I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

I absolutely loved the story! I also thought the artwork was phenomenally done! While the story did seem a little rushed, I still thought it was a wonderful story.

3 stars
I liked the book but it wasn't amazing.It was just a good short story with some a little romance and a decent story line.The art was good but the characters felt like they lack something.

Jordan River is sort of enjoying a day at the museum with his family - mom, dad, and two younger twin brothers. The parents ask Jordan repeatedly with helping out and making sure the twins are occupied. When he slips away to find a moment for himself, he wanders into a fantasy kingdom and finds a prince and his knight beset by wolves. Despite never having held a sword before, Jordan picks one up from a fallen knight and protects the prince, who seems to have just performed magic. Back at the palace, Jordan discovers magic is forbidden, but his bravery has earned him one favor from the Queen. He asks to be trained as a knight, as he has no interest in returning home. There is more in this kingdom’s past that Jordan wants to help discover, especially once the Oracle tells him he will be instrumental in saving it.

Coming out of the gate, this was a pretty strong story with a compelling beginning. Where it lost me was Jordan asking to be trained as a knight instead of asking the queen for a way home. He’s way too calm about the transported to another world bit, even if his little brothers are that annoying. That easy-going attitude is consistent throughout, as he seems completely unfazed by magic monsters and endangering his life over and over for a kingdom he just found. The budding romantic relationship between Jordan and the prince was a little predictable and treated a bit like an afterthought. Overall, there wasn't enough time devoted to a lot of portions of this story -- this easily could have been several volumes, but instead it was all smooshed together and everything happened very quickly.

The art, however, is very beautiful and colored gorgeously. The Cardinali really captured this magical, fantasy world, especially in her full-page splashes with imaginative settings and beautiful magic-casting sequences.

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

This graphic novels follows seventeen year old Jordan, on vacation with his family in New York when he is suddenly transported to a fantasy world.

This was a fun and enjoyable story, and I liked the fantasy setting and the characters, but it felt a little underdeveloped, I wished it was longer and had expanded more on the world and the characters. Some things felt rushed, and it felt like Jordan was able to use a sword surprisingly well for someone who had never used a sword before - maybe it would have made more sense if Jordan had been set up a really good athlete or something like that, I also felt like the ending was rushed and there wasn’t really any resolution, especially for the problems that the main character wanted to get away from at the beginning of the book. I did like the aspect of the queer romance, but again wished it had been developed more fully, especially with the lack of resolution at the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the setting but it needed to be fleshed out more.

rating:
3/5 stars

This was a pretty generic fantasy story with some decent art, nothing new or special. It was on the shorter side too so it moved quickly and you didn't get much afterwards which was a bit disappointing.

(4.5 stars)
Now, this was a treat! I love “wished away to a magical world” stories but I strongly believe that the format and the art lead it to perfection. The main character's storyline is very relatable, with becoming the caretaker of his younger siblings and wanting to have autonomy over his life. You don’t even blink when he decides to become a knight but you would too. The two highlights of the graphic novel are the art and the twists. The art is so immersive and just beautiful. I loved going through the pages looking at the details of the forest and the architecture of the kingdom. And the art ties to the twists because the details were all there from the beginning, scattered in the background. Whodunnit style. But still, the resolution was amazing.
My only issue with the ending was the lack of closure for the main character. His story started with his parents’ dependence on him and yet there is no scene of them talking about it. I wished there had been a conversation on the lines of “mom, dad, I understand you like having you-time but I dislike the way you always push me to take care of my brothers. We are in New York and I would like to go out on my own and see my things”. Because this issue happens a lot and although it sometimes isn’t the parents' fault, it can be hard on the kid who has to parent. I don't think that “autonomy is a thing you will only find in magical worlds” is a good message.
In the end, I really liked this. It was great to see a diverse magical world and interworld boyfriends in a visibility queer storyline. My thanks to the authors and the publisher for allowing me to read their book.

received from Netgalley

Jordan is on vacation with his family. His parents expect him to take care of his younger siblings all of the time. Tired, annoyed and irritated he wanders on his own and finds himself in another world. Literary.

He soon embraces the world and even training for a knight, but all is not well in the world and there are many secrets lurking below the surface.

The illustrations are gorgeous. As I flipped the pages the world came alive. The magic, the setting, it's all well thought out.

It's a lovely story, light, short and to the point. It could do with a bit more depth, with the story and the characters. However, I greatly enjoyed it. :)

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel. The art was colorful, and I liked the character design. I wish that it had been broken up into more novels to further expand upon the story. The lore, plot, and romance were all rushed. However, I still enjoyed it and would recommend, it!

This was an interesting story and it was short, which was great! High fantasy novels tend to get stuck in the world building for chapters at a time and that can make me lose interest quickly. This graphic novel had a quick pace, kept me interested, and would be a good stepping stone for anyone dipping their toes into high fantasy. The ending is also ambiguous enough that there could be future volumes.

This had potential, but unfortunately, it fell pretty flat. I thought it would be a grand, queer fantasy graphic novel, but it was not. There was no great adventure but rather a quick little story that was too fast to feel anything for any characters. It felt the book was trying to be epic, but stuffing all of the ideas in one small novel made everything feel disconnected. I want to see the new world and feel the world-building. Instead, it was just fantasy cliches that quickly happened. As someone who plays D& D and the author certainly plays it, it was like a campaign trying to be a many-session-long arc but instead was a one-shot. Jordan, our main character, acted like he was watching things from afar instead of actually connecting to the other characters. This happened even when he got injured and faced magic and assigns, and it seemed like he did not react like this was happening to him or to people he should care about. This made the romance also feel rushed and unearned. There was no connection between him and the elf (who I've forgotten his name, that's how forgettable the characters are), and so the ending romance felt out of nowhere.

The art itself was wonderful, and I loved the color and character designs. Overall this book had potential that was held back in telling a grand fantasy story in a single small volume.

3.5 ★

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy of this story in exchange of an honest review.

Una historia interesante, con bellas y muy atrapantes viñetas. Me hubiera encantado saber más detalles, si esto fuera una novela de 400 páginas sin duda la leería para saber más de los sentimientos de los personajes.

Aún así como novela gráfica funciona muy bien. Resulta muy entretenida de leer y se termina super rápido.

Lo recomiendo, su nivel de inglés es básico a intermedio, ideal para practicar su lectura.

i was really looking forward to reading this since i found out that the mc is a filipino but i was unable to open the file regardless of device. i couldn't download it on my phone, tablet, or pc. it's also not supported in the netgalley app.

I was really hoping to get whisked away to a fantasy, Narnia-like world with lots of adventure and my overall feeling right now is that I'm underwhelmed and disappointed.

The premise to this story is really fun, the art work is absolutely gorgeous, but the execution felt rushed. This comic is way too short for me to care even a little bit about the characters. Jordan is kinda bland and he's way too quick to just forget about his family back home. He's like oh yeah new world, I'll just quickly think up a backstory without hesitation! It's also just very unbelievable that they immediately trust him, especially with what is going on in this world, and let him train to protect the prince...

Basically, it's all just way too easy, it feels like the part of the story where we are supposed to get to know the characters and explore the world and the dynamic between everyone and everything is rushed so we can get to the action scenes quicker. The thing is that action without reason or substance is boring. On top of that, it's also very unbelievable that Jordan is able to do any of the things he's doing after literally 2 days of training. If there were more, it was not clear from the story or the art.

Besides that, we have the family drama in this fantasy world. Lots of secrets, which are interesting, but don't have enough time for me to understand them to feel betrayed when we find out certain things aren't true later on. Also, how a certain character went from one state of being to another is never explained, even though that was the entire thing the story was about. That was weird. What was also weird was this half-assed connection between Jordan and the prince, who's name I've already forgotten even though I finished this book less than 30mins ago. It was so half-assed, I could see elements of nice relationship development that I've seen in other stories were we get a couple who dislike each other at first. Here, however, they barely talked about anything but the adventure they were on, so those moments that could show development, just feel empty, like going through the motions without any real connection. And then in the end, I'm supposed to believe that's how they feel? After a couple of days of barely talking (and if they did it was mostly fighting) and battle? Come on, now. I get why they wanted to include this element to the story, but it was already so short. There was just zero room to do any of this justice.

And I think that's what it boils down to. They wanted to include too many things in 159 pages and the result was that they weren't able to do any of the stories justice. The dialogues were rushed and unnatural because of this too. Sadly, the only thing I really liked were the illustrations and the premise had promise. It just couldn't deliver.

This was such an easy read! Loved the adventure and characters! I found myself imaging everything so vividly and I really loved the illustrations but I still feel like it was missing something and it wasn’t the most memorable read.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful - full color and expressive. But unfortunately, it doesn't make up for a bland retread story that just isn't developed well. So although this is a quick and ok read, it is also incredibly boring because we've seen it before in so many iterations.

Story: At a NYC Museum, teen Jordan is constantly forced to watch his crazy younger twin brothers while his parents do other things. He's tired of being the 'secondary parent" and wants to do things on his own. When he finally grabs a chance to wander off, he is suddenly transported to a fantasy kingdom of Elves. When he saves a young prince from wolves, he discovers the prince's darkest secret and becomes embroiled in their politics.

In many ways, the writing feels lazy here. No attempt is really given to explain the sudden shift to a magical realm, the fantasy painting of elves in a NYC public museum, or even the world of the elves. The elves themselves are simplistic, lacking in depth or character, and really needing more development. Lead character Jordan also suffers greatly from feeling almost childlike in his perception of life, danger, and his circumstances. No, we don't need super serious or anything; all the same, this feels like how a 7 year old looks at life. It reminds me a lot of the Dragon Prince series - but lacks the humor, emotion, and originality.

The artwork is really beautiful. That lovely illustration work is accompanied by inspired coloring that really makes the artwork pop. It's digital work at its best. Even the lettering is clean and unobtrusive. The book was much better to look at than read.

We've seen way too many plots of this type - even going back to Twain and his Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The LGBQT angle doesn't make this original and certainly is so underdeveloped as to be non existent. Nor do we see a reason why Jordan would be attracted to the petulant, rude, and unresponsive prince - other than good looks?

In all, there just isn't enough here. More time was greatly needed on the story and to develop the characters. Lovely artwork didn't make up for the tepid story. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for allowing me to read an e-arc of this book.

It was pretty good. The art style and the characters: loved it. The story wasn’t bad too. I really liked it. But I think it’s too short. I mean there are only 160 pages, and it’s pretty short to fit a whole high fantasy story.

The story is good but can feel a bit rush.

But still not a bad book.

Rep: Filipino Gay MC, Gay MC
Tw: Violence, Blood, Attempt murder

Amazing cover! I would like to review it, but I am unable to access this file in any given app that I've tried. Converting file also does not help. Since this seems like an issue also for other reviewers, it’s not just me.
Will come back to give proper review if and when this issue is fixed.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

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The premise of this graphic novel isn't new to me, as someone who has read a lot of transmigration, isekai and reincarnation manhua/ mahwa but still I was lookin forward to it.

The art is really impressive and catchy for me, the most thing I did liked on this graphic novel.

I think the potential of this graphic novel was wasted because of rush of plot and lack of development among the characters and the romance aside from the plot. It ended up pretty much wasted and boring for me, especially the climax which really felt anticlimatic.

The art was really great, characters likable, but the story was super rushed with not much explanation. It this was a but longer, it would've been a new favourite. It needed to have more. We got the amazing story, then it was over and I was sad. But it was still a very solid read.

I can see this being a great read for someone young or just exploring the fantasy genre. But I found this book to be a bit lacking in character development and world building.. I think this is mostly an issue because of the pacing which is too quick and doesn’t let the reader have any time to absorb the world not give time for the author to share details and answers to things you may want to know more about. Simply put, it lacks depth and is a simple overview of what could be a much longer and thoughtful story.
This is not to say this is a “bad” graphic novel, but to say it leaves you wanting more than what it gives you compared to its contemporaries and what seasoned readers expect.