ARC provided by Diamond Book Distributors through Netgalley

I've wanted to get my hands on this book since I read Amélie Fléchais' Le Petit Loup Rouge so when I saw it on Netgalley I did not hesitate!
Sadly, it was very disappointing...
I'm not the first reviewer (and I doubt I'll be the last) to mention how the manga influences made the reading of this book feel extremely uneven.
If there is one thing Fléchais excels at it's artwork, but how can you go from this:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NxPfoHbzf9k/WtzA_68iELI/AAAAAAAAGx0/yl2kBJH5eVkavBUQjaNm5BxjyPb0iOjaQCLcBGAs/s640/01.png
To this:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ltD7MINDx0/WtzA_G-cj1I/AAAAAAAAGxw/zITfqrCU2HE047XcmX_s5Z2FJ-yb5DeMACLcBGAs/s640/02.png

That is not to say that the artwork is bad - the fully coloured pages are stunning, to say the least:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4NOiNCUJBsw/WtzBAqJfmAI/AAAAAAAAGx4/i9GtRr_Wxtcno87NjVoBwP-wt4RaEKLwwCLcBGAs/s640/03.png

But then it's incredibly jarring to go, in the same scene, from this:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KtfKCovJsfk/WtzBC0PrymI/AAAAAAAAGyA/5P5IlJNzR1s8-AnD1CQnCvqjWEuHZ16RgCLcBGAs/s640/04.png
To this:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hsgscV-XoIU/WtzBB2ldsnI/AAAAAAAAGx8/979OXLufzHEFSbiJn4zKfp6TehTfn-BSwCLcBGAs/s400/05.png

And the plot was completely nonsensical. I was really hoping to see some of the <i>Over the Garden Wall</i> influences advertised in the summary, and while, visually, they were somewhat there, the plot was completely disconnected and confusing and might as well not have been there.
The boys get lost and stumble upon events about to lead into a war in the forest... and then they leave.
How disappointing...

Still the artwork, the one in colour anyway, is really pretty.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cuaN52rxhxc/WtzBEE1I4yI/AAAAAAAAGyE/1tVwJbwfjAUbmz0HoPUw6NCKhLwjI1rMwCLcBGAs/s640/06.png

Sometimes I like to browse the read now section on Netgalley. I like to give graphic novels a try and the cover of The Lost Path stood out with its intricate cover and own art style.

The art starts off very well with a clear own style and beautiful colored pages. But after a few pages this was turned to black and white with a sketched feeling with on occasion some color thrown in here and there. At first I thought that this was because it wasn’t finished but the book is out already and it became clear quickly that it was done at certain scenes where the author wanted to make an impact. And the full color pages were stunning and eye catching. But I did see quite some wonky lines in those as well so not as clean as it could be either. The sketchiness of the rest was a bit jarring compared to the colored bits.

The idea of the wood and our group of boys going in is interesting but in the end the story doesn’t really wrap itself up. There is talk of a battle but our boys get taken out of the woods before that happens and I felt like I was just dumped out of a story with now way to return to it to know the ending. It was not a good feeling.

While we don’t know the name of the boys until the very end they did grown on me. There is a clear bond between them and their sarcastic and childlike interactions were endearing at moments. I wouldn’t mind seeing them return to the woods again.

This is a tough one to review because there were so many issues. I loved the art in the beginning. The colored pages are beautiful. The black and white were not so. Many of the images were difficult to determine what was going on.
As for the story - in the end, it made very little sense. There were characters coming and going. The story didn't really have a resolution and there was little explanation for what was going on. The worst part is that I believe this is a story for children, making it even less recommendable.
I hate not to recommend a book because I believe in the work that is put into each one. However, this one just seems like a waste of time.

This is a gorgeous book. Just beautiful. I could look at the illustrations all day.

The story, though, is quite odd. If I'm being honest, I really didn't understand it at all. Now and then I came close to having aha moments, but I never actually figured out what the heck was going on. If I were rating this book on the story alone, it would be a much lower score. But the illustrations here are so good, that this is almost a 5-star book even without knowing what it's all about.

I could definitely see being absorbed in this book for hours on end trying to figure it all out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free electronic ARC of this graphic novel, received in exchange for an honest review.

This was barely possible to read, but I did try my best with a review. On Kindle the text is formatted miles away from the speech bubbles so you're guessing who's saying what; on the lovely Adobe Digital Editions 9 pages in 10 are pure black, but hey netgalley thinks the only three machines with this bug in the universe are all in our household, or so their very rude "help" desk representative implies.

Anyway, to the plot - er; some people die, three kids walk into the woods trying to find or do or hunt I have no idea what, they meet a huge stag, then they turn into robots. A couple pages later they're kids again, at which point everyone says WTF and gives up. Book certainly seemed half-finished with naff pencil drafts instead of what I have to assume is the finished painted artwork. Is it too much for us reviewers to be provided with something serviceable before we waste our time?

3.5 stars

I've read The Little Red Wolf by the same author last year and I absolutely love it. It was an amazing and unique story (spin on the little red riding hood tale) accompanied by some amazing artwork.

Now, this book's artwork is nearly as good as the last one's, although not quite. It's the main thing that made me want to read it and I'm not disappointed. I just love how powerful this author's art is and how pleasant it is to the eye. They are extremely different from anything I ever saw and I would highly recommend it.
But, regarding the story, this was not as good as The Little Red Wolf. It was definitely interesting and I liked it but while the last one was a total 5-stars for me this was basically a 3. I absolutely loved the first pages and I was expecting it to continue that way but it didn't. It just got a bit messy... and ended up being about some boys that got lost during a treasure hunt, and saw themselves in a forest "complication", where beasty-creatures are trying to solve their own problems.

This, contrary to the last book, has both colored pages and black and white ones, which I wasn't much of a fan of.
Overall I did enjoy it and I'm the biggest fan of the artwork but it could have been even better than it was.

it seems that no matter what ways i tried i cant download this in my kindle :( it's sad though, considering that the book cover and description looks promising

I recieved this through NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review.

The art. It's amazing. It's otherworldly and dream like and the colours are so interesting. The black white stuff it cute and detailed but simple feeling at te same time.

I don't feel like I got enough story, it was cute and fun and intriguing. It had humor and tension and just sort of silent sweet things like the brother buckling the little robot bro in his seat.

I'm not sure if there's going to be more but I would be really excited to see where it goes.

Flechais's first full length comics outing doesn't feel as fleshed out and impressive as her excellent "Little Red Wolf" but the eye-catching art is damn worth the price of admission.
The story in this one is as incohesive as they get, pretty much just a jumble of cool imagery thrown together in the form of some kids going on a quest. Little is explained, little is implied, much is shown. Whenever Flechais bestows a coloured page on the reader, it's magic. Good God, her drawings are just out of this world, honestly, I could read a pamphlet on drying paint ravenously, as long as it's illustrated by her.
However, the book immediately trips up whenever the art switches to black and white, which is like 70% of it. Despite still looking stylish and very generously textured, Amelie's illustrations feel less whimsical and wowing when they're not bursting with colour. While it does make each of those rare coloured pages feel like an oasis in a desert, I still feel like a full-colour version of this would definitely prompt me to give a higher grade.
It's kind of fun to see Flechais experiment with style, employing three drastically different techniques for the forest scenes, the protagonists, and the fantasy sequences, imagined by the youngest boy. However, the simplistic style in which the boys are drawn may be the author's choice but that doesn't make it a perfect choice, feeling kind of jarring instead.
But as I've already said, Flechais makes beautiful art and I did not regret reading this one bit, if only for the glorious forest landscapes and vivid monsters that lurk beneath. Whatever else comes out of her mind, I'll be right here, ready to embrace it.

I had good expectation about this book, because The Little Red Wolf was very good.

Unfortunately, The Lost Path, after an intersting beginning that sounds like a fairy tale, loses the grip of the story, and ends up poor in content.

The images are very nice, but the black and white ones do not valorize the author style, and they leave a sensation of something unfinished.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.

What is interesting to me about this comic is that the author and the illustrator are the same person. I don't think I've read many comics that one person is doing all the work, so that is pretty impressive.

The art in this comic was amazing! Although, I think I have a very early copy because there are a lot of panels that are done in black and white line drawings and have not been filled in. I actually had to download this arc twice, because on the Bluefire Reader app I use on my tablet the pages with the black and white drawings just came through as blank. I opened it on Adobe Digital Editions on my computer and it was fine. It was just super frustrating because I prefer to read comics on my tablet, and it's the first time I've had an issue with files not reading correctly from netgalley. I don't think NG is at fault for this, it might just be an issue with the app I use.

The story for this one was about three boys that get lost in the woods and get sucked into a forest world they don't understand. We get a little bit of an introduction in the front of this story about what has happened, but I felt like once they get wrapped into the conflict I don't understand what the heck is happening. They don't either, so I think that is kind of the point, but the plot just felt very confusing. I'm wondering if there is going to be another book because I want to know more about what is going on in the forest. I think the kids in the story do too.

I honestly don't remember if the boys in this story have names. Maybe I wasn't paying attention. We do know that two of them are brothers, and the younger brother is really weird. I don't know if he was supposed to be not altogether there or if he just was a kid playing but he just seemed too weird. I just didn't get him. I think that these characters needed to be fleshed out a little more. I just don't think I really understood what they were about. It's also not really clear why they were in the woods in the first place!

The art in this was great so I really enjoyed that about this one, but I just left it wanting more. I wanted to know more about these kids, and I wanted more details on what was going on in the forest.

*I received a free egalley copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

I was draw. To this book partly because of the gorgeous art on the cover. I was SO disappointed that most of the art inside was nothing like the cover. I couldn’t get past what I think are unpleasant, even bad drawings. I read a few pages and gave up.

***Note: I received e-ARC via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to publisher and NetGalley. ***

The Lost Path was drawn with an expert hand! I liked this sweet little story of three campers who are looking for a way through a magical forest! The cover pulled me in and I am so glad that I finished this short because the well-drawn illustrations complimented the whimsical tale!

I laughed at the kiddo who couldn’t properly read the map and got everyone lost but things did get puzzling. There was no real explanation for the war between the creatures and the spirits. That could have been explained and developed better. What I did not like the most was the way the characters acted and how they were treated an interacted with others. There did not really seem to be a clear message with these things and actions thus the reason for the three stars.

The Lost Path has a very intricate cover and that suits the story very well. This graphic novel caught my eye and the adventure it promise was alluring. It starts out with a short tale about the lore of the forest and then dives into some boys on a trek. They soon find themselves in the woods with some very strange creatures and evils trying to get them. It was cute, but the story kind of had me lost. There were magical creatures and a queen that was angry but it didn't really explain enough for me. I was also a bit thrown off by the coloring - some pages were full of color while others were completely black and while. When it first happened I thought it was a proof thing but then it went in and out of color so it might be an artistic choice that I didn't find appealing.

I thought this graphic novel was nice but I have been reading a lot lately and this one fell a bit short for me.

Three boys leave Camp Happiness on a treasure hunt activity. To reach the treasure first the boys take a detour that brings them deeper into the forest where all the magical beasts live. They find themselves trying to stay alive as they stumble in the middle of two Forest Spirits fighting for the throne.

This children’s book is a mix between illustrations and graphic novel panels. There are a mix of full color illustrations that transition to black and white panels. I do not think that the black and white panels are placeholders especially if the book is supposed to be mixed. (I could be wrong.) I found the color illustrations very beautiful and haunting. The black and white panels have a lot of detail in them that captured the eerie feeling associated with traveling deep into a forest. I was more impressed by the amount of detail in the black in white than I was by the illustrations. This was a refreshing way to read a children’s book. I felt the addition of panels added more to the story that otherwise would have to be limited with illustrations (especially when there is more action in the story).

The first few pages set up the groundwork on what kind of personality each of the three boys had as they traveled deeper in the woods. I did grow interested in the story as I grew more curious on what was happening. As the boys come across the magical beasts they don’t question their existence, but I’m assuming the boys probably think they are all in costumes. Even with the panels, I thought the story ended abruptly. I was left with questions about the magical beasts and the Forest Spirits. Was that the morale of the story though? Sometimes it’s best to have stones leaves unturned?

I should mention that there is a scene that depicts the almost death of one boy who get swallowed by a magical beast. The boy does get saved and the scene is not graphic. I felt this scene added a more “spooky” feeling for kids who are reading it, and added a dire situation that is often associated with adventures.

This title features hauntingly beautiful art with lush landscapes and mythical details that are unfortunately overshadowed by a disconnected and bizarre plot. A niche story for those who appreciate modern twists on darker fairy tales, or for fans of the darker undertones of Where the Wild Things Are and the randomness of the adventures in Over the Garden Wall.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

At first, this book felt a bit biblical, then the pace and style changes so much it's more middle grade than children's or adult graphic novel. Then the themes pick up and again metaphors come in.

I read in in about 20 minutes, startled by probably how many hours had been put in to create those fantastic drawings while it only takes the reader a few seconds gazing at each. The story is relatively fast-paced, so unless you stop and dwell on each scene there really isn't much time to appreciate every little detail.

But the artwork is really amazing. With so many different styles to keep you surprised and intrigued at the same time.

A definite fun read for all graphic novel lovers.

The cover art for The Lost Path is what interested me. I hadn't realized the book was a graphic novel which meant an abundance of quirky illustrations to explore throughout the story!

The story is an odd sort of mystery involving three friends who wander off into a forest of enchantment. They encounter an interesting variety of talking creatures. The story has some mythological elements as well. One advantage of the digital version was being able to enlarge portions of the page to get a really close look at the elaborate panels.

Not sure if the tale is purposely open ended or whether this is the first in a series. The reader is left with quite a few unanswered questions and not a whole lot of character development. I definitely give the author credit for a visually engaging and imaginative story. An interesting addition to the graphic novel genre that even young audiences can enjoy.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of The Lost Path from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Path is a strange story of three boys lost in the wood. The tale follows them as they try to figure a way home while encountering monsters and strange creatures who are engaged in a long-running conflict that seems to be running into its climax.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Kids with a love of fantasy and adventure will take to this.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
The art is unique, however, the story itself seems to be going nowhere. It begins well but lacks coherence from the middle to the end.


The Lost Path by Amélie Fléchais and Jonathan Garnier is available to buy on all major online bookstores. Many thanks to Lion Forge for review copy.

My favorite part of the book was no doubt the beautiful graphics and their own peculiar storytelling. The lovely art style that keeps your eyes on the pages, the aesthetic appeal of the forest and most of all the perception of each character. The characters are very distinct in their voices. 

I adore the sudden splash of color, how pleasing to look at, how it shifted and built the mood of the book. The book remained very atmospheric and whimsical from the beginning to the end and we knew just as much as little as the characters in the book too. The part was a little frustrating for me, I had wished for a little more world-building, a little more peeks at the secretive forest and its inhabitants, and just a bit more of danger hence the 3 stars as I felt the forest had more to tell than was told. 

‘’Once something is in the forest’s clutches, it doesn’t easily let go…’’ 

How very true, the questions and allure of the forest and its spirits will remain with you even after the book has ended. Overall it was a quick and enjoyable read. I finished it in between my study breaks. 

My many thanks to Net Galley and the Publisher for allowing me ARC in exchange for an honest review.