I loved this and my 12 year old loved it too.
A list of things we have
- The Jersey Devil
- Missing twin sister with a bond that will never be broken
- Environmental justice (KEEP THOSE PIPELINES OUT PLEASE)
- Mysterious evil man who wants to ruin everything
- The most beautiful art. The pinks and purples are out of this world.
- Divorced parents who end up appreciating each other a little more by the end
- Grief. Multiple views of grief affecting everyone differently.
The part my daughter hated the most (the reason Beth was missing in the first place)

Interesting supernatural mystery. I wasn't expecting the Jersey Devil aspect and I think it could have been fleshed out a bit more.

While I enjoyed parts of this graphic novel, it felt like there were too many different plots happening at once and not enough time to flesh out everything. I do think that the art style is gorgeous and it perfectly suited the story.
Fly by Night definitely gave me Stranger Things vibes, which I loved, and I think the concept of merging mystery/urban legend/social commentary is genius - it just may have been better suited for multiple books to better flesh everything out.

While I found the storyline to be a bit convoluted, the artwork itself is top notch. I love the new surge of cryptid books in Young Adult!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. I really enjoyed the art in the book, but was confused by the story. There seemed to be two unrelated plots that (in my opinion) did not come together to a cohesive whole.

The art for this was really cool, and the mystery story very twisty and interesting. I found the combination of the spooky cryptid magic plot with a really dark, too realistic plot a little less than cohesive, but I'm sure it will be perfect for others.

I'm of two minds here. On the one hand, it's a unique story. We have ecology, mythology, broken familial relationships, community responsibility. And it's all centered around a mythological creature most people have heard of but know next to nothing about: the Jersey Devil. Admittedly, the legend of the devil is pretty silly sounding to modern ears so telling it in a way that we can take seriously, maybe even find a touch frightening, is a tall order. O'Connor makes a solid attempt. The plot is a bit cluttered and unfocused. Characters react to evidence that isn't always clear to the reader. It may improve with repeat readings and certainly has a place on shelves especially if you're a fan of atmospheric stories without perfect endings.

While I wish this graphic novel covered more of the main character's grief - I think it did a fantastic job showing how the family was dealing with the sister being missing, and how just little things can set a person to tears when remembering a missing loved one. I'm glad this graphic novel is a longer one, because there is so much going on. Yes, it's all tied together (not that you would know how until the end), but it can seem like a lot.

The art is beautiful, and the story is great. I'd love a Vera of my own, in both of her forms - she seems like an amazing person, and I'm glad Dee had her as a friend, and that Vera was able to give Beth a better ending.

Definitely purchasing this for my library's teen section.

Although Fly by Night by Tara O'Connor begins slowly, the graphic novel is beautifully written. The story weaves so many themes together that it is mesmerizing.

This is an example of execution done poorly. While the art style was just fine, the plot suffered because the two stories felt so disconnected from each other. I think more readers should’ve had the opportunity to review this in the beta stage.

Fly by Night is a beautifully illustrated YA Graphic Novel. I did find some of the illustrations hard to follow, and I thought, overall, the plot was a bit weak and disconnected.

I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for letting me reading this but I don't read books that are locked solely to Adobe Digital Editions, which have a Google Play rating of 1.6 out of 5.0. I have to review every book I get or my percentage will not increase, and I can't leave a review without rating..

This was a wonderful read! It certainly has its flaws but overall I found this to be an emotive book about family and loss set amidst a bit of a supernatural woodsy small town.

The characters were all unique and everyone felt like a real person. They all had their flaws, redeeming qualities, and things that they brought to the storyline. Dee's family was definitely experiencing a lot of grief in the wake of Beth's disappearance and I feel like that was conveyed well. The author did a good job of portraying Dee's parents as people- they weren't "perfect" parents nor were they pushed to the background of the story. They argued, were petty, were experiencing grief, and were working through it together. Dee's emotions were strong throughout the book and were conveyed so well through the writing and the artwork.

Speaking of the artwork, that's one thing that I thought was lacking in this arc. I liked the artwork but really wish the arc had been in color to really experience the full impact of the story. The art in the book is detailed and looks great but I think it would have been so elevated and stunning with coloring, and I'm bummed that the copy I read was missing that.

The storyline was interesting but a little messy, mostly because it jumps around between two different plots. We have the conflict of the pipeline and we have Beth's missing persons case/investigation. The two are related-ish but not very intertwined so it can feel a bit choppy jumping between the two plots. Some aspects of the story certainly go in a darker direction and I did enjoy that, however emotionally painful some parts were. I think the author had a good concept and it executed it decently, it just could've been more cohesive. I enjoyed the supernatural elements that were introduced throughout the story and the direction that went.

Overall this was an interesting story with great art. Some parts could have been smoother and I do wish the arc was in full color but I was ultimately moved by this story and felt connected with the characters. I would be interested in reading more from this author and would recommend giving this a read!

I wish we had gotten these two stories separately as the execution in combining them was less than ideal. I really liked the idea of the creature in the forest and the one masquerading as a human. It just all felt very rushed and fell flat.

This was such an enjoyable graphic novel. I absolutely loved the drawing style, I don't think I've seen a similar style in other graphic novels so it just added another level of enjoyment. I will say, I think I would've enjoyed the e-ARC more if the art was colored in, but that doesn't really detract from the story. Something that definitely stands out is the sister relationship, at the core of this story, that's the main focus.

The Review

This was such a moving and entertaining read. Equal parts mythology and crime thriller, this graphic novel really did a great job of finding a natural balance between the supernatural elements of the story and the more emotional and heartbreaking realities of the disappearance of a loved one. As an avid fan and admirer of cryptozoology and cryptids overall, it was so interesting to see the author’s take on the Jersey Devil lore and to reshape it into showing the subtle nature of what “monsters” really are in this world.

The emotional character study that this graphic novel makes is so the core of the theme and narrative of this graphic novel. Dee’s struggles as she pursues answers to the disappearance of the twin sister she regrets not talking to more and delving into her struggles with her parent’s divorce, the environmental fight she takes on, and the grim reality of what happened to her sister overall, will immediately draw the reader in and what I think the author does so beautifully here is create a story that finds representation for so many different readers out there.

The Verdict

An original, engaging, and heartfelt read, author Tara O’Connor’s “Fly by Night” is a must-read graphic novel of 2021. The stark nature of the story’s narrative and the amazing artwork somehow drawing a fantastic contrast to the unknowable nature of the universe as a whole made this story shine brightly.

Fly By Night follows the story of Dee and her missing sister. Dee and her father travel back to her hometown to search for her missing twin sister. While looking for clues into her sister's disappearance, Dee becomes involved with the environmental issue of a pipeline that will destroy the forest in their town. Dee soon finds that her sister and the pipeline issue are intertwined. If she continues to follow the clues in the forest and the book her sister left behind, she may be able to uncover the secret to her missing twin.

There are elements of fantasy in this graphic novel as well. The Jersey Devil is thought to exist in the woods that Dee and others are protecting from the pipeline.
An exciting and very emotional environmental thriller. I enjoyed the intense graphics along with all the twists and turns.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

This book has a lot of concepts and pieces that would make great stories. However, all of those pieces put together created a confusing and flat tale. The pieces were not fleshed out in a way that made it enjoyable. Additionally, I'm not sure if this is because it was an ARC, but the art felt unfinished. I'm fine with a lack of color, but the sketchiness of the comic was distracting from the story.

Meh. I wanted so much more from this. The premise was really interesting and had so much potential; instead, this fell flat for me.

With such a gorgeous cover, I expected more dynamic pages, not just black and white. This could be because I have an ARC, but I felt it made the storyline less effective. With such a focus on the environment and the pine lands, you’d think there would be a showcase of that environment. I also would’ve loved to see what Veradys looked like in full color.

The plot was also extremely predictable. I predicted a lot of what was coming and felt uninterested in our MC’s journey. The connection between her missing sister and the pine lands was not well done either. Her just stumbling into a tree, finding a creature, and then it makes a super random massive connection at the end? There wasn’t enough build in the middle to make it feel cohesive. Instead, there were a lot of fluffy plot lines thrown in that didn’t need to be there and just created noise for me.

I didn’t feel much of a connection to any of the characters either. Dee didn’t have much going for her. She felt like a bit of a throwaway character. I didn’t feel like I learned much about her through any of the story. She’s slightly edgy, but that’s about all I really know. Tobi was a little more dynamic, but not by much. She at least seemed to fit the story more. And the parents? Just a real weird tense relationship that’s explained out in like two pages and then just dropped to pop up whenever they need a tense, awkward moment.

I wanted to like this, but just left feeling like I didn’t get to take away much. It did have a diverse looking cast and a good idea, just poor execution all around, in my opinion.

Thank you to the publisher for supplying an advanced reader copy.

Fly by Night is a young adult graphic novel set in a small town. Our main character is a young girl named Dee whose twin sister Beth went missing at some point before the beginning of the story. Her parents are divorced, father remarried and his new wife is pregnant.

Beth's disappearance is a festering wound for this small family. The dad has friends in the police department who are promising to give the case all the attention they can. Beth's mom has been living alone for a while now and dealing with the grief of her missing daughter on her own. It shows. Dee is very emotional and her father is in his own way.

He also, at one point, takes his anger out on his wife, calling her a failure as a mother and wife and saying what happened was her fault. Dee steps in and he realizes what he's saying and eventually gives a real apology for it but it's apparent that this family is broken. The twins' parents weren't good together and now one is missing which has broken their hearts.

While staying with her mom, Dee now sleeps in the same room she shared with her missing sister. There are a lot of tears throughout the book.

Even though Dee doesn't actually have to go back to school to graduate--she's got enough credits--she chooses to go back to the school the girls used to be at together. She wants to see if there are any clues and see the friends she herself had.

We're introduced to her best friend Tobi and another character. Apparently, Beth had started dating a boy named Lucas. After the girls' family split, they hadn't talked the way they used to. So she knew he existed but that's really it.

There's also a company that wants to build a pipeline through protected pinelands. And with the head of the company looking as much like a greasy business man as anyone I've ever seen, it's looking like it'll be difficult to protect the lands. Even though there's a council that's dedicated to doing just that.

Add in some supernatural elements and things sound like they should be pretty good.

They would, meh, decent. The pacing was off, it was lagging in some places, just awkward really. And it felt like it was trying too hard to give both of the main ideas the exact same amount of time.

Pipeline issue, finding out about Beth but it didn't really work that way. Because the supernatural elements become bigger and the answer to what happened to Beth felt a little weak. We get to know the full truth, but still. The pacing toward the end felt very fast. Like they knew they needed to wrap it up.

My biggest issue with that was the fact that everyone ends up accepting the existence of some things way too easily. I mean it's just like "huh, 'k" and they kept it moving.

The art was interesting. No color, only black and white. It makes certain panels really striking when there's a lot of black and the white cuts through it but I wonder what it would have looked like with splashes of color to enhance it. It didn't bother me, life time manga reader, but sometimes a little more would have been nice.

The character designs were interesting but some details got a little difficult to read. And the diversity that I could see, one woman is obviously African-American and I felt she avoided stereotyping. In fact she's a teacher wearing box braids. That's something I would have loved to see growing up on my actual teachers that wasn't an option for them. So for that, I was happy.

All in all, a weak 3. It's just barely there. But it's an interesting read. I think it's sort of bitter sweet with the way it ends.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley. Thank you to them and the publisher.