty and in a way where there is also a hint of magically realism and fantasy to it that may intrigued people.

For a short graphic novel, it has a powerful message and impact. It’s a little inside on how people with autism, struggle to take in new information and deal and comprehend that new information. This is the first instalment of four and I am a little interested to see where this is going to go from here and for more.

We follow Olive, an autism girl who spends most of her time inside her head. Little known to others is that she has a vast and magical world in there. We see Olive struggling with interacting with her peers and even her therapist. All she wants in life is to be left alone in her magical head.

I really enjoyed the art of the graphic novel. It really gave a sense of magical realism and illustrated Olive's struggles without the need of words. Though the plot was a bit confusing to me, what kept me going was the art. I think Luzy Mazel did an excellent job with it.

I liked following Olive in her adventures but like many other magical realism there is no definite answer and it is all up to the interpretation of the reader.

I recommend this book if you enjoy magical realism and diverse reads.

Living in two worlds is exhausting, especially when no one seems to understand how important one or the other is. Olive doesn't fit in with the other kids at school, her parents, teachers and therapist don't understand her. Although her new chatty roommate tries to be friendly, Olive is used to pushing people away. But what is an astronaut doing in her imaginary world?
Filled with brilliant contrasts from the soothing, welcoming Dreamarium to the harsh winter and bullying classmates, the artwork is truly stunning. This novel is short and doesn't come to a climax within the first volume, which is sure to leave readers craving the rest of the series. One is left wondering if Olive truly has a disability like the other kids say or if she's simply stuck in a world where no one can understand her.

In this graphic novel we follow Olive, a young woman who developed her own imaginary world to escape reality when it becomes too much to handle. Things start to get hectic when 1/ she's assigned a new roommate at school who won't leave her alone and 2/ a mysterious astronaut keeps appearing in her inner world.

First, the art is amazing! Alternating between two color palettes, it helps us follow Olive as she switches from our world to her own. I loved how everything happening inside Olive's head is both soft and vibrant and how she can still hear people from the outside calling her back like they're really far away.

As for the plot, this is only the first (of four) volumes so we're getting quite a bit of exposition and I found it a bit slow and somewhat repetitive. I think for the overall story it's only fair that we spend some time building up both of Olive's worlds though and the end gives us a very interesting twist so I'm quite curious to read the next installment!

I'll add that it's great to see a MC who seems to be on the autistic spectrum and I hope this will be explored even more in the rest of the story.

What truly captivates the reader about this story is the art. I think it was wonderful. It complemented and highlighted the story very well. The different tones used in Olive's worlds, the style in general, it really brought the story to life.
About the story I will say that I'm just eager to know more, to read more. I know it's just the first one in a comic series (that apparantly has been 15 years on the making!!) but it falls a bit short. Even though I'm convinced there's more in store that I'm excited for, I'm not sure if the story presented here holds up in its own. I just wish there was more. I liked the characters I guess but again, I didn't get that much time to know them.
The ideas that would make this story amazing were there, the problem is that they weren't explored that much.

First of all to say that it has been a bit confusing and a bit uhh start. I don't know what word to use? Strange perhaps, we see the protagonist and her imaginary reality created to cope with the reality that according to overwhelms her and she cannot handle, but I don't know why I have felt that the story itself does not have much weight, at least in this first part, I agree with many that the story is very strange and the world very unsatisfactory, given its cover I expect a BOOM! in history and the truth was not, much to improve in the story, how to bring the flow of the conversations and make them not overwhelming but light for the reader, the composition I feel that if it could be improved in terms of real life removing the imaginary parts of the world of the protagonist.
Something to rescue is that the illustrations are very beautiful.
I must say that the eARC that NetGalley gave me was in French, but I managed with the translator.

The first part of a quadrilogy of short graphic novels, that seem to have taken 15 years in the gestation – to such an extent only the creators might know what the heck it's about. Olive, who some times looks a typical teenager and others looks like Joan Cusack gone wrong, is suffering at school because she's spending too much of her days in an alternative, possibly imaginary, reality, one that she has more or less made herself – including her talking giant bath duck best friend. That is until something happens which upsets her life there – just as a new room-mate at college ruins her life here. It might all be interesting enough, were it obvious no answers would ever be given in this quarter of the story, and the fact there is so little logic about her alternative(?) reality, nor how she alone is able to use it (perhaps surviving a plane crash as a foetus is the way to a world of your own, we can't tell) that we just can't begin to care what's going on. Pretty, but pretty vacuous. If two stars were to come from anywhere, it's the visual quality.

A good beginning to an interesting story, I'm curious to see more and see how olive and Charlie's friendship develops. The art style reminds me of the books I had to read at school for my dyslexia

This was a very strange beginning to a series/graphic novel. I agree with other reviewers in that I have no idea how the opening relates to the rest of the volume, but perhaps it's cleared up in later volumes. I found the world-building rather unsatisfying, though I liked the whimsy of Olive's own world, particularly the duck Noel. I should say that the eARC I was given from NetGalley was in French (which, randomly, luckily, I can read), so I can't speak to the English language translation.

I most appreciated the use of a fantasy world in Olive. The art is attractive and it makes for an enjoyable story.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I got this book, but I loved it! I loved the art style, and I loved how Olive lives in two worlds, and how Charlie is so different from her.

Okay. This GN follows Olive, a girl who lives in two worlds, the "real" one, and the one she created in her own head and she can just go there anytime she wants. On her world, she controls and creates everything until something strange happens and she start trying to figure it out what's going on.

I can see why some people wouldn't like Olive (the character), but I find her fascinating and I can't wait for the next issue!

Olive is a French graphic novel that has recently been translated into English by @Europecomics. It is composed of 4 books that will be released later this year and next year. It was quite a nice read. However, I was, and I still am confused by the beginning. I don’t understand the link between the first scene and the rest of the book. Maybe the next book will help me understand it better, who knows. Apart from that, the art is really nice, full of colour (especially blue) and the story is intriguing. The main character is special and I didn’t quite like her that much but I think it is the point; at the beginning she is shy and anti-social and I think she will open herself through the series. I liked the side characters more. The book ends on a suspenseful note and it made me want to read more of it.