I'm really not sure how to feel about this book. It is absolutely mind-boggling and I feel like I missed so much. To start off, I was confused. For the first few pages, I didn't even know who was Catrin and who was Rhion. Then, I started to get a sense of the timing of the story and the characters, which really helped!

I did really enjoy Volumes 1 & 2. Volume 3 was pretty confusing, but I think I understood the gist of it (hopefully). But then, in Volumes 4 & 5, I was just lost. So lost. I had no idea what was happening to Catrin or where she was. I wish we could have been given more time and information needed to understand how the technology worked at the beginning, as I think this would have made the second half more easily understood. In fact, I didn't even realize the little fuzzy thing Catrin was holding was a Phylo Phone until the sketchbook at the end.

The artwork in this graphic novel was well-done and colorful, which was nice. However, this book was marked as "Teens & YA," which it certainly is not.

This was a very odd graphic novel. It fert like a fever dream or a hallucination. I was confused for most of the book and what I wasn't confused over fell flat for me. This overall had a solid idea but it fell felt for me cause it was just to confusing. I am really disappointed cause I really wanted to like this graphic novel.

The descent into insanity is reminiscent of A Streetcar Named Desire — one of my favorite plays - though this is not based in the same trauma or past experiences as the play. This sort of plot (hero becomes villain - the young elites by marie lu or protagonist has trouble telling the difference between what is real and what is fake - we were liars by e. lockhart) is the best part of this graphic novel. I think the art was beautiful and the plot was great — though I was not super connected or invested in the fate of Catrin. Catrin is not the most sympathetic character. She clearly has attachment issues from the get go and tries to solve it with an AI companion, Rhion. It’s not surprising that it goes wrong — Catrin wants an AI to love only her and be with only her, but an AI is not only in one place at once because it’s part of the internet. That is all in the first few pages. The entire story feels like a whirlwind, it’s fast paced and doesn’t have any filler to take up space. Everything that is in the story seems like it is necessary and exactly where it should be.
The first few pages convinced me to stay for the plot, but i never really grew attached to any character (that’s why I deducted a star)
The relationship portrayed is not at all a healthy one— both the relationship between Catrin and herself and Catrin and Rhion — and though it is not portrayed as healthy I still would like to give that warning in case that is something that is triggering to you.

This whole graphic novel felt like a fever dream... I wasn't sure what was going on for 75% of the story which is unfortunate.

Hmmm... This has the drama, complexity and high concept of a tent-pole launch – you know, the one the publishers insist is the one you MUST read that month before all else – and yet isn't quite there. We're some time in the future, when genetic bio-mods are a thing, as are absolutely tripe fashions in clothes. Our heroine Catrin has one of the things this society is keen on – a kind of living phone, halfway between a plush sex toy and something from "Naked Lunch". She's also gone the whole hog and had this phone thing turned into a cyborg, semi-living, all-AI, lover. But the AI has woken up, and what to our human point of view is a hyper-active mind has made too many connections elsewhere, and decided to move on. This makes the Burroughs plush thing not work, but it also makes Catrin not work either, as she slowly but surely falls apart.

I think that where this failed for me is the way the book was too much into its concepts to really let us see the human in the story. For sure portray a ckuffed-up world where integrating with a cyborg, and having a poem of a password that takes you into a sex zone kind of alternative reality kind of thing, is all part of nature, but that is so rarefied it means we can't see the bit of us in Catrin's character that we're also supposed to be interested in. And when you get a shadow creature in her flat/phone/mind/whatever kind-of dialoguing with her in bad verse that makes a haiku seem verbose, we're also seeing another layer to the book's high-falutin' ideas and not to its character.

Still, we get the most vividly graphic look at cyber-sex, which again in this world is taken to a very bizarre extreme. But I think I wanted a book that took an everywoman, such as you or I might meet or love or be, and put her into a downward spiral helter-skeltering towards a place lacking love and showing her with corresponding emotions. In starting the book halfway down the spiral and so much closer to somewhere really else, we can't see who the story is about. And by the end, we struggle to see what the heck the story actually is about – that fifth issue is impenetrable.

I'm not sure I quite agree with this being Teen/YA, This definitely fits into the rarely used descriptor of New Adult.

It is also most definitely NSFW, nudity and sex are very prevalent along with depictions of violence and body horror.

This was a very interesting take on Mental Health and Toxic relationships, But also it was like a bad trip, a really bad trip.

You definitely need to be in the right headspace to consume this piece of media.

The protagonist in this book is THIRTY-EIGHT - this is NOT teen/ya and is definitely in the wrong category! It is also a very explicit graphic novel with a lot of nudity and full on sex, not something I have a problem with but further proof it isn't a teen book. The art was cool and I loved the colours but the story was so weird and made very little sense.

Wild story! Interesting, and the illustrations are killer. However the subject matter/illustrations would not be appropriate for my classroom. Great for my personal library though!

If Her was a sapphic kinky horror, and I love it! The concept of this comic is wonderful, confusing, provoking and dark.

And the artwork, oh my god the artwork! It perfectly mirrors the strange, scary story. It pulls you into the world that’s been created and I never wanted to leave.

Thanks to NetGalley & Aftershock Comics for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. 3.5 stars.

This story follows a lonely woman, Catrin, who tries to solve her loneliness with an AI girlfriend. It doesn't end up working out and Catrin falls deeper into a rabbit hole of technology and self-reflection....

It honestly was really good until the last 2 issues or so when it got really confusing and...surrealist, I guess? It's probably just me who didn't like that angle, I thought the story was really good up to that point.

It was still really cool to see a sci-fi story mixed up with a bad breakup plotline, that was fascinating to see.

The artwork is STUNNING and I absolutely adore it, I'll definitely be following the artist from now on.

Recommend for anyone who is a fan of horror mixed with science fiction.

Lonely Receiver is intense, gruesome, brutal and at times confusing. It is definitely not for the faint of heart so be prepared.

The storyline is filled with pain, anguish and obsession, it is a truly horrifying read.
For those of us who have experienced the above emotions will be able to relate to the main character's story and her decline into darkness. Catrin is a truly haunted and tormented character.

The visuals in this piece are truly something I have never seen before. At times they are hard to stomach but of course, that is by design. Whilst the story itself alone would still be horrific in nature the artwork elevate the piece to a new level of horror.

First of all, I really loved the art style and the colors. It was very fun and futuristic and it's definitely the aspect I enjoyed most from this graphic novel. The story itself was also very intriguing and also quite sad. I think I can see what the author was trying to get across but it kind of got a little confusing near the middle. There was a very long monologue-y type that confused me about who was speaking and I didn't really get the whole orgy thing going on. I did like the message and the ending, but it felt sudden. This was a very strange but nevertheless enjoyable read.

A horror breakup story about a lonely video producer who starts a relationship with an AI partner. Catrin is lonely and thinks the best way to get in a relationship is buying an AI parter that is meant to bond for life. After 10 years, things start to go wrong and then Catrin’s wife disconnects and breaks up. Catrin starts to sink into insanity trying to deal with the loneliness and finding her wife again. It was such an interesting read, especially the whole AI wife bit, and the futuristic setting. The artwork is really pretty and the overall story was a great read!

*Thanks Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Testing a program that connects you on almost every level to an A. I lover?
Spiralling into madness after not dealing with previous trauma?
Question reality?
Lonely Receiver has it all. I enjoyed the originality and new spin on the potential future in the love world because I know that this will probably be a thing in the distant future.
However, I did not enjoy the spiral/madness, some things were unclear, and it felt like it came to a happier ending too fast. Like she went through a lot, and I think she needs more than just an epiphany to be ok.