A very inclusive and well crafted graphic novel. It is set in a different universe, so the first half was very difficult to follow, especially that sometimes the images are a bit unclear and I was unsure what was going on as the world isn't explained well. But once you're immersed into it, it's intriguing and good.

This one was a solid three stars for me. The art was absolutely gorgeous and I read the whole thing so quickly. My main issue with this is that it didn't seem as if a lot was happening. It was a slow pace and there wasn't very much action.

I gave this graphic novel three stars. The storyline was interesting kept my attention for the most part although there were sections where I lost interest and wasn't really invested in the story. I enjoyed the art style, it was simple enough but also showed the large scenes really well and in a good amount of detail. The biggest drawback for me was that unfortunately I couldn't relate to the main characters and found them to be a little annoying which made the story more of a struggle to read. Overall if was a good comic but I would maybe recommend it for a younger audience.

Beautifully written and illustrated. On a Sunbeam combines action, science fiction, and romance into an incredible story of adventure.

For whatever reason, this is a bit hard for me to review. I'm having some trouble just thinking beyond "everything was amazing and you should all read this." Mia and the crew are all deeply explored. Walden is able to give so much about the characters even when so little is being spoken. I also love her inclusion of a non-binary character in this female-centric universe. The plot is split between the present and Mia's past at boarding school. While I occasionally find myself annoyed with this sort of writing, because one part is often stronger than the other, that was not the case here. Both portions are equally compelling and build up to the final act of the story. Again, this is an amazing story. Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

This is Tillie Walden’s sophomore novel. It is set in a futuristic fantasy world about a crew of space rebuilders. They travel to various planets to salvage ancient ruins. The story integrates flashbacks throughout. The main character was emotionally destroyed after attending school and she is using her new job to heal. The reader learns about the main character’s lost love.

The story didn’t have much action. It was very quiet and strongly focused on the emotional aspects of the main characters. There were no male characters in this work. The illustrations and coloring were subdued, as well.

I loved this book. The art is gorgeous and the story is adorable. There's so much to like here from the fun science fantasy setting to the diverse cast of characters.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

The story begins with a girl joining a group of people that specialize in rebuilding structures throughout space. Mia, the new recruit, meets the crew and is immediately taken into their small family which consists of Char, Alma, Jules, and Ell. The crew lands in a beautiful worn-down-with-time structure an something about the place attracts Mia’s attention. While she wanders away, the landscape triggers flashbacks of Mia’s time in boarding school, where she recalls a past friend. As she walks more into the unstable structure, the floor cracks open and Mia falls. Jules is able to save her but not without receiving a scalding from Alma.

Throughout their journey, Mia keeps having flashbacks of her years in school and her friend Grace, whom we learn through memories that she hid a secret from Mia. Meanwhile, Mia becomes closer with the crew but because of the accident the crew is obligated to report the incident and Char is suspended and can’t travel with the crew. The crew keeps traveling and Mia learns more about them while still having flashbacks of Grace. Soon, Mia can’t keep her own secrets hidden from the crew anymore and she reveals her true intentions.

There are several interesting aspects of the story and comic that caught my attention. One, and maybe the most creative one, was the ship! The crew’s ship is or resembles a fish, if I recall well, I think the ship even has facial expressions. In a certain way, it makes sense that the ship is a fish, it swims through the vast and beautifully drawn space. And speaking of the beautiful drawn space, the backgrounds within the comic look amazing. One of my favorites is the first structure the crew visits to rebuild, it is a simple but detailed three color flat design. The other ones would be all the space through windows scenes that are shown throughout the story.

The comic has a good design, but what I liked was the difference between scene that are present and those that are flashbacks. Shades of red are used for present scenes, while shades of blue are used for flashbacks. The story mainly follows Mia, and through her we see the flashbacks that fill in the gaps of the story. As the story progresses, other characters’ point of views are shown using the same colors for present and flashback scenes.

On a Sunbeam is a really great story with wonderful characters with struggles, goals, adventures and great stories of their own. The comic’s design is amazing and refreshing and leaves you wanting more. If you like finding new comics with great design and adventures than I recommend On a Sunbeam.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

On a Sunbeam is a stunning story about love and life set in a breathtaking and immersive universe with a gorgeous stylized art style, with action, romance, and slice-of-life storytelling.

One of the things I enjoyed about On a Sunbeam was the diversity. Nearly ALL of the characters featured are female and there are also non-binary characters within the main cast of characters. There's a great discussion in here about using the right pronouns and I appreciated that so much. There's also quite a few characters of color.

I can't talk about this without mentioning the phenomenal art! It really made the world so much more magical and immersive. Since there are two different timelines, the color schemes are different for each timeline and I liked that detail. The world-building was also another favorite part to read about, which was enhanced by the art. I WANT to go to the world that Tillie Walden has created, with the weird, fish spaceships and play Lux!

The main romance was so adorable and also heartwarming. The relationships between whole group felt so strong and it was wonderful to see a group of misfits all together and being a found family.

Overall I highly recommend this if you enjoy stories set in space with diverse characters and stunning art.

Mia joins a reconstruction crew to help restore old buildings into whatever the new owners want, and along the way she finds a new family in her crewmates. But her old life from five years ago keeps haunting her...

Okay, that summary sucks. This book is so much more complicated than I can explain, and so much weirder than I was expecting. And it was amazing.

Fair warning: this is super crazy sci-fi, mostly fi and less sci. The science is nuts. The worldbuilding is bonkers. And I loved it. Everything is so absurd and surreal and it stealthily grows on you until the sight of that beautiful koi-shaped spaceship makes you want to go on a journey.

At first, I didn't connect with Mia at all. She's distant, disconnected and the timeline is all over the place. But slowly, so slowly, the pieces start to come together and turn into a puzzle. The different characters on the ship—Alma, Char, Jules and Elliott—stop becoming anonymous figures and turn into people. People with backgrounds, and agendas and motivations that are all different from Mia's. In the Before timeline, Grace is also fantastic, and her relationship with Mia is slow-burn, then hotter than the sun and heartbreaking in the way that young love can be.

Also, I liked that aside from Elliott (non-binary) and Paul (a boy cat), everyone is a woman.

There are no men.

I repeat: THERE ARE NO MEN ANYWHERE IN SIGHT

Halle-fucking-lujah.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

Posted to Goodreads: For a more in-depth review watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMrCgJ_3QoY

2.5 Rating: Mia is the newest member of a crew sent into deep space to rebuild structures. She is haunted by a past love and slowly forms friendships with the other members of her team. As secrets are revealed Mia tries to find a way to be reunited with her lost love.

I was a little disappointed by this book. I was a big fan of "Spinning" and I was hoping for the same kind of beautiful storytelling but "On a Sunbeam" never grabbed me. I had a hard time keeping the characters straight and never really cared about their stories. Plus, it was very difficult to read the font used for the dialog so I'm sure I missed some of the nuances.

I received a eARC of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

On a Sunbeam was just not the book for me, which doesn't mean it was bad. Tillie Walden is very good at telling emotional, personal stories. Her characters are likable and relatable, but I definitely preferred her graphic memoir more than this one. On a Sunbeam is sci-fi set in outerspace in a world seemingly populated by only females. The main group of main characters are reconstructionists, meaning they travel from planet to planet fixing up damaged places.

Mia, the protagonist, is new to the crew and gradually Walden reveals her background in a series of flashbacks to her freshmen year at boarding school. Mia befriends and falls in love with a girl named Grace, who (without spoiling anything), leaves school before Mia can say goodbye.

Now five years later, Mia wants to find Grace so she can talk to her one last time.

This was a unique story that could have just as easily been told in a realistic setting, which made me kind of confused why Walden chose such a sci-fi heavy world. It really didn't add to the story and in some ways made me like it a little less. Of course, that is just my personal opinion since I don't read a lot of sci-fi. Others could definitely see it as a selling point for this graphic novel.

All in all, I liked On a Sunbeam, but didn't love it.

**I received an e-ARC from Netgalley**

Eisner Award winner Tillie Walden's On a Sunbeam collects all the installments of her webcomic. It's a science fiction adventure in a universe that embraces all relationships. Mia is a young woman on a reconstruction crew that travels through space, restoring buildings and structures. The narrative shifts between the present and Mia's past, where she fell in love at boarding school with a girl named Grace; a girl who was taken away by her family before Mia could say goodbye. Mia learns more about her crewmates and their own stories as they travel through space, ultimately creating a family of their own.

The cast is incredibly, wonderfully, diverse. There's Char, the co-captain; she's an African American woman who shares captain duties with her Caucasian wife, Alma: "Char may have the degrees, but Alma knows how to yell", according to one character, Jules. Jules should know: she's Alma's niece, taken in when her mother - Alma's sister - died. Jules seems to be the youngest member of the crew; she's most likely a teen, loves playing games, and is the happy optimist of the crew. Ell/Elliot is a Caucasian nonbinary person who prefers they/them/their pronouns - and the crew vociferously defends their right to those pronouns, as Ell is nonverbal. Grace, Mia's lost love, is African American.

As the narrative shifts between Mia's past and present, we see Mia and Grace's relationship develop, right up until Grace's departure from the school. The color palette shifts with the narrative: cooler colors like blues and purples dominate the flashbacks, while warmer colors creep during the present day. Mia is the central character, but every character in this novel has a story to tell. This is a book I had to move back and forth with during the first few chapters; not having read the webcomic, I wasn't altogether sure I was reading a connected story until I got the hang of the shifts, and of Mia's place in them. Stick with the story: it's an wonderful work of queer speculative fiction that deserves a spot on your shelves. On a Sunbeam is good for young adult/new adult readers.

I did not know about this as a webcomic, but I picked up the ARC from Net Galley and I am sure glad I did. The art is really amazing. It is the big winner here. The world building is excellent in that the world just is. We do not figure out how they reproduce without men and we do not care. We do not really find out why everyone moved into space, or how they breathe or any of that perfunctory stuff. The main plot, an intergalactic love story between Mia and Grace, is honestly the least compelling story line. Elliot is a really interesting character. Jules is really great as well. Overall, I think the idea of risking the lives of the only people who love you for the chance to win back the girl you loved when you were 14, is a bit of a stretch, but, I am constantly distracted by the art and coloring, so I forgive it.

I was charmed by Tillie Walden's Spinning, and while On a Sunbeam seems at first glance as though it would appeal to a vastly different audience (sci-fi vs memoir), this queer female fantasy should appeal to many of the same teens. I look forward to having it on our bookshelves - I loved every innovative page.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.
I went in with no expectatons but i really enjoyed it. It started off a little slow but picked up halfway. Its basically about an all girls space crew and the adventure they go on. I love how unique the world is and the relationship between the girls. They are so accepting of each other and willing to do anything to support each other, I want more of this in books. The art is gorgeous as well , good plot and great characters although i wanted a little more depth for some of them.

I wanted to wait a day to process this book, hoping it would make writing a review easier. It hasn't.

I loved this book. It was a sweeping sci-fi adventure focusing on the relationships between a space crew who specialize in restoring old buildings. The book jumps back and forth in time from Mia's (our main character) time at boarding school and her relationship with her girlfriend there, and her time later on the crew. We quickly learn that she may have ulterior motives for wanting to join the crew. The more they travel through space, the crew's bonds strengthen, and the more of her secrets Mia is willing to reveal, and eventually her true plan for being on the crew.

This book was devastating. Each character was very well-developed with their own secrets, trials and backstories. The art was stunning with a sort of muted, minimalist color scheme. I think my only complaint was that the text was kind of hard to read digitally, which could very likely been just the file I had.

Again Tillie Walden does not disappoint. Brilliant illustrations and a compelling story combine to make for a great read.

I'm not a huge fan of graphic novels--they are great for my reluctant readers, but I've never been that into them myself. But when I saw this was not only a sci-fi epic (one of my favorite generes) but was also f/f (a theme lacking in current YA)...SIGN ME UP.

And it is epic. It's beautiful and magical. And though we lose some of the background information and explanation of this strange world to the concise nature of the graphic novel, we do get gorgeous illustrations that bring the world to life. The plot is a little hard to follow at times--it's about space adventure...nope it's about finding your place in the world...nope it's a love story--and the time jumps, though differing in color, are going to be really hard for some of my younger readers to follow.

The characters really make this story special, though. Not only is this f/f...but ALL the characters, other than one non-binary prodigy, are young woman. Many of them gay. (My favorite character, Elliot, barely speaks at all.) I'm not really sure WHERE all the men are...or if there ARE men. And while I don't think any male characters are needed--this cast is excellent--it's another thing about this strange world that I would have liked explained (you know, because babies). I also like the spaceships that look like fish. (Spacefish? Fishships?)

Overall it's a sweeping, emotional story that will appeal to sci-fi fans and those who just like a good story about love, family, and finding your way.

Beautiful and astonishing. I love the way the book unfolds, giving us the backstory gradually. The world created in the book is really stunning and the characters are so realistic. Great inclusive story without being overburdened by that focus.

A gorgeously colored book with some great themes and even better characters. But ultimately this plot was all over the place, and that made it hard to read. So while I'm extremely happy with the representation in this novel, I would say that if you choose to pick it up, be patient with it. Don't go into it expecting action... even though it takes place on a spaceship. I think if I knew what I was getting into, I would have enjoyed it more.