Such a wonderful and intriguing concept! The artwork alone was enough to drag me in, but the story and characters held on to me just as tightly.

I will say though, it felt so rushed and short. There was so much room for more world exploring and explanations, and yet… It sorta leaves you filling in the blanks yourself. This can be a good thing… as well as a bad. I’m glad this is a series and the following books will hopefully bring more answers to the board, but I wish this first volume had been much longer. That way the reader could grow a better attachment to the characters and their world.

From one artist to another, I myself am able to become attached just by the way the characters are designed and expressed on each page, but I know not everyone would feel the same. Some people want to be able to watch them grow a little before they are able to feel their emotions and understand their actions.

This review is starting to feel like a teacher grading their students' assignments and I don’t like that feeling lol, so I’ll wrap it up with a 3/5-star rating. Lots and lots of potential in this one. I look forward to the next volume.

My thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for the Digital Advanced Reader’s Copy. This book is expected to be published October 8th, 2024.

As a girl who loves the moon I loved this. The concept of the night mother, our main character esentially being a princess spirited away and protected by someone who spends his whole life trying to protect her, the world being eternal night, and the mysteries of the sun in this world now controlled by the moon were all incredible. I cannot wait for the next volume to find out what happens next.

There once was a story of the Night Mother; a benevolent, ethereal creature who descended to Earth to collect the souls of the departed. They would ascend with her, and she would turn them into moonlight so they could shine over the ones they loved.

Once, she was good and kind. But now...

Maddy knows her father loves her, but sometimes it feels suffocating. He has rules - too many - to keep her safe, but from what? Now that the moon has stopped in the sky those rules have gotten more restricting. Tonight she'll find out why.

I loved The Night Mother. The art was lovely, the story was fantastic, and it progressed quickly. The first volume really set the stage for the next two volumes, and did a lot of the essential world building. I will definitely be checking out the other volumes of this series. If you enjoyed The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman or The Nest by Kenneth Oppel I believe you will love this book.

I really loved this! It was the perfect balance of fairytale and unnerving. The mythology behind the plot is so intriguing and artwork is absolutely STUNNING!
I do wish it had been longer, though. And some of the scenes were a bit more fast paced than I was anticipating, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment in the slightest. I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes out for the next volume!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

A lot of kids at my library love fantasy stories that are darker and have a fairytale-esque feel to them, and we have a lot of readers who prefer graphic novels, so this will have a large audience here. I do think the development so far both in terms of characters and plot seems to be lacking, but it is just the first volume so maybe we'll get more as the series continues!

5/5 Stars. Absolutely stunning! The artwork is gorgeous! The story line immediately draws you in. Though I’m as confused about the rules of the world around us as Madeline, I loved everything about this! This magical graphic novel tells the story of a young girl, Madeline, who cares for the dead. Madeline and her father Barnabus live on an isolated island. Barnabus the clock master would love nothing more than to keep it remote and protect Madeline, but the whispers of the dead, the fate of the stars, the stuck moon, and the current Night Mother have other plans. There is nothing I didn’t like about this, except maybe how short it was. I look forward to reading on in Vol. 2. Thank you Oni Press, Jeremy Lambert, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for review!

A magical story about a girl whose life has never been hers. Very interesting and beautiful art!
Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for a review!

I enjoyed the opening to the book. There seemed to be a melodic undertone to the opening and the beginning read like a fairytale.

Once it switched to Madeline's perspective, I did begin to lose interest though. It felt like we were immediately told most of her thoughts and history in one burst, versus the details being woven into the story.

It was an interesting premise and I really enjoyed the vibrant illustrations, especially the use of blue and green.

Mysterious, sad and fantasic with beautiful art!
Madeline Tock and her Father are Lighthouse Keppers in a town under the curse of the Night Mother, a spirit whose job was to guide souls to their afterlife with her lantern but has started taking them at random
Instead of protecting ships from crashing, maddie retrieves the dead from the sea to bury.
When a girl named Nura is pulled from the sea, maddie learns of a Lullaby and makes a life or death decision to stop the Night Mother

2.5 ⭐️ The Graphic Novel “The Night Mother Vol.1” by Jeremy Lambert follows the young girl Madeline Tock that lives in perpetual darkness on a little island near a town and takes care of burying the deceased townspeople. But all her life she felt a calling that is connected to her gift to communicate with the dead and soon she has to embrace her powers to save the one’s she cares for.

I really loved the color scheme of the book. The saturated colors combined with the flow of the illustrations was visually pleasing. I didn’t like the way the people were painted that much but the majority of the illustrations looked amazing.

The story was mysterious and action packed. However I could not connect to the characters. The story was told in a removed way and did not immerse me at all.

A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Oni Press for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-copy of this graphic novel!

I thought this graphic novel was pretty good. The artwork was absolutely stunning (easily the highlight). As for the story, I thought the core was good. It was an interesting setup and a cool idea. I just feel like it was a bit too fast paced. I feel like if it were just a bit longer or slower paced then we would've gotten to know the characters better and the emotional beats would have hit a little harder.

The art was so pretty and interesting, but not much happened in the story and it ended on a cliff hanger. Hopefully another volume come out in not too long so I can find out what happens next. It was very short on its own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this graphic novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

The art style for this graphic novel was GORGEOUS, all of the characters were beautifully rendered and I feel like the colors blended together so well. Madeline is a super cute main character, I'm excited to see more of her journey and learn who she truly is! The ending definitely ended on a cliffhanger that made me wish the next release date was coming soon! Can't wait for more.

This book is so astoundingly beautiful, that there are pages that I would genuinely purchase to hang on my wall.

Paired with a gripping and well paced story l was completely engrossed the entire time I was reading this, and was absolutely devastated to reach the end of the volume, desperately needing to know what was going to happen next.

My one nitpick is the missed opportunity at the beginning to take on a more poetic quality or something similar to what we find in the children's stories we can quote by heart. I feel like it would have lured the reader in more, but also the beginning of this book just gives those ✨vibes✨

In the end: I will definitely be picking up the rest of this series.

Thank you Oni Press and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. Gorgeously illustrated and dreamlike, this short story felt rushed and somewhat confusing to me. I was unable to connect with the characters, thus am not sure I’ll continue with this series.

The Night Mother delivers a dark fairytale of a story accompanied by gorgeous, detailed illustrations. The art is absolutely beautiful – Sharpe’s layered images are full of color and precision and fully absorbed me. Perhaps best of all, the art perfectly matches the feel of the story, crafting an immersive experience that I absolutely loved. At times, I felt it could be a little text-heavy, reading more like an illustrated book than a graphic novel, but especially past the opening scenes there was a better balance between text and art – and I think that might’ve been partially because I just loved the art so much that I wanted to see more of it!

I really enjoyed the story as well. The Night Mother truly feels like a fairytale – but rather than the sanitized versions commonly found today, it harkens back to the dark roots of the Grimm Brothers, where a happily-ever-after was far from guaranteed. Although a relatively simple story, it unfolds with smooth precision, introducing in a relatively short page count a variety of compelling, fascinating characters, most of all so Madeline and the Night Mother. I hope to read future volumes of this story!

Recommended to lovers of older middle-grade, original fairytales, and dark fantasy; 4.5 stars, rounded up

A charming, whimsical and scary story with so much imagination and interesting characters. If feels a little bit like Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost meets Coraline in a weird way. I could totally see Laika creating an adaptation of this.

Illustrations that blew my mind, great creepy story and atmosphere and some emotional moments. 10/10

I really enjoyed The Night Mother by Jeremy Lambert. The pacing was excellent. It’s so action-packed, a real page turner! Definitely a good intro to the series that will keep readers coming back.

I can’t wait to see where the story goes because it seems there maybe some secrets and maybe even some unreliable characters.

There were a few heart wrenching moments so I can only imagine that this series will be an emotional roller coaster!

Beautiful artwork that really gives you a certain ambience and vibe as you read.

Perfect for those who love dark fantasy and fantasy genres.

The story is very interesting and unique. The art work is generally very beautiful. However, the main character is supposed to be twelve and is drawn like a middle-aged woman. It was very distracting.

thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this advanced copy.

It has been a while since I've read a middle grade graphic novel so while I absolutely loved the moody color palate and storyline, it did heavily rely on telling and repeating instead of showing. Especially when the synopsis pretty much covers everything that happened in such a small set of pages. Granted, graphic novels take a lot of work so I understand needing to break things into volumes to get the full story, I'm just a little confused with how things progressed. It felt more like the first chapter instead of a full volume.