Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

The only thing I liked about this story was the art, the story wasn't engaging. I mainly skimmed the story because there was a lot of dialogue that was just boring to read. I give it a 1.5.

This is a really entertaintment graphic novel, I have enjoyed the story and the character (the female characters were well written), and the art fits really well for both the story and the characters. Definitely a must read for any one who has been loving adventure and pirate stories such as Treasure Island.

I had such high hopes for this read, but unfortunately the expectations weren’t reached for me. I did love the illustrations but the story as a whole was meh.

2.5 Stars ( I received an e-arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

This graphic novel was...meh. The protagonist of the story is a drunken washed up pirate, who everyone is kind of tired of. Then we have a badass female pirate with her intense and creepy crew, hired to find a treasure located on a mysterious cursed island. At the same time a wealthy family travelling get thrown off course by a crazy storm and have been stranded for a while. Then everything collides and shit hits the fan. Curious to see what happens in the next volume.

The art was good, the colours were ok, the story was middling,

the characters were not very memorable. The protagonist was like a pale imitation of Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow but without all the likeability. He was hardly even an anti-hero and I very much wasn't rooting for him.

The suggested ordering of rape of a captured girl by a female leader was very triggering and also, I felt, completely unnecessary. They'd already shown the female pirate leader to be a ruthless woman, now she's shown to be a despicable one too. So, if you can't root for her, and you can't root for the protagonist who's just looking to save his own skin, who can you root for here? And that is where the issue lies in this comic. The story can't benefit from characters who all seem to have the same selfish characteristics.

Of course, this was only the start of the story so maybe the story progresses in a better way. I'd say this wasn't so bad that I wouldn't be interested in reading more as there is potential for everything to turn around and improve greatly

•Character development- 3.5☆
• Story Plot- 3☆
• Side characters- 4☆
• Flow of the story- 3.5☆
• Overall - 3.5☆

Raven book 1 is an entertaining adventure tale that has a sort of boisterous energy on every page. The action is brilliantly illustrated and the story itself has enough intrigue to keep you turning the page. There is a fair bit of violence and bloodshed so maybe not one for some younger readers that might be fans of The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Unfortunately, the cast of characters are all a bit boilerplate. We have the stubborn nobleman Count de Montignac and his sweet daughter Anne. Kemba who is Raven’s wise and witty mentor. This is fine as there is enough nuance and smart dialogue to make you care about them (apart from Lady Darksee who as a villain is truly despicable).

For those that fancy a graphic novel full derring-do on the high seas or something a bit darker and violent than Pirates of the Caribbean, this is a real treat.

'Raven, Vol. 1: Nemesis' with story and art by Mathieu Lauffray is a graphic novel about a fearless young pirate.

Raven has courage, but also is capable of great error. In this volume, he is searching for treasure and finds himself in the midst of cannibals, shipwrecked people and vengeful former crew. It appears hopeless, but Raven seems to stay one step ahead of the game.

I liked this swashbuckling story. Raven is an interesting character and I'd like to find out where this story goes. The art is also good too.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This is a translation of a French comic about Raven the fearless pirate captain. The action scenes were great. The story begins with a sea battle so you are instantly thrown right into the action. Tons of action scenes throughout the book. The art is beautiful and the colors are vibrant. The tone is set with colors, darker shades are used in danger spots in the story. It doesn't matter if it is people or landscapes, everything is equally beautiful like each page is a piece of art just waiting to be hung on your wall.

Creative Team:
By Mathieu Lauffray
Translated by James Hogan
Letters Cromatik LTD
Originally published in French

This graphic novel reminded me a bit of the first season of Black Sails: besides the obvious similarity of pirates in the Caribbean, there's a great deal of setup for the rest of the series interspersed between the action sequences. It's a riveting book with gritty art, and I'm looking forward to the second volume.

Received via NetGalley.

I think this is a solid start for a first installment.

Are you a Pirates of the Caribbean fan? Then you'll definitely love this graphic novel.

The artwork is breathtaking. The color and the amount of detail are so pretty I stared at the pages for a long time.
The story starts in action as we are transported to a ship in the middle of a battle with another. Here, we are introduced to Raven. He is known to bring bad luck and is often misjudged by other pirates. Then we meet Darksee, who is on a quest for huge riches. She is a pirate captain and my favorite character from the graphic novel.

The story is pretty mainstream for a pirate plot, but I think that will change in the next installments.
I look forward to reading about Raven's adventures.

3 stars
The thing I liked most about this graphic novel has to be the artwork. It was colorful, super detailed and very eye catching. The story was ok for me, felt like there were a couple holes in the story line and would have liked a bit more formation and back story. I loved the pirates, they have always been a draw from me when picking up books, having beautiful art pieces were great to help bring the story to life. I also really liked the badass female pirate, until one scene and then I hated her. Overall I liked it, it is definitely a good one for people just beginning to get into reading graphic novels and would recommend.
Trigger warnings: Cannibalism, fighting, attempted rape and blood
I received this ebook, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An unlucky pirate, hidden treasure, and a femme fatale. What could possibly go wrong?

Raven: Némésis is Mathieu Lauffray’s first official comic book. Published in 2020, it’s the first in the Raven series. Lauffray is a well-known artist in the graphic novel world, most noticeably for Star Wars (Dark Horse) and Long John Silver.

This inaugural volume tells the story of Raven, a fearless pirate who seems to curse everyone around him. It has adventure, revenge, the high seas, the infamous island of Tortuga and a formidable lady pirate throughout.

--------------------

Summary
The comic follows a lone pirate during the 17th century when the British ruled the Caribbean Sea. Arrogant and impulsive, he quickly decides that the governor’s treasure is his for the taking. The governor, of course, doesn’t agree. Allying himself with Lady Darksee, a pirate in search of a royal pardon, both parties race to reach the island first. Battling liars and cheats, cannibalistic tribes, and an entire armada that’s out to get him, Raven does his best to find the treasure first. But will he succeed?

--------------------

Commentary
Raven: Némésis is a simple story with many hallmarks of the clichéed pirate genre.

Praise
- The illustrations are incredible. Lauffray fully captures the heyday of pirate life during the 1600s. The battles are artfully created, the islands realistic, and the characters are as filthy and scarred as pirates ought to be.
- Lady Darksee is a female pirate. Despite there being plenty of evidence to suggest that female pirates were almost as common as male pirates, they are rarely depicted in media. On top of that, she’s depicted as a talented woman and not an object or a scantily clad distraction.
- The main character is less of a hero and more of an anti-hero. Raven isn’t a good person and doesn’t try to be. In this comic, you’re meant to root for the bad guy, which is pleasantly refreshing from being one of the minorities who supports a story’s villain.

Critique
- This might as well be called Pirates of the Caribbean: Comic style. The main character Raven is near identical to Jack Sparrow. Both are constantly getting themselves into tricky situations, both somehow save themselves in comical and unlikely ways, and both prefer to work alone for their own gain. It’s unoriginal and not remotely unique.
- It’s not so much the first volume as it is the prologue. The story only just begins when the comic ends, and as a result, there’s not enough time to truly get into the story. It’s difficult to care about the characters or even begin to like them when the comic’s cut so short.
- There’s a reference to a sexual assault that does not even remotely affect the plot. There are only two female characters (goodbye Bechdel test) and thanks to our white straight middle-aged author, one of them plays the wicked woman while the other is the innocent maiden. Guess who orders whom to be raped? It’s disgusting and unnecessary and quite frankly, an absolute disgrace to read about in the 21st century.

--------------------

Recommendations
Overall, I’d give Mathieu Lauffray’s Raven: Némésis a two out of five. It’s a stereotypical pirate story full of painful clichés and pointless assault.

I’d recommend this novel only to Pirates of the Caribbean fans, and even then, that’s a big maybe. It’s a simple adventure story if you want a quick read, but other than that, it’s not worth much.

A classic pirate tale - sailing, battling, scheming and hunting for treasure.
The illustrations are beautiful and very stylized, making them seem rough and dark - that complements the gruesome story perfectly.
The writing and story are a bit hard to get into at first, they seem messy, but at the end of the book I was fully invested and wanted more. As this graphic novel is quite short, there wasn't enough time to really learn about main characters (their background, personality and such), so it was a bit hard to actually root for them.
I would gladly read the rest of this series.

A swashbuckling pirate tale that's gritty and gruesome in both content and style. High stakes, charismatic characters, and awesome art abound in this first volume of Raven's exploits with the formidable Lady Darksee. It might be set in the Caribbean, but this is not Disney! It's a gripping read - you'll be itching to find out where the story goes next.

Loved the artwork and design of this comic. It was beautifully done and I really was drawn into this world! I’ll have to keep an eye out for more of this in the future as I really enjoyed it!

This was a fun pirate story. It was nice to see a kickbutt lady pirate with her own crew, I would be interested in reading the rest of this story if it gets translated.

I remember looking at this title in the read now section, but not actually requesting it. I was very surprised just now to find that it's in my "archived, not downloaded" section and wish I could rectify the situation and review it properly, but alas I cannot. If I end up finding an ebook copy to borrow through Libby some time I'll be sure to come back and give a proper review. I am aware that the "will not give feedback" option exists, but as my ratio currently needs all the help it can get and I feel that this book snuck into my shelves unnoticed and uninvited, I'm submitting this way. I am absolutely open to receiving a PDF for this book some other way with the understanding that I would come back and adjust this "review" accordingly.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. It has been published in December 2020.

"Raven" by Mathieu Lauffray is the first instalment in an adventure saga about pirates, naval battles and treasure hunts.
All the tropes that a true genre aficionado could ask for are there: high sea warfare, brawling in Tortuga, a treasure map, shipwrecks, a cocky swashbuckler for a main character, a dangerous and ruthless pirate captain for an adversary...
The drawings and colouring are gorgeous and the pacing is just right, considering this graphic novel is only the first instalment in the series, basically just introducing the characters and locations.
It ends in a cliffhanger, which could put some off, but I personally didn't mind.
What I did mind was the second attempted rape scene (how do *two* attempted rapes even fit in such a short book?) where a *woman* orders another woman raped on the pretence of "freeing her from the shackles" of her virginity, which would put her at risk of an arranged convenience marriage. Yeah, sure, have someone raped today so that they don't get raped later on. Makes lots of sense. My guess is, the real reason why this scene was included is to prove how evil the villainess is (I admit I had been kind of rooting for her until that particular scene... she's just much more interesting than the main character) and also to show off the protagonist's chivalry, since for the second time in a handful of pages he's putting his life at stake to save a damsel in distress from a fate worse than death. Yeah, that's a tad too much sexism for my taste and kind of ruined the ending for me.
The larger-than-average panel where the second rape ALMOST happens is particularly disgusting. I get that sexual violence was common back then, especially among pirates, but seeing the half-naked girl pinned down by the brute right in front of her distraught father, who is powerless to help her, while the villainess looks on with a smug grin was simply too much.
It also made me notice that this supposed "nemesis" doesn't do any of her own dirty work: she orders people raped, she threatens the protagonist to "have him killed", but she's never actually seen using her weapons or joining the fight. This realization quickly deflated my excitement about the character.
Overall, this book does for an entertaining read (up until that disgusting panel), but it should come with a trigger warning for that graphic almost-rape scene.

Set in the 1660's, the story follows Raven, a pirate that's considered unlucky by other outlaws, and it doesn't take us long to see why. When the crew of the ship he's on tries to capture a Spanish galleon things seem to go well at first. The pirates defeat the crew, Raven bests the Spanish captain in single combat and gets a fancy new sword, but when Raven discovers a young woman on board he tries to protect her from being raped by his fellow pirates. A noble endeavour for sure, but when he stashes her in the armoury for her protection, and the woman decides that blowing everyone up is the only way to save herself from sexual assault Raven's idea comes back to bites him, as both ships are blow to pieces in the subsequent explosion. The only survivor, Raven makes a raft from the remains and sails back to the pirate port of Tortuga.

As far as introductions go it's a pretty decent one. Not only do we get to see Raven in action and learn that despite his bad luck he's a pretty good pirate, but we also learn that Mathieu Lauffray isn't planning to pull any punches with this book, and that some pretty nasty things are going to happen. A young woman blowing herself up and killing dozens of people to save herself from being raped by a load of pirates is some pretty grim stuff.

And grim is probably the tone for most of the book. If you're looking for some fun and over the top pirate high-jinks like Pirates of the Caribbean, this isn't the book for you. There are brutal beatings, murders, and sexual assault in this books, and none of it is treated as fun. The fights are given a brutal feel to them, in part thanks to the style of art, and the characters really feel like they're getting hurt and suffering. I'm not sure how accurately the story is portraying life in these times and as a pirate, but it's certainly not sugar coating things or making it seem romantic.

Sadly, this brutality prevented me from really feeling like I connected with the characters a great deal, and by the end of this volume I didn't really have a huge sense of who Raven was. He seems like a man with a degree of morals to him, he did try to protect a woman in the introduction, but I don't know why. It shouldn't need to have a reason, protecting someone from rape should just be a given, but considering he's supposed to be a brutal pirate I wanted to know more about his sense of morals, the lines he won't cross, and the reasons why. Hopefully this will be explored in future volumes of the series.

The only other character that we really get to know in any real way is Lady Darksee, the main antagonist for the story. She's a pirate captain that's making shady deals with the local governor, and she's not adverse to really hurting people. There's a point where she consigns Raven to a brutal death, one that would have worked if not for the last moment intervention of an ally of his, and even uses sexual assault to harm an innocent woman, ordering one of her men to rape her in front of her father.

This scene is one of the most interesting insights into her character, as she's making this grand speech about being free, and how the young woman's only value is to be sold off to a rich husband and have babies, and that by taking her virginity she'll be freeing her from that life; but it's a horrible moment, and one that people could find quite triggering. I can't help but feel like this is supposed to mean something, to be some kind of insight into Darksee other than just showing her to be 'evil', but because we don't really have her backstory or motivations explored in this book it just makes her look like something of a monster.

But, this book is only the first volume, it's setting the table and laying out the pieces, and a lot of this character development and dives into their back stories could be coming later, so it's not a huge deal breaker here. However, if this isn't something that Lauffray picks up on later I will be a bit disappointed. Only time will tell how the series ends up, but for now it's a pretty decent start that could deliver some really great moments later on.

I absolutely love stories with or about pirates, so I was excited to read this. We follow Raven, who is seen as crazy and brings bad luck wherever he goes. The story starts to take off once we land on the Isle of Tortuga.

While on the island, Raven overhears a conversation about a treasure hidden away on an island with a volcano. So, by nature, he literally drops into the conversation in front of Lady Darkness. Raven gets into a confrontation with her men, and they leave him for dead. He stows away on a boat to find the treasure before them since he remembers the details written on the map.

Once he lands at Devil's Peak, he is immersed in the forest and runs into real-life people. This is strange for him since only cannibals are known to be living on the island. These people, including a Count and his family, are shipwrecked on the island due to a storm. They have built a home for themselves. Then everything goes haywire when Lady Darkness arrives on the island and starts taking everything over.

The story ends with Raven coming back to free the people captured while destroying things in the process. The story seemed to fly with various information in a relatively short period. The story does have a cliffhanger ending, so keep that in mind.

I kind of liked the art style throughout the story. I do wish the story was a bit more in-depth, both character-wise and storyline-wise. I might read the second volume and see how it varies compared to the first volume.

I understand pirate stories, especially ones based around original tales, will contain some darker and outdated humor. However, the one character kind of jokes about "freeing one from their shackles". This is a joke told in an assault-type manner, and that did not settle well with me while reading. So, warning about that before you start reading this book.