I think with some editing this book could be a 5 star read, there’s some grammar and repetition issues, but the illustrations and art is just so gorgeous and the story is so important I hope it does. 3.5 stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Hmmm... This is a mixed-bag, but mostly a graphic novel testimony from a nature conservation worker who has built a career involved in rescuing sun bears from Vietnamese, Laotian and Thai bear bile farms. And it really should be better – although I do hope that with an edit to get all the awful grammar, repetitions and suchlike from the text it would still manage to serve its purpose. The book certainly has wonderful artwork – real craft in every frame is most evident – but as it is it's been let down by the script, disjointedly telling us what we need to know at the wrong time and place, but trying its best to focus on the story of one bear who was rescued as a young orphan and so needs to lose all human imprinting and get back its wild edge before it can be let loose.

Wonderful spreads showing the diverse wildlife the bears should be living amongst, instead of being stuck in a mafia-styled cage and tapped for their bile, and superb evocations of a nature scientist's field notes, sit awkwardly alongside the visuals where the heroine looks about ten years old, and some very cartoonish sections. As I say, this really needs to do well, for it has an important lesson within its covers, but I found much of it ill-considered and flowing very poorly, and in need of being presented with a better grasp of basic English. Would that I could recommend it...