I was very confused reading this story, as I don't feel it really lined up with the blurb about what the book was to be about. This book was more scientific, and I was expecting more of a dramatic story. I thought the illustrations were lovely. All that said, I enjoyed learning a bit about genetics, but was overall a bit disappointed since I feel the blurb was unclear about the actual content of the book.

An unexpected graphic novel, all about the results of DNA testing – given an extra charge and frisson for being French, where the practice is illegal. Sure, the police are able to do it – and even re-do it and find their murder victim identities after decades – but at the time this was set the mail-order DNA results were not allowed. Here then is the narrative of how someone does it underhandedly, pays extra for a "free" health check, gets told he's likely to drop dead any time soon, and then finds that news is not private, not helpful, not welcome by the mortgage lenders – and not even accurate.

It's very easy to see from this then that these "wow, Mrs Blogger, you can tell the world you're 8% Persian, 2 bits Neanderthal and the rest comes from an hour's swim west of Tenerife" rubbish results are no use and should be prohibited. But this is much more of a science book than a campaigning one. It doesn't rush to drum into our minds that they're evil, for it spends a lot of time telling us how the tests – how DNA – work. And it doesn't pretend we're all going to be killing all and sundry with euthanasia because we know the genome so well.

We also see characters have a diagnosis due to genomics, first of Jolie-like breast cancer risks, and then for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, before the guy guiding us through this world tells us all a host of other good things about gene testing, just so we're all on the side of having it and assured it's generally doing us good. Throw in the over-arching narrative that allegedly inspires all this science transmission and you get a rich read.

I certainly didn't find it flawless, however. The read is very upright – many are the pages split vertically into three columns, and the artist then chooses to keep a small background the same for all three frames, or patch them together into one page-wide image, with the characters appearing in triplicate in three different parts of it at the bottom. Those tall frames took some getting used to, especially with the constant scrolling an e-book demands. But then on the credit side is the fact this decent level of science is conveyed quite well and almost with a sprightly touch. It certainly seems to have been scoured for truth by scientists and found full of it, and what we get is potentially at a higher level than the GCSE might concern.

That said, mind, I don't think it does it perfectly well for the curious chance reader, for the average browser. Only those that want to be informed of the pluses and minuses of these tests in this way could ever be thought of as having enjoyed this. But even though it's not for everyone it's very good at talking to the right audience, however much it may be preaching to the converted. And that ultimately makes me think it's worth four stars, however generous the science-adverse might end up thinking that grade.

Thank you Netgalley for this AC

This book takes readers on a fascinating journey into the world of genetics and its connection to heart health. Through clear explanations and helpful visuals, the author explores how our genes influence the risk of heart-related conditions.

The book looks great, with graphics that make complex ideas easier to understand. However, some parts might be challenging for readers without a strong background in genetics or biology.

Overall, it is an intriguing read that sheds light on an important topic. Despite its occasional complexity, it's recommended for anyone curious about the role genetics plays in our cardiovascular health.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This is a great book that discusses the function and ethics surrounding genetic home testing, as well as the many ways the results can vary depending on many different factors. It also goes into detail about how professional geneticists work and what their job entails (with a lot of great examples!). I also loved the story we see with the dad and his daughter, and how it ties it all together.

The only thing that drags it down a bit for me is that I wish it were less "infodump-y". We get SO much info all at once, and I wish it was spaced out or talked about more conversationally and as a part of the story. I think it does a great way of combining it all in the beginning, though!

If you are interested in genetics how all of this works and what research and functions working with genetics can have, this is a good one to check out if you do not want to go straight into heavier non-fiction!

Genetics at Heart is an incredibly unique implementation of a graphic novel format. With striking images full of subtle details, this book’s panels are memorable and engaging. However, this book is a much more informative experience than its synopsis would suggest. This book is definitely better suited for those interested in topics in genetics as opposed to regular fans of graphic novels. It can be a little dense and overwhelming at times, even if it’s ultimately a rewarding experience.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I could label this non-fiction because that is what this almost is. The story at the centre of the plot, which is used to talk about the topic itself, does pull it away from the non-fiction title (although I might be wrong).
We have two main plotlines. One is of a woman sitting down with her father to talk about DNA tests. She does not come out with what she wants to say exactly but meanders through multiple conversations about the practices and repercussions in the system. The one main takeaway was the idea that percentages that the companies offer would obviously change based on the data pool they have acquired thus far, making the earlier reports slightly erroneous.
When we were at school, in a few pivotal years, we would have to take a computerized test (it must be noted here that the use of computers was seriously low at the time, and maybe one in ten had a personal PC at home, making it a novelty), and based on the random answers we would get a graph of possibilities with percentages. I don't know what it was about getting your path laid out in charts, but I remember it being thrilling. The very same emotion has had me tempted to do DNA analysis at some point, but I have been going away from that notion for a while. This particular book has definitely confirmed that I have made the right choice.
In another plotline, we have a policewoman figuring out that she can use DNA analysis or at least the database to find out about skeletal remains that she found. The amount of time and energy required to do that was quite surprising. It is definitely not an angle crime shows on TV would show.
The ending was quite emotional in its own way.
I am not a great fan of the art style - else, this would have been a five-star read. It is close enough as it is. Readers must go into this book knowing that there will be a lot of information to parse through, but it is a very different approach, one that I commended.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Book 110 of 200 ~ 2023

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Given that my husband Jerrid and I have been contemplating whether to do genetics testing - but more of finding out about our makeup because we have a little bet going...

This gave an interesting perspective on a bunch of things not just pertaining to relationships that may be affected by something that you would assume was only going to affect you.

Some countries are quite intense in terms of their approach to genetics testing, and I found out a whole bunch of things about something I had limited knowledge on.

Something about the art style reminded me of an amalgamation of Guy Delisle and Marjane Satrapi.

Interesting read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, @netgalley

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2/5

Another read that started off very interestingly but fell unfortunately very flat.
The main problem I had with this was that it was too heavy texted.
It was definitely informative, and despite using very specific medical terms, they all were explained to our protagonists who dont't know all these words.

At some point I was so full of infos that I lost the plot somewhere in the middle.
Right now, I still have no idea what this book was about, if not that for an hour and a half I had a private science lesson by myself.
Drawings didn't help making the book more dynamic and the super small text definitely didn't either.

A missed apportunity for something different.

This was an interesting comic based on looking in someone’s ancestry and people who are related to and their family tree. I thought it was quite an interesting and unique concept although it did seem a little repetitive, and I think this is great as a standalone I thought it was really interesting and I also did like the art style. I just think it was a little longer than I was expecting for this idea. But I really did love it, and I would recommend

Super cool way to combine graphic novels with science. I found this book super interesting. I personally am not very versed in genetics, but I still took interest in this book. The drawing in it were incredible, but at time it felt a little text heavy. But it’s definitely something different than you see in mainstream media. Super cool read!

An educational graphic novel explaining what is DNA testing, the various benefits, but also the risks, which I thought was very interesting as we don't often delve into the ethical debate, the psychological ramifications, and the very real social impact that could arise in the future.
The book is well made as it remains very simple and easy to understand, it also highlights the right of choice to know and not to. This is obviously an important point for the authors, that this should be a personal and private choice.

I liked this a lot! I like how it brought in scientific and descriptive graphics to show people how what they were discussing work in real life. I kind of wanted to know more about the main character and her half-sister but either way this was a beautiful graphic novel and I’m glad I read it!

I would like to thank netgalley and Europe Comics for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This is detailed and informative.

Very educational yet well drawn and easy to understand. Interesting story. Recommend to students who are teenagers, or anyone with a keen interest in genetics, crime and DNA. Fun colours and nice drawings.

I liked the fact that this book was educational and carried out as a graphic novel. However, often times I thought there was a lot of text on the pages (for a graphic novel). This didn't always make it easy to read, because sometimes things blurred through each other and I had no clue what the right order to read would be.

However, I learned quite some new things because of this book. I do wonder though, for what age this book is supposed to be.

I’m sad to say that I was a little bit disappointed by this graphic novel. I find genetics to be a super fascinating topic, but this book just didn’t do it for me. The story around the information wasn’t very intriguing and while the book touched on many important and interesting topics it was all at the same time very surface level and very confusing. Parts were in my opinion really well written and a great introduction to the topic, but other parts felt a little needlessly convoluted. However, I still think the overall idea was good and I really liked the artstyle.

I really enjoyed it!! The scientific topics were tackled in such way that they were understandable and not as confusing as they could’ve been. The art style was really nice, I adored the colour palette. Overall, I would highly recommend it to basically anyone interested in genetics, as a start to the journey down that path.

This graphic novel follows the story of illegal genetic testing being done in France by the population and people’s stories and results of this testing.

I really didn’t enjoy this. I expected this to be a quick fun graphic novel which would explore the story of the geneticist’s daughter after she makes a life changing discovery after performing the test. However this was just extremely science heavy and whilst educational, I found myself feeling bored at times.

The illustrations were absolutely beautiful but for a graphic novel I found it just too wordy which took away from the illustrations and appeal of the novel.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this in exchange for an honest review


The art style was pleasing to the eye and I enjoyed it very much. It's the type of art style I enjoy seeing in graphic novels. The contents of the novel itself was very info dumpy for the very beginning. I felt the biological info needed to understand the book could have been delivered in a more thematic way that flowed with the plot more instead of feeling like I was in an AP Biology class. Other than that, the story itself was pretty simplistic and I was hoping for some kind of twist at the end but there was none and it ended quite abruptly and not in a good way more in a way that felt choppy. Another thing I want to note is that the whole message of the novel a whole felt like one big PSA warning against the dangers of Genealogical sites which I also did not enjoy. The synopsis betrayed nothing in that it would be making any kind of political statement with respect to DNA sites and I did not sign up for that I just wanted a fun fictional story with the smart inclusion of genetics weaved throughout.

This is really a text book dressed up as a comic. I was expecting a story, but really it was just lots of info dumping. I think it should explain this in the publicity. The artwork was great though.