Monolith is a survival story about a mother and her toddler, where deep the the desert, the mother is locked out of the car while her son is strapped into his car seat.

Recchioni talks about how the story of Monolith burst forth from his mind in a complete package, rather than fighting for each section. That tracks, after reading. The story is cohesive, and it is exciting. Also, Recchioni talks about how cinematic the story is and how there may be some movement in Monolith becoming a film. I also got those vibes from the graphic novel.

My biggest issue with Monolith is how much the reader has to suspend their belief. Sure, the story has a tight beginning, middle, and end. The art is cinematic, and the pacing is on par with any thriller. The issue is how mediocrely researched and executed the story twists feel. I won't go into each and every twist because this review would be full of spoilers, but nearly all of them feel off for one reason or another. I could probably go along with one or two, sure, but all of them?

I did thoroughly enjoy the ending, though. The conclusion is obvious through its simplicity, and I really appreciated the emotions portrayed. If this ends up as a movie, I'll be seeing it in theaters.

This is an incredible example of the teaching of "show, don't tell"

The art is gorgeous, and conveys so perfectly the feelings that the protagonist is experiencing, while also perfectly depicting the Monolith, a non-sentient thing as a villan. Making it something we both fear and hate.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

A mother's love, a son's life and an indestructible car.


WOW. It is a page turner that will will keep you on the edge of your seat. The art and the story. Aww fantastic!

2 stars

This was not at all what I was expecting.
The amount of triggering content this has... wow.
Beautiful art work but poor execution.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

That was an unusual graphic novel. I really liked how simple and relatable the premise is- I've never driven a car like that but I've had moments of absolute terror when my child needed to be rescued from danger. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

A very hit or miss title. The concept is very intriguing and has a lot of potential, but the final result is middling and can be very triggering. This is certainly not a light read. I am not Sure how I feel about the art style changing throughput the graphic novel, but it can be very jarring.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This is a fascinating premise that I wanted to go deeper. The characterization is completely lacking, with only the barest of bones for the plot to hang on. And while we see Sandra trying everything to get back in the car to her son, she was such a disconnected and unhappy person that I didn't believe it (or understand where it came from).

I liked the ambiguous ending, and the art is gorgeous (I'm someone who loves shifts in tone/style in the middle of the story). I am interested to watch the film adaptation after this, I think with more fleshing out it could be really captivating.

'Monolith' by Robert Recchioni with art by Lorenzo Ceccotti is a graphic novel about a woman with the fight of her life on her hands.

A woman takes her son and leaves her husband, and he insists that she take his smart car, branded Monolith. When she has an accident, she is stuck outside the car while her son is inside. She must battle nature and the elements to keep herself and her son alive.

This is a story with few words, but the art more than carries the story. It's all pretty cinematic and intense. It's a fast-paced story and read and I liked it quite a bit.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Magnetic Press, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This is an odd little graphic novel, about a woman who wants to leave her husband because he is over protective. He sort of has a reason for doing so, because his waife was doing drugs, but that was a year ago, and she feels he should let up.

The Monolith is a car that is supposed to protect you at all costs. The ultimate car, and of course her husband owns one, and lets her drive it, so she can go do her thing, and then returned to him. And because she doesn't trust him, she cuts off the GPS, sot that he can't track her, as she drives off into the desert.

Things go badly, when she hits a deer, and she can't get it away from her car.

And that is how she gets locked out.

And that is when I say that the novel jumps the shark, because she is locked out for a full day, in the desert, and unless there is some secret air conditioning going on, her son, who she is trying to save, would be long dead. And that is where I stopped suspending my disbelief.

Suffice it to say, this story didn't work for me, though the illustrations were quite good.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

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

The concept is interesting, but the story wasn't for me.

The art switches between hyper realistic and cartoony. The pacing of the story and the steps didn't quite work for me. It's a very focused yet confusing story. I felt like we didn't really get to know the characters and the parents are initially hard to root for.

Overall not for me, but a short work of flash fiction.

i read this thru netgalley it was available to just read no need to request. its a short graphic novel, about a mom tryin to save her son who is stuck inside a very strong impenetrable car called monolith, the have an accident in a deserted area after leavin the father of her child who seems abusing/controlling of her (shes has a past/mistakes with drugs). sandra and her child david leave carl to go on a break from him to her sisters house and on the way sandra has a road accident and when the car monolith is stuck she loses the phone which is the only way to control the car, leavin david stuck inside this machine with no way of gettin inside. i liked the sandra she obviously has flaws and problems but she seems very strong and will do anythin to save her child. i also like the illustration style seems simple but yet shows everythin we need to see and compreend, u can tell her emotions,her distress etc. illustrations give a look of watercolors too which i enjoy. we get a flash back of how she and carl met. we get her halluciantions which are a bit wierd and in some scenes theres nudity and sex. the ending is kinda open tho i think , it could be a good ending or not depends on what u want ig, i want/ hope for good one. i even read this with my friend and then he said we will part 2 tomorrow but then he went to do somethin and i just decided to keep reading it and finished it. so it had me captivated and interested i wanted to know what was gonna happen next!

This was quite a wild ride, and I finished it in one sitting. It is extremely gripping, action-packed, and very movie-like. The focus of this graphic novel is on the safest and impenetrable car. I will try to give a sense of what it is like with as few spoilers as I can.

The main characters are pretty unlikeable throughout most of the graphic novel. I try to write without spoilers, but anyway, I think I should warn you. <spoiler>The content includes family quarrel, sex, drug use, destructive behavior, animal harm, and child trauma.</spoiler> So, keep that in mind if you would like to read it.

First, the graphic is amazing. It’s different from other graphic novels. Mainly, the illustrator used a detailed color style. But it changes and there are other styles used, which I liked. Second, I liked the story, although the characters are pretty far from perfect.

Definitely worth the time, unless the content offends you.

Thanks to the Diamond Book Distributors for the ARC and the opportunity to read this! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Monolith by Robert Recchioni is a breath-taking, cinematic graphic novel that is perfect for fans of the Saga series. The story revolves around a mother who is taking her 5 year-old son on a ride away from her controlling husband. She takes her husband's Monolith, a highly-advanced smart car with voice commands and all of the high-tech gimmicks. After she drives into the desert, she gets stuck outside of the car, while her son is stuck inside. Will she be able to rescue her son? Will she survive the dangers of the desert?

Overall, I found this graphic novel is a breath of fresh air. The storyline is original - who has heard of being trapped inside of a smart car before? It is also very intense and thrilling. I found after I read it that it has been turned into a movie, which is out on Amazon Prime now, and I am not surprised. This graphic novel is very cinematic, and I can see it being a great thriller to watch. The artwork is also extraordinary. In the synopsis, it says that the art was taken from storyboard from the movie, but this artwork does not look unfinished. The characters, the colors, the setting are all drawn beautifully, and it's better than 99% of the comic book art out there. If you're intrigued by the storyline or if you're a fan of action-packed graphic novels, you won't regret checking out this book, which just came out yesterday!

Monolith shows us a little adventure / disaster in the life of Sandra and her son David who is about 2 years old, when Sandra is running away from her house and her husband Carl for a while, Carl will ask them to go to the Monolith, the vehicle with the best technology, this vehicle can only be opened with a digital key on a phone, on the road in a desert Sandra runs over a deer and when going out to see loses the phone with the digital key and the car is locked with maximum security with her son inside, from here we will see how she goes into despair to save her son from suffocation, save herself from dehydration, and from other things that will affect her purpose.

The cover really deceived me, I liked the name and the cover made me fall in love, but I thought it would be a story with powers or fantasy, although this was not the case, it seemed like a good comic, the story is original although in a part it reminded me a bit like Stephen King's CUJO, however I enjoyed it too much, I finished it in about 2 hours and I loved it, the art is incredible, from the first page I was in love with art, at one point the style of drawing changes and it remains incredible although much less detailed, it was very good, I need more of the author and more of this art.

Okay I’m really torn with this book. I thought the illustrations style and colour pallet were beautiful. I thought the concept of the story was brilliant. This unreliability of the MC not just to us but to herself. This painful yet wild and fierce show of what motherhood can be… hit me hard.

BUT. I felt that the MCs husband was awful. I felt like we were supposed to empathize with him and his concerns. Yet he was unlikable and came off as an A hole instead. Was that creative brilliance, having this opinion based on what the MC felt? Or was it just a badly written husband who is supposed to be caring but is rather overbearing and untrusting?

The MC herself was also painfully unlikable. Her violence in the face of everything and her neglect and nonchalance when it comes to the safety of her child was gross. It felt like she was struggling but not frantic about saving her child. If she was supposed to be seen as struggling due to past drug abuse(?) it felt more like she was just narcissistic and selfish.

The ending was what really did it for me and made me not love this book tho. I can deal with unlikable characters. But the ending felt really traumatic and I don’t know how I feel about it.

TRIGGER WARNINGS
gore, animal death, car crash, infidelity, drug use, child trauma (child is locked in a hot vehicle)

It doesnt support or open after I download the protected pdf version of it.

It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read

Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com

I cant read the book from here.

Please look into the issue and deliver me the book to review properly, moreover i was pretty excited about this book