A really intriguing description and a beautiful cover, but not much else... while the are was gorgeous, the story... was lacking... which was incredibly disappointing... I had hoped for so much more from this and it just wasn't there.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. JP Roth's Ancient Dreams is a graphic novel that has 9 chapters of full color stories. It is a 160 page collection with beautiful art and pretty good stories. I think some of the stories needed more editing. Overall I enjoyed reading this graphic novel.

Some really lovely art spoiled by muddled writing, not "bad writing", but muddled. The prose itself is lovely in places, but a throughline is hard to decipher. In some ways it reminded me of the work of J.M. DeMatteis & Jon J. Muth, but without the emotional of narrative anchor they so ably used with things like Moonshadow and Blood.

Some things work really well in a graphical format, some things do not, and in my opinion at least Ancient Dreams does not. It might be interesting to read the original work it was based on, as I have a feeling that works much better.

That being said, if the same team created something else I'd probably read it, as if they managed to get things working right they would probably produce something very interesting.

Beautifully illustrated and the cover drew me in, but the stories sadly didn’t match the beauty of the art work on the outside, plot holes, pacing was off, just confusion abound, not for me sadly now

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy.
Well I didn't like it lol.
I approached this book because of the title and description and because I like myths and history, but this was just a complete disaster, all for nowhere and nothing was understood, other than the pacing was inconsistent and jumped out of place. one style to another, which made it very confusing.
A couple of hours passed and I have no idea what it's about.
I liked the drawing style, it reminds me of Queen Beryl and the world of that villain from Sailor Moon and I enjoyed that, and stop counting.

I didn't really enjoy this book. The story didn't match with the cover or the description and not only is it hard to follow, it is also full of plot holes.

These were beautifully illustrated stories. I found myself so invested in these stories that before I knew it they were over. If you are looking for a good story with amazing illustration then this is for you.

The synopsis sounded interesting, but I found myself constantly confused and ended up DNFing. There is a lot of prose within the graphic novel story, and the artwork is beautiful but too dark, and also for a more mature audience than it is supposed to be for.

Thank you for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The synopsis sounded so interesting but that's where it ended.
Stars for the graphics, but I found myself constantly confused with what was going on and the fact this is rated Teen / YA is shocking. Definitely should be rated for a more mature audience.

ARC From Netgalley.
When you hear the phrase “Once Upon A Time”, you are conditioned to see this as the beginning of the story you are about to read. Have you ever asked yourself if this is really where the story begins? The author, J.P. Roth, is very upfront at the start of this tale to tell you that it is heavily connected in the roots of mythology and that the gods themselves will take part in this tragic tale.

Cara Wynter and her twin sister Lily grew up around magic as the daughters of witches. Lately, Cara has been plagued with dreams, violent and chaotic, yet featuring a man by the name of Draken. He is the love of Arias, who strongly resembles Cara, and the thought of lovers repeating throughout the ages only strengthens when “Drake” rescues her from the bar. Even stronger is this: Drake can touch her without causing her pain, something as a child of a witch that most cannot do.

Revealed in her dreams, she finds out that Draken is the son of Hades, yet she feels a strong love for him. Can she use that love and the secrets hidden in her own past lives to overcome the dream of death that haunts her nightly?

Based on a novel by the same author, J.P. ROTH’S ANCIENT DREAMS is a tale of love, lust, and loss. This paranormal romance incorporates Greek mythology, specifically the tale of the Trojan War, and gives it a modern spin. Bouncing back and forth between comic and prose, I found myself wishing for more of the comic than the long passages, and didn’t love the chaotic nature of the main characters.

Due to graphic adult content, this one is ages 18 and up.

The main issue I had with this graphic novel was the fact that it is advertised as Teen & YA, however the content is more like NA/Adult, as well as overpowering females' sexualisation (which might put off a lot of readers who would want to pick it up) . I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology reimaginings/retellings, especially when done as a comics. The art style is actually really good, so my applause to the illustrators and the colourist.

I honestly really don't even know what I just read, it was ALL over the place and just so ... not good. I think the concept was cool of a woman and a goddesses lives being intertwined but the execution was just not there at all.

I see a lot of people upset over the text within the story being too much because it is a graphic novel, but that really isn't even the worst part of it.

It doesn't feel like there is one sturdy plot line, I'm so confused about what I read, I really don't evben know how to review it.

They couldn't even get the names right, "Lily" was spelled differently on different pages and she is one of our main characters.

I am not entirely sure what I just read. The story was messy, hard to follow and never tied together. There were multiple stories mixed into this graphic novel as well as being accompanied with pages of text, but I felt like none of them had relevance to the story. Reading the synopsis after I’d finished this did not help at all. “Huh? THAT was what I just read?” Made no sense and didn’t clear anything up for me.
The only redeeming quality for me was the stunning artwork. But even then, it irked me that every female character was sexualised in the way they were drawn, in a way that It didn’t add to the story at all or feel genuine. I have no problem with nudity or near-nudity but it felt like this exploited women’s bodies and was thrown into the story for “bonus points”. No thanks.
This whole story was based off of Greek mythology, and maybe I don’t know enough about the topic so I would be interested to hear the thoughts of someone who is really well versed in Greek history and mythology.
Overall, not for me (and judging based on a lot of other reviews, not for most either).

DNF. It was too much for me. The women are too sexualised and the plot is difficult to understand because it’s very confusing.
I would not recommend it to anyone.

I HATED how sexual this art was and it distracted me from the story. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone honestly.

Honestly not a very big fan of the artwork or the story. It feels like the kind of art meant to appeal to teenaged boys in video games, and the story lacked a lot of the same substance. I'm not even completely sure of the entire storyline, and I certainly wouldn't waste time rereading this to figure it out.

Ancient Dreams was a wonderful fantasy read. The worlds are lush. The characters have great personalities that makes it easy to love them. Awesome fantasy read.

I never DNF books, and I HATE giving bad reviews. I had high hopes but the over sexual drawings and how the women were portrayed really made me uncomfortable and I couldn’t finish it at all.

4/5 star
Love love love this! I loved the depth of the characters and setting of the story! I definitely want to read more of this author.

I got this for my son to review, and he loved it! He was very engrossed.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.