I was excited to read this book, until I started reading...

An interesting concept overall, but unfortunately it is done in a mundane, repetitive and messy manner.

Personally, I was not a fan of the art style. The images, matched with the writing style, made the overall experience feel cheap and rushed.

The writing style is very strange, the language choices are scattered and the inconsistency across the text is quite apparent.

Would not recommend, this was a disappointment.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this arc.

This was very different to what I was expecting, the illustrations were not engaging or very captivating. I can see what the author was trying to achieve, however if I am being perfectly honest I’m not entirely sure; as to who is the intended demographic? I would with 100% certainty say it is not for primary school children. It has a very strict Christian feel to it although it wasn’t really my cup of tea I would like to congratulate the author for overcoming his addiction. It takes a lot of strength and courage to break through that barrier and even more to maintain it.

Good book. Recommend for children to high school age. Although it is not perfect in its flow, it is well put together. I hope to see more books come from this author

Thank you NetGalley for this unique book!
Reading this I felt it was such an important one as it can speak to both children and adults and show us a different way to look at struggles.
The artwork is incredible and unique and I hope to see more books from the author (the picture and story of the author and their grandfather was really touching too)

My 9 year old daughter's review:
thank you for the book, it was very interesting! I would recommend it to children that like spooky books

I could see this book very much frightening many elementary students. I had a hard time deciphering who the intended audience is but I'm guessing upper elementary with a strict Christian background. I did not find the illustrations to be very engaging, but most of them were dark due to the nature of the book. The book should be used in conjunction with conversation from a trusted adult.

A interesting story with interesting artwork. The story itself was intriguing and had a fairytale-esque feeling to it.

This isn’t what I was expecting. Definitely a let down for me. The illustrations were good, but I just was not feeling the plot. It could have been done better.

Hmmm... There is certainly merit on these pages, but there is also a touch of clumsiness, clunkiness, and a whole brand new word (our hero gets "cladded" in his armour, in the copy I saw). The town is tormented by a demon living in a tree, who has made the inhabitants hand over tributes and tithes and generally feed his power in their ignorance. Somehow, too, he seems to have a few of the children of the town living in the tree with him, and the big sticking point is we never see why or how they came to be captured there, nor really learn what he wants them there for. They seem to be just there as an indicator of how evil he can be. Either way, our hero is a young lad who refuses the demon, turns to prayer and – through an extended action scene worthy of many a graphic novel – sends the demon packing... packing back to the tree.

That can't be the end, surely? And it won't, for we have to have a couple more endings after that before we're through. It's notable that we get the same image a few times, with different words photoshopped on top, which is certainly an unusual approach. As for the words themselves, beyond "cladded", they're in a kind of poetic style, one that plays very fast and loose with rhyme, meter and rhythm, but just about gets there. It might come across better when vocalised by an Afro-Caribbean voice, perhaps in a church group – this clearly comes from a heavy religious grounding, and from the author's experience he speaks of with some kind of addiction. So it is well-meaning, and comes with all good intentions. The energy and drama of the physical battle shown here can easily best some creators of big name comic books, as well. But I do think its flaws are a bit too evident for it to be rated highly.