Thanks to NetGalley for this. I was not to sure about the story line in the book as the characters seem to be a bit over the top and confusing to me but the artwork was well done. I am not sure if another volume was written after this but I would consider reading that as well.

This is a look at a future where the machines have become so powerful, that they try to take over the world. But magic and mage still exist. They are the saviors. They had to save the people from the machine. But now, years later things are going wonky. New illnesses that can not be treated and someone wanting to raise the machines. So much of book 1 was the mages squabbling in girl fights that it was annoying. I think the “learn team work” vibe was hit way to hard. But I find the concept interesting enough to read the next volume.

'The Castoffs, Volume 1' by MK Reed and Brian Smith with art by Molly Ostertag was a bit confusing to me, but since my review copy had 25 missing pages, I'll assume maybe that's where some of the missing narrative went.

25 years have passed since the mages fought the giant robots and the mages have won. Now the remains of the giant hulking machines can still be found lying around. Into this world, we are introduced to a trio of young mages who are sent on a mission to a town named Clifton where people are forgetting things. The three are very different and they need to learn to get along.

It's a good enough young reader story. There is a cover blurb comparing it to Lumberjanes, and I guess I can see that comparison as far as audience goes. The art is good and the coloring works very well. It's a big world that seems barely tapped even though this is a complete story.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge/Roar, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

The premise for this book was so interesting, but it kind of fell flat for me. It was a little messy, the characters a little confusing, but the art was wonderful and I really do appreciate getting the chance to read a review copy of this!

The first several pages of this graphic novel are totally confusing and disorienting. And I’m not only talking about the fact that when I read the galley proof the coloring had not yet been done, so it was just a hideous YELLOW and black. Blech! But the story begins in the midst of a great battle with a bunch of protagonists that we don’t know. Maybe due to the coloring issues, they are almost indistinguishable from one another; and there are far too many of them to keep track of. Also, I didn’t have a clue what was going on or who was doing what.

After this initial blip, the story seemingly reverts to an earlier time, the coloring is complete for the remainder of the book, and you can actually tell who is who and what is going on. The three main individuals of the tale - Charris, Trinh and Ursa – all have very different appearances, personalities and abilities. All of which help make them distinguishable characters. But none of them is exactly what they seem when the story begins. They are definitely a mismatched group, assigned by their leader Leda to work together and journey to a distant town to deliver some supplies. However, they end up falling into a lot more intrigue than just the simple task they are supposedly assigned. Along the way, they slowly get to know each other, accept one another, and eventually work fairly well together.

The ending is rather confusing, and is definitely a cliff-hanger. However, I am sure that more will be revealed in later editions of the series, and I can’t wait to read them to see how the characters and their story unfold.

I truly enjoyed this story of magic and mystery. Three magic school classmates are set off into the wilds to find information about an intriguing mystery. The three girls have different strengths and must find a way to work together to solve the mystery and save themselves in this unique tale of magical mystery.

An excellent book that I hope to share with my class.

Not my favorite of graphic novels. I was relatively confused through the start of it (and I know the color isn't final as it's stated as much...but the bright yellow color in the prologue hurt my eyes).

I liked the part of the story where the three learned to see each others strengths...but it was sort of lost in the confusion of the story.

I was a little bit thrown by the beginning of this because the panels weren't colored yet and everything was a weird shade of yellow, but I understand that I'm reading an unfinished copy and the rest of the art/coloring was great so I'm sure those pages will also be good in the finished product. The only bad thing was that some of the characters in the beginning flashback section look very similar and it was hard for me to tell them apart without cues like clothing/hair/skin color.

But that was just the 'prologue' section. Then we get to the actual story, which I absolutely loved. I am really enjoying all the recent comic titles with diverse female casts. This story features three very different mage apprentices who are sent to deliver medicine to a nearby village but get a little more than they bargained for. This was a really great opening volume and I felt that it did a good job introducing the setting and the characters. I liked how different the main three characters were and that they all had their own specific strengths and weaknesses. I also thought their interactions were very realistic. They don't get along very well at first but through their adventures they get to know each other better and value each other for their unique strengths and learn to work together.

Also I like how they continue to call their new pet lynx-thing 'Evil' because as a fellow cat owner I can definitely relate ;) [I know they said they would tell people it was a dog, but to me it looks distinctly cat-like]

Overall a fun book once you get past the prologue and into the meat of the book. Reminds me of a fantasy version of Lumberjanes. Takes place after a battle between magic and machines has crippled the world. I was very confused by the prologue. It starts with a group of people with what I thought were super powers running through a post-apocalyptic landscape. Then you turn the next page and everything is completely different. It was a jarring opening which left me wondering, "WTF is happening?"

While I appreciate that the main cast was all female without making a big deal about it, I don't know that it did enough to distinguish itself from the pack. Magic, dystopia, killer robots, none of these things are new in graphic novels, nor even this particular combination. Not only is the plot fairly standard, the world is indistinct. We don't learn enough about its inner workings its history, ore the relationships between characters to make it a truly compelling read.

Well, I got to the end, but it was a struggle. Three badly drawn girl mage apprentices get sent on a mission that just involves them fighting and double-crossing and arguing with each other. There's so much random about this book, from the unexplained prologue to the weird cat thing, to the pastel colour of the background that changes with each and every panel like only the worst comics tend to do… Seriously underwhelming.

Clever subtitle.
All black and yellow to start as a group of semi-super fighters take on killer bots destroying what looks to be a European town. Soon enough it switches to a full color fantasy where a healer in a far-off land asks for help when people are losing their memories. She sends three students to help, with the warrior always bickering, the scout too insecure to say anything, and the healer surreptitiously controlling the warrior with her inside voice. When they’ve figured out why they were chosen for this mission they quit their bickering and go all Wonder Twins—or Triplets, in this case—powers, activate!
There’s some good stuff, like the history lesson around the campfire, and more importantly some sly humor; “Why am I getting licked?” Wrong potion, happens all the time. My favorite part was “You have your dad’s eyes.” Talk about an easy distraction, like “Luke, I am your father.” But I’m not a fan of all that squabbling, so that even when they got it through their heads to work together I was already disliking them too much.

The Castoffs reminded me a lot of Rat Queens, which I really like. The three protagonists are students at a academy for Mages (kind of like the X-Men academy) who belong to different groups and don't get along before they're put together for a mission outside. People have been losing memory after an odd woman is sighted in town. The group is sent to deliver memory potions but when they reach the town there is no one left but an injured man. Something is off with the man, and although not everyone in the group agrees, they follow him after curing him with a healing potion.

This was definitely my favourite graphic novel from Netgalley so far. It was fun and exciting. I'd highly recommend it to people who love fantasy and graphic novels.

This story begins by focusing on apprentice mages, showing us a brief introductory section to their skills and personalities within a basic plot setting. This isn't the most captivating of beginnings, yet it is possible to see the promise and potential this series will have. From here things do get more interesting, so I highly recommend sticking with it.

The characters in this series are diverse and feature strong female characters, two things that many readers are seeking in books, so this makes this first volume stand out against other graphic novels. While you get the beginnings of character development in this first volume, I'm really excited to see where the story goes from here on out and I will definitely be continuing on with the series. The plot was gripping, tense and intriguing, whilst also being a quick and easy read.

The artwork was colourful, making good use of a strong and bright colour palette, which is what I like the most from graphic novels.

All in all, I think this is a strong start to the series and is definitely one to watch out for.

I feel bad but I really didn't like this comic. It didn't really 'jive' with me and I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't finish it either....

A great start to a series, intrigued between the mage v machine battle as well as the teams growing friendship. Also, I want Evil. That is all.

The art of this comic is beautiful and I loved the design of the characters.
The three main characters were amazing and it was wonderful to follow their story.
I really want to read the next volume.

The Castoffs should have been a book I really enjoyed and respected: it has female protagonists fighting a mix of technology vs magic. Unfortunately, what I found was a story with all the cliches about female characters: they are incredibly girlie, they fight all the time for no reason (because 'girls can't have social groups without fighting' cliche, I guess), and they are incredibly shallow and vapid. The story doesn't really go anywhere, it's hard to follow, it changes POV from first to third person randomly and inexplicably, no one acts logically, and I admittedly didn't fall in love with the potato-shapes of the character designs either. It honestly was hard to plow through.

Story: Three female apprentice magic users are sent on a quest to help a group in need. Each apprentice has a bit of a stigma in their community (one is a passive aggressive and manipulative, one is overbearing, and one is a screw up). They aren't told the true reason they are leaving together but they will find out once they arrive. They'll pick up a random pet 'cat' thing along the way (because girls should always have a cliche pet cat, right?). They fight a 'big bad'.

Graphic novels aimed at girls don't have to be so shallow: even My Little Pony has some great moments of wit and witticism (with better empowerment messages). All that falls short here in order to pound a square plot through a round hole. Logic is thrown completely out the door in so many places, it's frustrating (because, hey, they all have secrets they are hiding from each other for no good reason other than to create drama; and hey, if you send your apprentices on a very dangerous mission, make sure not to tell them the truth or any of the dangers; and hey, if you are going to supply one of them with potions that she has to carry around on her back, make sure there is a large vial of a love potion - always helpful to those who need medicine and great for a deus ex machina acquisition of a feral but cute pet).

The character designs are fairly flat with a very muted color scheme that fails to engage. I didn't see a lot of synergy in the colors and kept wishing this was much brighter and more fun. In muting the colors of the potato-y characters, it made the story even blander and more insipid. If writers and illustrators want to make an impact, why not go the way of an Avatar: The Last Airbender in its rich worldbuilding and color story. Or, again, with the subtle tongue in cheek over the top wink wink fun of My Little Pony. It doesn't have to be so shallow and the conflict doesn't have to come with the girls fighting each other the whole way, nastily manipulating in the worst passive aggressive ugliness, or rushing headlong without thought. Why can't girls be smart, work together, and solve bigger problems than petty conflicts through most of the journey?

Most problematic, however, are the panels. I had to reread pages several times just to understand what I was seeing. E.g., the story starts with us looking through a person's opening eyes and then the last panel suddenly jumps to third person - and I had to keep going back and forth to figure out who was the person in the opening as a result. Other panel decisions also proved frustratingly difficult to decipher - enough so that I had no chance to really get into the story. There's not a lot of creativity and interest in how this is laid out - it's bland, jumpy, lacking smooth segues, and very unrewarding visually.

It's frustrating to write a review like this because I love that we get comics for girls. But this is masquerading as empowerment and instead it pretty much showcases girls as stupid, petty, vapid, reasonless, and passive aggressive. In other words, all the cliches girls already have to fight in the modern age. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

A really interesting start to a new comic series! It has a Lumberjanes feel to it because it's about three young woman who go on a mission to save people while dealing with crazy and scary creatures. The added bonus in The Castoffs is that all three girls -- Charris, Ursa, and Trinh -- have different powers and the powers themselves fit nicely with their personalities; it's like an extension of themselves.

Not going to lie, the beginning part really confuses me since they were entirely different characters and I don't see how they fit in with the three girls yet. I also felt that the end got resolved too quickly and too easily, but it did end on a fun cliffhanger. I would definitely continue reading the series.