Isabel has lived a very sheltered life - she's expected to be there, but not there, to be a proper little lady. Isabel's mother is distant and her sculptor father doesn't seem to have much time for her. But everything changes when Isabel inadvertently steps through the veil separating the human world from the world of the Fae, and right into the middle of a war between the Seelie and the Unseelie. Isabel must return a magical necklace to the Seelie before the war destroys not just the Faerie world, but her world as well. The artwork is whimsical, done mainly in soft pastels that give the story a dream-like quality. However, the story is thin and the characters underdeveloped. The plot felt as though it’d been compressed from a longer, multi-volume graphic novel series into just one volume. The story moved too quickly and at no point are we allowed to get to know any of the characters. Even Isabel was a fairly bland character, with very little personality outside of the sadness at her absent parents (who, likewise are not very well developed). It’s a shame, because the artwork is truly remarkable, and the story could’ve been captivating, had it been given room enough to breathe.

The City on the Other Side by Mairghread Scott is a graphic novel that tells the story of a war between the fae -- the Seelie and the Unseelie -- and the human girl pulled into their world. It's an interesting premise, but I just couldn't get into it. It was all very pedestrian. There weren't any surprises. I could guess where the story was going. And while I really liked Isabel, I felt she was a worthy main character, her arc was bland. It was basically a standard hero arc.

I didn't feel any sparks of interest with this one. It was a bit of a chore to get through and took me quite a bit of time to read which kind of surprised me as this is a graphic novel. They are usually a quick read.

The art on the other hand was a true highlight. The colors are wonderful -- vibrant and alive. I think if I were younger I may have enjoyed it much more. It's a book geared to young readers. I think this one is definitely right up their alley.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2154523100?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
http://thebookobserver.blogspot.com/2017/10/review-12-city-on-other-side.html

"The City on the Other Side" is a cute story about a young girl, Isabel, living in San Francisco after the earthquake in 1906. She is on a quest to help restore balance to the world of the Fey by delivering a magical necklace to a person in the Seelie court. This novel has a cast of endearing and interesting characters. You don't see much of San Francisco, but you do get to see a lot of the Fey world. I enjoy stories about magic and the Fey and this book was no exception.

The strongest part of The City on the Other Side is the artwork. It is a really lovely book. Unfortunately the story is just okay. It is a pretty standard middle grades portal fantasy with a young protagonist living a sheltered life who is often overlooked and neglected by the adults around her. She discovers the barrier between our world and the world of fairies and unsurprisingly finds adventure there. It is enjoyable but predictable. I think young readers just starting out with fantasy would enjoy it though and the art really is great.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great story but not something that could capture and sustain my attention.

Bright and colorful - this comic is a fun read for those interested in fairy tales. I appreciated the San Francisco background, but I didn't love it. The story seemed too neat for me, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Great addition to any library. What I enjoyed most about this book was the vocabulary. Imaginative ride through a colorful world of fun characters.

I loved that this graphic novel included diverse characters and interesting setting: San Francisco and Carmel following the 1906 earthquake. Unfortunately, the setting wasn't used very effectively, and the plot was a fairly predictable and straightforward Fae story. Still, bright, fun artwork and diverse characters make this an overall pleasing middle grade read.

The City on the Other Side is a graphic novel set both in 1906 San Fransisco and the fairy world. San Fransisco is still recovering from the Great Earthquake, and the fairy world is at war.

Isabel, finding a necklace, accidentally travels through the barrier between worlds to the fairy world.

The story was fine, if a little predictable, and seemed to rush onward at an unnecessarily fast pace. I was not a fan of the artwork. I also did not feel a connection with Isabel.

The artwork on my review copy was low resoltion, but from what I can tell the artwork looked gorgeous and it has obviously been crafted with a lot of love and attention. I found the writing, however, to be a bit awkward, and there is a fair amount of info dumping. That being said, there's enough here that I would give it to a kid that's a fan of Amulet; it's visually appealing and it's got a similar kid-goes-through-magical-doorway-and-must-save-the-day theme going on.

Lovely little book about a war of the fairies that has spilled over into the real world. I enjoyed this, and the girl at the heart of it. She is pulled into an unknown situation, but she doesn't balk from the challenge she's presented, she takes it on with nothing but a mushroom to guide her. She's strong, and gets stronger as the time passes. Would love to get this for my girls to read.

The city on the other side is the land of the Seelie, and the Unseelie. Types of Fae. A magic messenger accidentally crosses over to the human world, leaving a necklace that must get to the Seelie Queen to defeat the Unseelie and bring peace to their world. The story is nice, but it has holes. It moves too quickly. Plus, as a galley copy, my view was blurred. I know it’s done on purpose, but from the cover you can tell the illustrations will be beautiful and vibrant. I just wish as an early reviewer, we got to see more of it. With a graphic novel the story is as much about the art as the words, and in this copy, they are both lacking.

This book was enjoyable, diverse, and action-packed and will be an awesome addition to many kid's libraries.

The story follows Isabel who lives in early 20th century San Francisco (following the Great Earthquake and Fire) who ends up finding on accident a secret fairy world that mimics the human world. There is a great war going on and Isabel must help rescue the Queen. Through her adventures she travels through both the human and fairy world and meets a host of characters both good and evil. Though they are fairies, they are not stereo-typically girly, nor would they be only enjoyed by girls, which is one of the main standouts of this graphic novel. Another is the diverse set of characters in both the humans and fairies that are meant to represent all the cultures that were present in San Francisco at the time this story takes place. The illustrations are also beautiful and the world built within the story is enchanting.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read that I think will be very popular with both avid graphic novel readers and as an introduction to the genre.

Why does the art work look so terrible? It looks like it was made on an Apple 2 from sometime in the late 80's all pixelated and ugly!

An intriguing comic with a thrilling plot involving a young girl, a boy thief, a magical necklace and a missing Seelie queen. The diverse mix of myths made the story all the more unique.

The San Francisco of humanity is threatened by unrest in the San Francisco of the faries--the other side of the Veil, as it's called, a world where the balance between opposites, the Seelie and Unseelie, has been disrupted--and it's up to Isabel, a wealthy girl who feels abandoned by both of her parents, to save the day and protect the City of the faries from nefarious Unseelie who would see the Seslie, and humanity, destroyed. Cute story, if a bit shallow/convoluted.

The City On The Other Side is a fairly standard urban fantasy, albeit one with an historical milieu. I had been hoping to find something more original - a spark or reason for the story other than a rather tenuous tie to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. The historical aspects are nearly non existent (though there are some middle-grade aimed factoids at the end) and I really wanted to see 1906 San Francisco rather than the alternate fairy world.

Plot: Isabel is fairly forgotten in her world - her San Francisco socialite mother binding her to the harsh mores of the era while her father lives in Carmel carving stone. One day while visiting her father, she chances upon a dying fairy. Before passing, he gives her a necklace and begs her to find the queen of the seelies and give her the necklace. Isabel soon finds herself in the middle of the cold iron war between the seelie and unseelie courts. With the help of a human boy hiding in the fairy world and stealing in order to survive, they will free the imprisoned queen and bring balance back to the fairy world.

Most of The City On The Other Side is a road quest; our heroine spends a chunk of the book looking for a seelie general and then the queen herself in fairyland. Perhaps because of this, there was little to no flavor of historic San Francisco. This takes place a bit (months maybe?) after the earthquake so there is no dwelling on that event. It's just randomly explained in the story that it was caused by the unseelies as part of their war. And it's more of an afterthought at that.

Our character Isabel is plucky but I have to admit that she feels just as disaffected as her parents. I never got much of a flavor of her personality or spirit other than that she wishes her parents noticed her more. Oddly, there is a reconciliation with one of them while the other remains completely disenfranchised from her daughter. Similarly, her friend Benjie is fairly cardboard and mushroom shaped seelie companion Button has an odd mix of flavors so that he is hard to pin down.

Readers may be surprised at some of the seeming anachronisms. Isabel's mother's use of the word 'smog' feels off since it was a word only just coined that year. Similarly, a museum night watchman using an electric flashlight (also recently invented at the turn of the century) also feels off. Both are possible but not plausible So, too, is it glaring that Isabel is confined by social mores and not by her gender as was custom in that era.

Admittedly, I didn't find much to interest me in this title. The lack of historic San Francisco really felt like a miss and I'd have enjoyed this more had the author/illustrator researched the locale/time and then put our hero/heroine through a San Francisco streets chase rather than situating so much in the fairie world. Since research was done on different types of fairies by the author, that clearly is where the focus went on the story. But younger, less sophisticated audiences may find this entertaining, if a bit bland. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I love stories of the Fey folk, and this one was fun because it took place in an alternative version of San Francisco, which is where Isabel ends up, when she gets her hands on a magic necklace that allows her to travel to the land of the Fey.

Although I love that this story took place in post 1906 earthquake San Francisco and Carmel, I find it a pity that there wasn't as much used of the actual cities. Plus the mother referring to smog, which was not that common in 1906. Considering how much of the city was destroyed, it is unclear where Isabel and her mother are even living. I sort of wish that had not been so vague.

But the rest of the story, that takes place in the land of the Fey, that is quite good, as Isable finds her way through it all. She is a good strong character, and I enjoyed that part of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.