Dryad is a story of the Glass family, who've lived a peaceful life in the sleepy little town of Frostbrook for the past 13 years. Morgan and Yale moved here when their twins Griffon and Rana were just babies. Yale found comfort in his new life as a history teacher, Morgan gets by as part of the town watch (though she's not nearly as settled into life away from the city as her husband), and twins have never known anything else.
But the past never stays buried for long. A sudden attack on Frostbrook sees the Glass family dragged back into a world of crime and danger, of old friends whose trustworthiness is questionable and of tepid alliances with old enemies. It's a world that Griffon and Rana, especially, know nothing about, and they suddenly discover that there's a lot more to their parents than they ever knew—which is a lot to take in for anyone, let alone a couple of teenagers trying to find their place in the world.

This sets up Dryad for plenty of action and excitement—beyond the first chapter, hardly a page goes by without some sort of attempted murder or mass destruction. But more than that, it sets up a story about a family trying to stick together with a whole world out to get them, and with plenty of their own internal drama to work through. Again, it's serious and tense, but underscored by emotion and empathy. It's easy to understand why Morgan and Yale would have lied to their kids about so much for so long, and it's easy to understand why Griffon and Rana would be upset about that, even knowing that it came from a place of love and a desire to protect them.

The script and art come together at every turn to drive home the love that holds the Glasses together, whether they're enjoying a brief reprieve, working together to attend to their latest assailants, or dealing with their own conflicts. That last point is especially important—it's one thing to show a family's love through the lengths they go to to protect one another, or through how they come together in their hard-fought moments of peace. It's something else entirely to depict the twins lashing out at their parents over a lifetime of lies, and the parents' flailing attempts to justify themselves, without losing sight of the love that invokes such strong reactions in the first place. That's something Dryad does incredibly well.

Dryad Vol 1 is the start of an enchanting new adventure from Kurtis J. Wiebe and Justin Barcelo. Sharp writing and gorgeous art come together to tell a story that cleverly bends genre expectations, that delivers plenty of action and excitement, but, most of all, that looks at how love can hold a family together when the whole world is against them.

I’ll preface this with saying I don’t read many comics but I have a huge appreciation for the them. .

This comic sucked me in from the beginning, it starts off with Morgan and Yale escaping their homeland with their young twins. The family seems to lead a very average life and we’re not given any explanation as to why the family had to leave their home until the second half of the comic. Even then, we’re still left with many unanswered questions and a cliffhanger at the end.

I found the story to be intriguing and enjoyed the dynamic Morgan and Yale. I also loved seeing how the twins interact and how they have a very sweet sibling bond. There were a few points of dialogue that I found to be a bit awkward or unnatural. However, overall I’m interested to see what happens in the next volumes and am eager to have truths revealed.

The cover and the art are gorgeous throughout the book.

Where do I even start with this book.. These are not your usual medieval-fantasy elves living in a small town.. despite the fact that this is the exact setting we start with. We see Morgan and Yale trek through the wilderness with two tiny children - where they very candidly stop to change diapers. They arrive to their destination, a quaint village hidden by the woods and some ruins, where they raise their kids for the next ten or so years. We see them again when the twins, Griffon and Rana are teenagers loitering around town with their friends, pondering the possibility of magic existing in the world. A sudden attack on the town reveals the past Morgan and Yale has been hiding from their kids all their life: there is a much bigger world out there filled with technology they never even heard of. In hopes of escaping the family returns to the parent’s old turf and they try to salvage their life best they can while they try to hide from their past. The setting was interesting, the typical elven medieval fantasy world mixed with sci-fi tech. I liked that the book had characters of different races just as part of natural diversity that occured in this world, without any kind of comment for cookie points. In it’s tone the story felt more on the sci-fi side for me, so I would probably recommend this to fans of sci-fi rather than fans of medieval fantasy.

Content warnings
some adult, sexy scenes were in the book and some violent fights

Being someone who was a big fan of Rat Queens, I was ecstatic to see Kurtis Wiebe publishing another fantasy based graphic novel with a brand new artist but I'll be honest, I was a bit disappointed with this one.

This story is centered on two parents who are from the city. At the beginning they are running away from their past (which the reader is unsure of at this point) and encounter a somewhat secret village they believe to be safe to raise their two young children. This gave me major Saga vibes which I'm not complaining about whatsoever but there was something about it that I couldn't get into. I couldn't really get invested in the storyline or characters. I felt that character development and worldbuilding ended up falling by the wayside. As a result, the setting and side characters are kinda generic. I did enjoy the first half far more than the second half. I wasn't a fan of the huge transition of cozy woodland village to super high tech city.

This book gave me some brief entertainment, in the style of a mindless action movie, but that's about all that I got from it.

Though I haven't read all of Rat Queens, I did enjoy what I have read of it - so I was eager to see this new series by the same writer. It would have been nice to get a little world set up, or backstory, but the world and story kind of unfolds as you read - so you're learning about it along with some of the characters.

The art is great and suits the world and characters really well, I especially liked the color palettes used, especially in the different settings. I will definitely be checking out further volumes to see what happens to the Glass family in the future.

I received this arc on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is chock full of surprises. It was really a rollercoaster from beginning to end. The art is beautifully done and the characters relationships are full of depth and meaning.

The beginning was confusing for me though. We started off with the kids as babies but in the next couple of pages they are teenagers? I get holding out information for the audience to figure out, but it was a bit of a weird transition.

The ending ended on a cliffhanger which again surprised me. I know it is a series, but still it just left so many questions open. I would have liked it to have some more blanks filled in, but other than that, it is an interesting twist.

Overall, I still recommend this book. It is a good book that still has some room for improvement, but I think the next book will iron out some the kinks I had with it. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I loved the art style, and the story was really interesting. My only real issue with it was that there was a lot of information I felt like I was missing - like the twins in the story. Overall I really did enjoy it though, and look forward to reading more.

High quality drawing and crazy good bold colour, the plot was a bit of a Taken by the forest and Mad Max.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

When you first start reading, Dryad appears to be purely fantasy....but it's clear you're missing something as you're thrown right into the two main characters, Morgen and Yale as they flee from something or someone with two children.

You quickly learn that Dryad is, in fact, part fantasy and part sci-fi, very reminiscent of Saga. The story is fast-paced and gripping from the start, as you first see Morgen take on the role of a sleepy forest town's guardswoman and Yale be a (very attractive) teacher to the town's kids.

This idyllic life doesn't last very long, because 12 years into their retreat, the town is overtaken by what appears to be an enemy force. Morgen and Yale are forced into old roles to protect their children, which it is clear that they'll do no matter what the cost.

This was such a good, quick read. I adored the banter, both between Morgen and Yale, and the siblings Rana and Griffon. The story was quick to unfold and draw you in and kept you hooked until that ENDING. I need Volume Two immediately.

While I enjoyed this read immensely, I did have to drop it to four stars because even at the end of the first volume, I was thoroughly confused about some aspects of this world. It was almost as if some exposition was skipped (maybe on purpose?) because the kids were kept in the dark and the reader was supposed to learn as they did, but it left me mostly confused for 140-something pages.

The art style, while beautiful, I felt could have clarified certain scenes a little better. There was quite a bit of action and fighting that I had to go back and examine closely in the hopes that I would better understand what had just happened.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this, however, and will be looking forward to the next volume. Trigger warnings for explicit content and violence throughout the story.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The art in this book is good and is definitely one of the highlights of the book.

It has definite Saga-vibes. I found the story confusing though. There's a lot of things thrown out to raise the mystery of the characters former lives. But it felt choppy - the jump from the woods to the city and everyone acclimating and moving on so quickly.

The pacing of the story moves quickly but I couldn't help but feel I was missing things that would have helped me understand the story.

Overall it wasn't my cup of tea but would love to see more of the art.

This is fast paced and overflows with action and colour. It has a 'Saga' feel to it and it will be interesting to see where the series goes. It starts off really quietly with the Glass family living in the quiet village of Frostbrook but this all changes when enemies from the past discover them.

And suddenly we and they are thrust into a high tech world of magic, weapons, twists and turns and a struggle to stay alive.

I thought this was a great start to the series with good world building and enjoyable artwork.

Copy provided by Oni Press via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I was very kindly given an Earc by the publishers via netgalley in exchange for an honest review: Wow!!

Fantasy! Science fiction! Elves! Ancient magic! Wizards!

This graphic novel was absolutely spectacular! It has a feeling of saga with the interspecies couple (an elf and a human) who ran away from their home to live a normal life. When you think it’s one thing it becomes another. I love the relationship between the twins and between the parents. Each character was well fleshed out even in a short amount of time. Especially loving the family dynamic and the still obvious love between two parents fighting for their kids!

I cannot WAIT to read more!

I was really looking forward to delving into this as it is completely out of my comfort zone. I loved the characters, I thought they were very unique, and also the drawing style and colour choices were so vibrant that I felt this was a highlight for me, I found it very visually pleasing. As we ended on a cliffhanger I would be very interested to see where we go from here in Vol..2. Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to read and review this!

An exciting mix of high fantasy and futuristic high-tech societies!! Gorgeously illustrated and with a gripping plot, I can only recommend this one to anyone looking for a new series to immerse yourself into!

Volume 1 reads as a solid introduction into the Dryad universe.

The chapters read like animated episodes. While this may seem action-packed or too fast-paced for a first volume, it does help the comic cover a lot of ground, especially considering the amount of world-building that needs to take place.

The Glass family presents themselves to us in almost an idyllic fashion. As a reader, we know they are running away from a past that doesn't seem to have a place in the future that they need for their family.

I love how this first volume is a story about family and the sacrifices made by families of blood and choice, in order to protect one another. There is also a huge emphasis on past vs the present and the flow of information within a family. Which while not themes that make sense initially are themes that I hope will unravel itself with each volume.

The illustrations by Justin Osterling like simply brilliant. The pictures, play a big role in contrasting the past with the present, whether it be through technology or art. The details of which were really interesting and I found myself on more than one occasion scrolling back to discover new details that I had missed previously. Sometimes I did find the colour palette too moody, especially in contrast to panels where much brighter colours were used.

I guess things that were detrimental to the reading experience was my unfamiliarity with the universe. Although this is only the first volume there were a few moments that I felt overwhelmed due to my lack of understanding of the universe. Sometimes sections read like info-dumps without telling the reader much at all.

The weakest characters were the twins, Griffon and Rana, because while a huge plot points seemed to be centred around them, there was nothing memorable about them other than they were part of the Glass family. I do hope that the next volume will be able to clearly answer the question I had as to why they were so important. I was also getting "forbidden love" tones from this work, although that could just be unwarranted extrapolation.

Overall, this was a strong first volume and I'd definitely recommend this to any sci-fi and/or fantasy fan who is looking for something new to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for allowing me to read an arc of "Dryad, Vol. 1". All opinions expressed are my own.

Dryad is a wonderful sci-fi graphic novel and a great introduction and starting place to a series. It seemed quite slow paced in places but that can be expected for the first volume of a series. Fortunately, where it fell short in pacing it made up for in world building and character development. I look forward to volume 2, and seeing more from this world and these characters

This was such an interesting world to dive into. It was so unique and honestly reminded me of the technology vs the environment dilemma our world is facing now. I loved the unique world and I look forward to finding out more about the characters and especially the magic. This is something that fans of Saga will want to read.

I couldn't get into this rather tedious fantasy/sci-fi comic. It's trying to be the new Saga and it doesn't work. The characters weren't appealing, the story wasn't there for me - it's like a watered-down, lethargic Rat Queens. The art's fine but genre fiction isn't for me and I really hate when characters talk and behave like people do in our world but transposed to a fantasy setting - it's such lazy writing and so unimaginative. Dull dull dryad.

Part fantasy, part cyberpunk, Dryad Vol. 1 is the introduction to a fast-paced series about a family on the run.

Content warnings include: graphic violence and gore, child injury, non explicit sex on-page.

On first glance, Dryad seems like fantasy through and through. There's elves and orcs, basic clothing, no electricity, a small village, overgrown ruins of an ancient people and monstrous creatures.
But that's not what Dryad is.
The cyberpunk element comes as a surprise, and when I first noticed hints that things weren't as they seemed I thought I looked wrong - and I have to admit, I wasn't pleased. I usually dislike it when genres mix like that, especially when it happenes unexpectedly. If I go into a fantasy book, I want fantasy, not SciFi. But here it all slotted together in the end, and I was very intrigued by the direction the plot developed.

At the center of the story is the Glass family: Yale, a history enthusiast who is a little goofy; Morgan, a scarred soldier who doesn't quite know what to do with herself in the quiet village but loves her family nevertheless; and teen twins Griffon and Rana, one exuberant and one more reserved, but sharing a deep connection.

It's clear from the start that Yale and Morgan were fleeing from something, and hiding a lot, but Dryad Vol.1 doesn't exactly give answers. It sets the scene and introduces a lot of players, and I couldn't always follow who was who and what was what, because despite continued assurances of sitting down to explain soon... that doesn't happen. Not that I fault the characteres for that - they don't really get a break to breathe, either.

The art was great, vivid and lively, the fantasy and cyberpunk elements weaved together seamlessly and very aesthetically without shying away from graphic subject matter - without being too gore-y, which suits me perfectly.

Overall great start for a series, and I'm curious to see where the plot is headed.

The first volume was quite slow, in setting the tone and characters. I did get 'Saga' vibes at times, particularly with the bad-ass female warrior, who is also fairly rash but cares for her children, and the male protagonist who is more thoughtful and methodic - it wasn't really until the end where things start clicking into place and you find more of their back story. I did also get 80s films vibes at times (Demolition Man, Judge Dread) when the story moves back to the city - very nostalgic.

The artwork and ambience set the tone of the story well, particularly around the city settings. It did convey a seedy, horrid underbelly of society.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, and could sense that the tale is developing and honestly speaking it did leave me wanting to read the new editions when they come out. My only critique was the first volume was a bit on the slow side to develop. After the cliffhanger of that volume, it moved at a pretty rapid pace and pushed this from a 3* to a 4* for me.