The graphic novel is visually beautiful (especially scenes within the whols) but I wish it had a slower pace upon the main characters first arrival to Paris. There is potential with this series but for a first book, it needed further exploration of the world rather that jumping headfirst into the action, political tension and romance.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Extraordinary Part by Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot is an exciting fantasy adventure in graphic novel form. It will appeal to grown-up fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. The story revolves around Orsay, an ordinary young man who one day gains magical powers through the help of a disturbing-looking magical creature called a whol. He doesn't want these powers and tries to get rid of them. He meets a girl named Basman, who he falls in love with. She believes that the whols deserve huan rights. However, another human with similar powers, named Melek, is using his powers to kill others. Are the whols using mind control on the humans or is something else going on here? Will Orsay become a killer, too?

Overall, The Extraordinary Part is an innovative blend of fantasy and horror. I was drawn in from the start and had to keep reading to find out what happened next. I do have to warn those of you who have fear of holes or fear of body horror that there are quite a few disturbing images in this graphic novel. The whols themselves can appear like veiny cocoons or an explosion of red blood cells. The main character's hand is sometimes depicted as twisty spirals akin to the Twizzlers, and regular parts of the human body can stretch into impossible shapes. I think most adults would not find this disturbing, but as for me, it had certain nightmarish qualities. I am taking off 2 stars because I wasn't expecting to be terrified while reading this graphic novel. If you're intrigued by the synopsis above and you're not afraid of what I mentioned previously, you can check out this graphic novel, which is out in bookstores now!

Musings:

From the start I kept thinking that this comic was really cool. I loved the imagery and the ideas it has. The Whol’s are these really beautiful large art piece like creatures that how up all over cities in Paris.


They are for the most part harmless. However, If you get in contact with a Whol and water it combines with you and the body part attached to the Whol become Whol like.


This comic while featuring teens definitely feels like its aimed more at adults. It can be pretty graphic and there’s a bit of explicit sexuality featured in it. However, I feel that it doe fit the tone and the story this first installment is starting to flesh out.

What made me really attached to this comic is the imagery. It’s beautiful. Yet, the stark contrast of great beauty and the grotesque red of murder makes this novel a pull between right and wrong and how far one should go for what they believe in. Many of the characters in this comic I would say go way too far.


All in All:

I had a blast reading this comic. I remember when I first started it immediately texting my boyfriend and saying “Whoah! Look at this! It’s so cool I’m obsessed!” Talking to him all about it. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves unique imagery and a unique sci-fi.

Thank you netgalley for providing me a free ARC in exchange of an honest review.

i'm not sure what to say about this book.
okay first let's start with the things i liked_

i really liked the artworks. They were Vibrant and catchy. I liked the plot enough and the our main character orsay. I liked his helpful nature.

and the things i didn't like_
Also our character orsay' for some reason. His sudden behaviour changes in paris and more. You'll get to know when you'll read the book.

i didn't find anyone in a postive role. Orsay was a protagonist but he was slowly getting into negative things which made me kinda pissed off.

Although the whols were showed as piece of art, They were calm untill people messed up with them. And their reaction was kinda deadly. Those who have trypophobia like me will be disturbed enough.
Lastly, The concept was intriguing but it failed to execute properly. I was disappointed.

First of all, I really wanted to like this graphic novel, but after finishing it, I realized I wasn’t the ideal audience for it, or maybe, I’m just a little too picky with the stuff I read. The story was interesting and had a pretty solid ground. Orsay, the main characters, lives in France’s countryside, and from page one, we’re introduced to a set of characters who also share the main narrative of this graphic novel, the Whol. These are “alien” creatures that appeared out of nowhere on various part of Earth. Apparently, they’re very friend, unless you make them angry. The Whol are very beautiful, their shapes are asymmetrical, and they’re very colorful. It reminded me a bit of the parasite aliens from the manga/anime Parasyte, although these aliens are a little more grotesque in appearance.

Orsay is unfortunately attacked by a Whol and his hands are transformed because of this. He goes to Paris searching for a cure and that’s kinda it. That’s the basic plot. I’m not gonna tell more because I don’t wanna spoil the story or ending for other readers. But, like I said before, I really wanted to like this story, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I love sci-fi, so I felt a connection with the story and really liked the Whol. Also, the art style is very gorgeous and reminded me a bit of Tillie Walden’s style.

But, despite it all, I couldn’t get past some of the stuff the characters do during the narrative. Orsay appears to be a caring character, but the stuff he does once he gets to Paris really pissed me off. The female characters presented during the narrative are so shallow, I couldn’t like any of them. One of them killed innocent people without feeling any sense of guilt by it. And Orsay, despite being nineteen years old, has sex with an underage high school student (I don’t remember if she said her age, but she said she’s in high school, so I’m presuming she’s underage), kiss a thirteen-year-old on the mouth and was sex with a woman he openly said he hated a few pages before. This is kinda of a mess, in my opinion. So yeah, if it wasn’t for all of that, maybe I’d have liked the story, but I really couldn’t shove that down my throat.

The plot could've been better, and if this every has a sequel, I hope the author takes some of these opinions in consideration. And please, learn how to write a woman without making her the standing ground for the male character. This really sucks, and I can’t believe I’m still reading stuff like this in 2021.

The first thing I noticed when reading this book, was the vague similarities between this story and a horror sci-fi manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki called Parasyte. The resemblance to that story is only at the vaguest of terms, but it really piqued my interest and made me excited to find out how a French writer would handle similar themes. The basic premise is that our world has been visited by some force called “Whols” which look like elegant “noodley” beings that largely live in harmony with humans. However, it seems like there have been cases of them attacking or killing humans leading to a response from police and military that has angered people that want them to be seen as equal to humans. Orsay is an odd case, because whilst on a trip to Paris, he is attacked by a Whol while trying to save some kids, and is given the “powers” of one, meaning his hands are now swirling masses that can elongate and change shape.

“Nineteen-year-old Orsay lives an uneventful life in the French countryside, until the day he gains extraordinary powers in his hands after an encounter with a mysterious creature known as a whol. On a trip to Paris in search of a cure, he meets and falls for Basma, a passionate activist for whols’ rights. But Orsay isn’t convinced that whols should be considered equal to humans. Especially once Melek, another human with the same powers, embarks on a murderous rampage to avenge those she sees as her kin.”


I was assuming this would go into the tired trope of having Orsay become the one Whol/person hybrid that fights the others and it would turn into Dragonball Z basically. That worked for things like Parasyte being almost 40 years old, but its been done before multiple times. Thankfully, I was wrong and the book is mostly about the relationship between Whols and humans, and whether the two can co-exist. In this world, Whols are not understood and mis-treated. Law enforcement routinely pushes them around, and if not compliant they are killed with water cannons. Many don’t think they are sentient or understand what is happening, while other s would like equal rights for them. This puts Orsay and his friends and other hybrids in the place of becoming freedom fighters for the Whols, something Orsay has no desire to do at first. But something changes in him by the end of the story, so we’ll see what happens in future volumes.

What sets this apart from other similar stories is the crazy psychedelic aspect to it. There are times where the characters “communicate” with each other or the Whols and enter this altered state of consciousness where time runs differently and everything is a big swirling mass of color and shape. these sections are VERY interesting and make me excited to see where the story will go in the future.


I enjoyed this a lot more than I initially thought I would, and it definitely lived up to, and even surpassed, my expectations. As usual Europe Comics has chosen an intriguing comic that stands apart from other western books due to its mix of action, violence, and story. It knows how to ramp up the tension when it needs to, as well as step back and explore the minds of the various characters – striking this balance makes it feel more “special” than other books.

I was extremely intrigued by this graphic novel but I was left completely disappointed. The artwork is not of my liking, the characters often seemed expressionless and the font was extremely difficult to read. The plot was very inconsistent and confusing and i felt like some parts didn´t add anything to the book. The relationships here were also unnecessary, as they didn´t add anything either to the plot or characters. The concept was very interesting but unfortunately poorly executed.

Interesting concept but found the typology a bit illegible and difficult to read! I wish they would have chosen a different font.

This was a strange one that left me confused. Mysterious creatures have appeared and after an encounter with one, Orsay has powers in his hands and goes to Paris to seek a cure. From there there are protests with some people liking the whol’s and some wanting them gone and a strange group who go around murdering people. The sexual relationships were unnecessary to the plot and felt more like a chance to draw naked people then a part of the plot. I personally won’t read future parts to this story but I would be intrigued to read other work by the artists/authors.

based on the description of this book i went in with high expectations, but i was unfortunately let down by this title. while the illustrations were really breathtaking in some sections and the concept of the whols was really original and creative, neither could save the poor writing. the characters felt very surface and even orsay, as the protagonist, didn’t feel like he had much depth at all. the pacing of this story was a bit off and the character interactions often felt awkward and forced. since this is intended to be a series, i may someday read the continuation if the creators do some tweaking with the structure because the premise is really interesting, it’s just poorly executed.

I found the synopsis of the graphic novel intriguing, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped to. The general idea of the plot and world were good, but I don’t think that I got author’s intention right. What have I just read? The characters were not likable at all and seemed to have zero logic: sleeping with a person you just met in a hospital - why not? Killing cops just because they’re cops? Sure! Making out with a person you hate and disagree about everything in the literally worst time ever - very smart. I was very annoyed most of the time and will not read a sequel if there will be one.

OK, so in this modern-day France there are lots of weird alien things, that look like floating, shifting modern art pieces, ranging in size from large pets to large buildings. They might be godly or otherworldly, but nobody sees them as devilish, we're told. However when our hero witnesses one seemingly chasing after some teenagers, he pumps it to bursting with garden hose water, only to gain some of its shape-changing element in his hands and fore-arms. Seeking medical help in Paris, he soon realises he might not be half as alone in that as he thinks...

There are some elements of this that are inherently wrong, including but not limited to giving a randy nineteen year old lad the abilities of Mister Fantastic. In fact all the superheroic skills the main characters have look really quite ugly, even if some are definitely on the cooler side than being Reed Richards with the horn. However there are also some things that are done well, even if we've seen them thousands of times before (the small group of 'the other' against the police, the powers that be and everybody else), or that are too oddball to initially fit (the communing with the whols, as the lifeforms are called).

On the whole the balance here is to the positive – this is a finely done world, and the open ending of this part one suggests a wide range of possible future stories. But that's where I find it awkward to recommend this, because I just cannot tell from this where we're going, or for how long the ride will last. This comes to us in the English-speaking market the same year its native French audience first saw it, so this is nothing like complete. And I've always felt awkward suggesting people latch on to a sci-fi or fantasy series before enough evidence of its worth is out there. I mean, who'd have liked to recommend Shannara books based on the first three if they knew to what unreadable depths they'd plumb six million pages later?!

This is certainly worth three and a half stars, because some of its missteps are a bit too clumsy. There might be potential for the series to earn four stars, but I don't think I saw enough evidence to merit saying that. I'd be cautious about demanding anyone fork out for it, but I would not wish to put anyone off giving this a good glance.

I really loved the art style and illustrations in this graphic novel. They really suited the atmosphere of this sci-fi story and carried you through the story. The visuals were my favourite part of the story, this beauty of the whols was captured perfectly and really gave you a sense of their vibe for lack of a better term.

Unfortunately, the other elements of the story fell flat for me. I didn’t feel anything for any of the characters and didn’t feel I got to know them well enough, I think the pacing was pretty off and fast and could have been paced better .
I just feel like I wanted more, more depth to the characters, more excitement, more energy- just more and for some reason the story just gave me NOTHING. The main character, Orsay’s relationship with the female characters was also a bit weird and I don’t love the direction it took with one of the characters.

I would also like to add that although the story seems to be marketed to teens/YA audience I wouldn’t say it is accurate due to the violence and sexual content, but hey if you’re down, go for it.

Thank you to #NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

An intriguing concept, complete with polished and beautiful art. The plot had some slow beats but there was enough to keep me moving.

I don’t know what to say about this. It was good enough. The whol(e) thing was good story. I give it 3.5 stars. Orsay was a good character. It was fun to see his journey.

Unfortunately I cannot write a proper review for this book, due to the fact I receive a “client error occurred” when I try to download this book in the NetGalley Shelf app. I have reviewed plenty of ARCs and this has never happened before. It leaves me unable to read this, which is a shame.

2.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free e-arc


This graphic novel was very interesting under some aspects but many things were lacking.

Let's start with the things that I enjoyed about this one:
-The art style, I loved the drawings and the choice of the colors, it gave the story a very surreal atmosphere with the aliens being put in stark contrast with the surroundings.
-The general idea of the plot,

which leads me to the things I didn't like:

-The plot was there but wasn't well paced at all, everything seemed quite rushed.
I think choosing to detail the development of the relationship between the characters would have been a good idea, because everyone seemed to have very delineated aspects about their personality but they were thrown in the story without any background.

-Not very realistic, I know that it is supposed to be a sci-fi graphic novel and realism isn't in the first line of thought, but there could have been some things that were at least left ground in reality, for example: complete stranger meet and decide they'll eventually have some non-committal relationship in a few hours frame, is it something that happens? Oh and mass killing without any reasoning, can we talk about that?
Can see no reason behind these choices

Overall not the best experience, not the worst. If you're into alien-like creature and extravagant character I would suggest to give it a try.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Art and storyline were next level. You may have to increase size of page to read the text.

Whols have come to earth. No one quite has an explanation for these space beings. While some are docile, others are not. As the main character comes into contact with one, he is forever changed.

This is the first in a series. I do look forward to the next parts as it makes you wonder how would you treat space visitors.

The art was beautiful, the story was really interesting. I found the character’s to be a little boring and their relationships to each other moved quite quickly

An original concept with very realistic art style made this an interesting read.
The content was more adult than anticipated but overall a good story.