I absolutely loved The Well. It was a great exploration on rights and wrongs and family history. Li-Zhen's quest to understand what happened to happen to her family as well as why she didn't get her powers. She steals 3 coins from The Well when she loses all the money she earned. The Well demand she complete those wishes. It is this framework that Lizzy goes on a quest and learns so much about herself, her family, and the world. It was a great adventure to read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This was a very cool story. I think it has crossover potential with older middle-grade readers. It took the understood concept of being careful what you wish for and made someone else pay for it in a clever way.

In this book Wyatt has presented us with a unique concept. The set-up is actually fairly familiar if you read much fantasy - a group of isolated islands, largely held captive by a monster. But we don't jump directly into the secrets that lead to the situation. Instead our protagonist gets involved with wishes, with the magic at the core of the area. Through an impending curse she, and thus the reader, learns about fleeting, destructive, or selfish all consuming nature of wishes. The story is equal parts reflective and action oriented, perfectly suited to the graphic novel format.

This is a really sweet graphic fantasy novel with some queer romantic elements. I love the line work and art style (though it may not resonate for some folks), and Lizzy is a strong, compelling character. The introduction is a little confusing/less clear, but the rest of the plot zooms along nicely.

Huh, I guess I don't know how I feel about this. I wanted to be enthralled, and unfortunately I wasn't but that doesn't mean it's a bad book.

Exquisite linework! The Well feels like a new fairytale, in which a main character must repay the well for coins she stole by fulfilling a series of seeming impossible wishes. Wonderful adventure and queer romance.

The Well was so well done! I was drawn in by the art on the cover and the inside did not disappoint. Everyone's facial expressions, the art style, the coloring--all of it is amazing. Plus, the story is well written and sucks you in, too. Li-Zhen starts off the story as a typical careless teen who spends a little too much money at the market and ends up stealing from the wishing well to pay for the ferry home. Turns out the wishing well is actually magic and does not take kindly to being stolen from. Now she has to grant three wishes from the coins she stole or lose her life to the well. Obviously there is going to be some "careful what you wish for" moments in a story like this, but Wyatt manages to keep the wishes and the solving of them fresh and engaging with just the right balance of humor and levity with dark and heavy. I want to read this again just so I can keep staring at the stunning artwork and so I can watch the cute romance between Li-Zhen and Eli blossom all over again.

Li-Zhen aka. Lizzy bites off more than she can chew when she decides to pilfer coins from a local well in order to pay her fare aboard a ferry. She quickly finds herself cursed and forced to fulfill the wishes associated with those coins lest she end up drowned in the well's depths. As she sets forward on her journey she finds that these wishes may force her to reckon with her mysterious past and family secrets.

I LOVED this! A sapphic magical adventure with beautiful art? Just sign me up. Looking forward to when this hits the shelves.

This may be one of the most beautiful graphic novels I've read in years, if ever. Both parts heartfelt and adventurous, this has the perfect balance of fantastic art and amazing story. Lizzy is such an honest character, someone who has so much life and breath in all of her actions, and someone who genuinely cares about those around her, despite not knowing how to go about it. This all works so well for bringing in the idea of sacrificing oneself to help the greater community, to give your all for helping others, even if it may have selfish reasons behind it. This is one I'm definitely going to be recommending time and time again when it comes out, and the entire package is such a perfect little standalone.

Li-Zhen, aka Lizzie, lives in a world shrouded in mist, haunted by a massive sea monster known as the Leviathan. Once upon a time, Lizzie's mother, father and grandmother sailed off to fight the Leviathan, but never returned, leaving Lizzie to be raised by her grandfather. Now a teenager, Lizzie's grandfather allows her to go to the market by herself for the first time, and, being a kid determined to enjoy herself, she blows all her money and doesn't have enough left for the ferry ride home. Oops. Desperate, Lizzie steals a few coins from the town wishing well, because they're just coins, right? Right??? Nope. Big mistake. The well is, of course, magical, and Lizzie must return what she has taken or else the well will consume her. Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of returning the coins she took - she must also fulfill the wishes that were made with those coins. In three days. So, with the help of a mysterious spirit by the well and her trusty goat, Ferdinand, Lizzie must figure out a way to fulfill three wishes before the well takes her.

Highly entertaining, I loved the artwork and the color schemes. Loved the story, too, though I wish we could've gotten more Ferdinand. He's a good goat.

Amazing art, very compelling story. Loved the complexity of not only the main character's situation but how she interpreted and resolved the other characters' wishes.

A seaside village is attacked by a monster. A woodcutter, his wife and mother in law, two powerful witches, join forces to battle it, and disappear, leaving behind their child and her grandfather, to raise her. Thirteen years later, Lizzie is a teen who helps her grandfather by selling their wares at the local market, but when she needs money to cover her passage home, she grabs money from the sacred well and awakens a spirit that urges her to repay her debt. Lizzie must grant wishes, but every wish comes with a price; some are painful to bear. In her quest to cover her debts at the well, Lizzie will learn about the magic that almost destroyed her family.

The Well unfolds like a fairy tale: a monster, a tragedy, a child left behind, and a legacy of magic to be discovered. The moral - every wish comes with a price, and having a wish granted isn't always what it seems - runs through the story, reminding readers to think before they act, even before they wish. The artwork is dreamlike, with vibrant color and fantastic monsters. A must for your fantasy fans.

A graphic novel about magic, and the lingering power of wishes.
Li-Zhen is a young woman living with her grandfather - whose parents and grandmother died putting an end to a leviathan that was tearing apart their world. After taking a few coins from a wishing well, Li-Zhen is bound to grant the wishes they represented or be dragged to the bottom of the well instead.

I could not get through this story fast enough. I was captivated by the art and story from the first page. I was keen to get to know the characters, excited to find out what the wishes would be, and sad when I hit the last page that I had no more to read.

The illustrations were magical, and the story was truly full of wonder. I would recommend this strongly to anyone who enjoys a story that involves a little magic - even if they mentioned that they enjoyed Moana - they need to read The well.

Some authors spend hundreds of pages building a world full of depth and imagination - but Jake Wyatt and Choo accomplished that and more in this concise graphic novel.

As a huge illustration lover, it doesn’t take much for me to fall for an art style, but The Well was far beyond anything I’ve admired before. The narrative plot and the use of colour are so intrinsically linked that this story fits the format so perfectly. As we follow Lizzy through her recklessness, and eventual consequences, we are taken to abandoned islands, striking battle sequences, and endearing flirtations (all with their own unique colour palettes). And being weighed down by a tragic past beyond her control, it is only once the colour is brought back to her world and she begins to look ahead instead of behind, that we really see the full circle of this enchanting story.

An ode to the best quest stories out there with flawed characters who all find their own growth arcs, The Well is sure to become a classic, and I hope to see more of this team soon.

Though the start of the book was slightly confusing and it took me a second to get into it, I did end up enjoying this graphic novel. The art style was very nice and I could see it being very popular with 3rd-8th grade which I feel is the target audience of this book. I wish the story line was a little more clear but it was very good for the most part. I could find it hard to connect and understand the characters at times but the author would later give you more background to understand them. Overall it is a good graphic novel that I do think kids will enjoy as I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for allowing me to read this arc! I loved The Well, it's a mix of fantasy, a family story, and a love story. The artwork was absolutely gorgeous and matches the pace and emotion of the story really well. I would have liked to see a bit more magic, as it didn't come up much but was mentioned multiple times at the beginning of the story.

Lizzy grows up with her grandfather in a village covered in gloomy fog. Her parents were lost to a sea serpent and it's only her and her grandfather. This is an excellent story that has a very brave main character that sets out to right her wrongs. She has tasks to accomplish and she uses every bit of guile, cunning and sometimes kidnapping to try to help accomplish her goals. Lizzy is a young woman on a mission and she's at turns, sad, funny, interesting, brave and strong. This is an excellent story with action, adventure, love and heart. Such a wonderful read.

This was a really cool magical adventure story. The art is nice, with saturated colors. The text is easy to read, and the story is full of adventure. One thing I didn't love was how quick the third wish is granted. There was a lot of build up and I felt like it was over very quickly with not much action. The fantasy elements to the story were nicely explained, and the teenage drama was realistic. The ending leaves it open to another book but it also has a satisfying ending if there's no follow-up.

This title was really confusing. We are dropped in to this world with no explanation. I wasn't a fan of the artwork, and I don't see anything particularly original in the narrative.