Unfortunately I was not able to open this review copy, but thank you so much to the publishers for this opportunity. As a a queer and nonbinary DND player I was really looking forward to this, the art seems great and I was looking forward to seeing how the inside and outside stories would balance. Hopefully I'll be able to read this elsewhere!

I thought this story was very interesting. I liked the split between the real world and their dnd adventures. I also liked that we got to see their past in order to better understand their motivation in the present. I thought overall it was super fun.

I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with my family last July, and while I'm no expert, this novel brought that world to life! It captured that magic and emotion I feel when we host our weekly meeting. I look forward to this series continuing!

This was such an adorable, cute read!! I really loved the artstyle and would love to see more of it, especially in a D&D-esque setting with all the cool character design options. I think it's incredible how this lighthearted, fun artstyle made this graphic novel so enjoyable - i'm not a fan of detailed, long action scenes in comics, and i found this to be the perfect balance of adventurous and cozy. I cared about the characters and their relationships - both the players and their RPG characters, which i think might be hard to achieve in only 100 pages. I love the queer rep, especially the inclusion of some underrepresented groups, such as aro people. I also think it's really neat how the story just let fat people live their lives, yes, even as half-elves, and how the nonbinary character's design wasn't the stereotypical image of an enby person. I really appreciated the representation of young adult problems with relationships and changes, i feel like there are so many ya stories about those topics, but not that many about non-teenage people. Overall i would definitely reccomend it and can't wait to read more stories like this! I also kind of love the idea of Critical Role graphic novel adaptations in this artstyle ahh!!

This book was wonderful. I don’t know much about Dunngeons and Dragons myself, but my daughters are big fans so I was interested in reading this both for them and for my library. It was incredibly rich in representation, which is great for my students to see, and the story itself was touching and relatable. As a bonus, the illustrations were amazing as well. I will definitely be purchasing this for my library.

A group of students are waiting for a GSA meeting at school but the president never shows. While they're waiting the discuss the idea of Dungeons and Dragons and decide to start playing. Over the course of the four years at high school they continue to use what was supposed to be a GSA meeting as a D&D club. The students become close and are about to go their seperate ways for college and careers. There was one dungeon from their high school days that they hadn't yet defeated and they decide to make time to try and finish it before moving away from each other. One of the members girlfriends joins the group and one of the friends has an issue with her playing style but they come together in the end. There's a lot of interesting back story that could have been expanded on and this could have been a series but they wrapped it up pretty nicely and quickly. Each member of the group also had a good reason to want to join a GSA and it's nice to see the representation mentioned but not harped on.

i love a good d&d (inspired) story, and this was the perfect cozy read! an incredible cast of characters, each developed and with their own motivations and problems; an adventuring party as close-knit as any; adult life and its problems creeping in at the edges, and beautiful art to boot. i loved how seamlessly this switched between the game and its players while letting both stories run their natural course. plus, as an avid d&d fan, there were plenty of times i couldn't help but gasp from a good easter egg or realization.

Swords clashing, magical storms, stealthy assassinations. The ability to become someone else entirely. Mythical quests and battle-forged companions.

They’re all things that make DND so appealing.

I love fantasy action and have always been interested in DND. I know lots of people that play DND. I’ve played DND. I’ve only ever played DND with a group that is all Asian and majority female.

And yet, whenever I think of DND, I think of an unwelcoming group of white boys.

I don’t even know where or when this image became so ingrained in my mind. It irks me to no end that this image pops up when I think about branching out and looking for a group beyond my family.

That’s why The Last Session is so refreshing. Right away, our protagonists are a mixed group.

When the president (or the advisor?!) of the high school Gender Sexuality Alliance doesn’t show up, our quintet begins a game of Dice & Deathtraps which they continue for years. Now, they attempt to finish this long adventure with a last session, but our Dungeon Master (whom the game cannot function without) invites their partner to join the game. The easy, comfortable routine between the friends is broken.

While the basic plot is pretty typical and straightforward - a new party member breaks the status quo - it’s never boring. The characters are all charming and flawed and the adventuring hijinks are cute. The artwork is welcoming and colorful.

Perhaps the plot is a little predictable, but for a short comic, I don’t need a million twists and turns. In fact, for something like this, I don’t want it. At 116 pages (and that number includes covers and a title page!), there’s no room for the types of satisfying plot twists that keep you engaged until the end of 500 page tomes. Short and sweet is absolutely fine! It gives you the space to mingle with the characters and enjoy the scenery.

It is perhaps a tad bit disappointing that we don’t get to know the characters more, but the snippets we do get show them to be all complex individuals. And the fanfic writer in me relishes the chance to embellish with my own headcanon.

The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative written by Jasmine Walls and drawn by Dozerdraws comes out July 22, 2022. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I received a copy of this graphic novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not a RPG player but I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot. The present and past moments of the players were interesting and their game session was depicted funnily. It was a nice graphic novel! 😊

"The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative" was an absolute delight from start to finish. It's a beautiful look at the ups and downs of friendship in your early 20s and how shared experiences can help keep a group together when their lives are heading in different directions. The story is told through both the perspective of the real-life friends as well as the characters within the Dice & Deathtraps campaign. I loved getting to know the friends through their interactions with the group as well as their Dice & Deathtraps characters. There's also so much lovely, matter-of-fact queer representation in this book that was truly the icing on the cake. I can't wait to recommend this book to everyone I know.

This is a story about a group of friends (Jay, Lana, Drew, Walter and Shen) who have been playing D&D since high school. And now, 4 years later they're graduating from college, and Meet one last time to finish the first campaign, But now they have a new player in the area, Jay's partner, Cassandra, and As they built a friendship from this game, they all have a certain difficulty in accepting it in the group. But as they all try to resolve the problem in real life, in the game they do the same thing, working as a team to the final act.

This was such a comfy and cute graphic novel!! I was a quick reading so as soon as finished, I Really need to know more about the characters.

I love the characters so much, The approach of the theme was very good, and even though I don't like RPG very much, I found myself, glazed over to learn more about them. I sympathized a lot with Lana, because she's too afraid of change, and in high, I've Been going to the same thing, not with friends, but with the choices that I have to do for my future and stuff. The way that the story goes to the present, pass, and future was very good too, Which made me understand more about the characters and get more attached to them, even though it was a short graphic novel.

It's obvious That I would recommend this graphic novel to everyone, Especially those who are in a bad phase, and need a little comfort, those who are afraid of changes, those who are Confused about who they are and what their purpose is... This graphic novel will calm all your heart.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't think I would get into this because I've never played Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 🎲🔰 and that's what this story revolves around, but as soon as we got into the mix of the characters' goals/desires/backstories, everything tied up super nicely by the end. I love seeing characters grow and recognize their faults, not being scared to admit when they messed up big time👍👍 Two big thumbs up for that. Also for the super diverse representation of the characters playing D&D!

The art is simple but effective, and I loved the large panels to highlight big moments in the story. It really provided depth to the character's emotions, especially during the campaign.

I would love to see what the next campaign has in store for these budding adventurers.

This was a cute story about a group of old friends trying to include a new person in one of their favourite role playing games and the tension that came with that. Because of the short format it felt very much like a lesson about why acting out of jealousy is bad and including people is good. In the chosen format there just wasn’t enough space for me to feel a connection to the characters. I did really like the role playing quest storyline and thought it was a fun way to tell the story by alternating between present, past and the role playing world. In summary it was a fun time.

"The Last Session" follows a group of friends that are about to graduate from college. They decide to have the last session to finally finish the D&D campaign that brought them together.

Half of the story is about the adventures of the character and the other half are interactions of the players. I enjoyed a little more the D&D world, but your mileage may vary.

The art is great, very expressive, and with great use of color. I loved the character design -in and out of the game-, everyone feels unique. Really good work on that front.

Regarding the book itself, the best way to describe it is "enjoyable". I love how the cast is so diverse and queer without making that the only motive. It also covers a lot of topics: friendship, LGBTQ+ Identity, parental pressure, jealousy, change, and body issues. My main issue was that everything was addressed on a surface level and I would have loved to have more pages to see how everything worked more in-depth.

Still, I appreciate that this volume works as a stand-alone, all the conflicts are resolved at the end. However, this is one of the rare times when I wish the book was longer because it felt like a prologue to a bigger universe.

This was such a cute and fun read. The art style is adorable and so colourful and nice to look at. Each volume gave us a glimpse of the past and the present which really helped with getting to know the characters .'The Last Session' features a diverse cast dealing with the difficulty of growing up and figuring out who you are and your place in the world while trying to stay in touch with friends during the transition from highschool to adulthood when change can be scary. Highly recommend for anyone who loves D&D and who is questioning or identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Enjoyable but not wonderful gaming graphic novel. Half the story is the adventures of the character and half the story is the interactions of the players. I found the players, especially Lana to be pretty immature for almost done with college adults. Also, what sort of bratty immature person would treat the significant other of an old friend they have no interest in dating themselves like that?! It was well written though and the art was great. Liked it but didn’t love it because of the characters being not very enjoyable.

This was a really cute and fun read! I loved the emphasis the story had on friendship, and I especially liked how it included characters of college-age as well.

A very cute comic about a group of friends on the brink of separation after college, as they deal with gracefully accepting change and letting new people into their lives, and finishing a years-old RPG campaign. I liked the art and the story, the characters felt well-formed, and I definitely related to the "notes, what notes?" moment late in the game.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super sweet and charming quick read. I finished the whole thing in one sitting. I liked the characters and thought the character designs as them selves and also their in DND versions were super distinct and interesting. This managed to cover a lot of coming of age topics in a pretty short run: friendship, LGBTQ+ Identity, parental pressure, jealousy, change, and diet and body issues, to name a few. I thought these topics while obviously not dug in to in a deep and drawn out way were well handled and overall it made the story sweeter.

I have only the smallest pet peeve which is the story kept jumping "4 years" but that four year jump was from the time they were in the 10th grade to when they were all graduating/graduated college....so shouldn't it be 6 years? Its dumb but my brain is a stickler for that kind of detail so it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

"The Last Session" follows a group of friends, just about to graduate from college, joining together for one last session to finally finish their first D&D campaign, made way back when the group first met in high school. But, a new player joins the party, and mild discord ensues!

The cast is of "The Last Session" is wonderfully diverse and queer! I love all of the characters, and it is easy to feel connected to them. I also really liked that the character felt like actual people! They feel like people you would run into at the local LGBT comic shop or in a D&D server. Out of all the characters, I emphasized the most with both Lana and Cassandra. Mostly because I could fully understand and empathize with how both of them felt during the entire novel. Also, I loved the Ace rep! I feel like I rarely see any Ace characters in stories, so it was really nice to see here! The art style of the novel was compelling and just fun to look at in general. I loved the jumps between the real-life side of the players and the fantasy world of the campaign. Their campaign character designs were also super cool to see! I really liked "The Last Session". The title says it's only volume one, so I'll be on the lookout for volume two! I'm excited to see where the story goes from here!