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

Dreams Factory by Jerome Hamon is an amazing middle-grade fantasy graphic novel. The story is set in Victorian London and revolves around Indira, a girl who works in the coal mines. When her little brother Elliot disappears, she goes on a quest to find him. Did the wealthy owner of the coal mines take him? And for what purpose?

Overall, Dreams Factory is a lovely fantasy graphic novel that will appeal to fans of Studio Ghibli, particularly Howl's Moving Castle, or Frozen. One highlight of this book is the artwork. The characters are drawn in a Disney-like style, and I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel because of the art. If I had to complaini about 1 thing, I just wished that this book was longer. If a second volume comes out, I will definitely check it out! If you're intrigued by the description, you can check out this book when it comes out in September!

This graphic novel is beautifully illustrated. The setting and characters are lovely and the color scheme really evokes the atmosphere in the book. The art was about the only part of this book I enjoyed. The plot is hard to follow, there's almost no information about the world or why things are happening, and the plot moves along quickly without really explaining the reveals it's making. The plot is handled like this is a short story in an anthology, and had it been so, I think it would've been more successful. But, as a standalone work, there's not enough here to make me care about he characters or what is happening. The end was interesting, but confusing since i'm not sure why it ended that way, so I hope the sequel clears things up.

I very much enjoyed this. A strong female lead in a steampunk world risking her life to save her brother from the toy factory’s clutches. There were so many twists and turns, and the ending had me excited to read more. Beautiful art style. I highly recommend this one.

The problem with this book is the ending isn't as alluring as the beginning. It started off great and I was excited to read about Indira and Elliott's lovely bonding and fierce love for each other. The pacing was very fast but that didn't seem like a bother in the first half. However, the second half was a different story. It kept moving from one scenario to another and I was very confused what was happening. I still don't know for sure what happened. It's highly disppointing because the world building was amazing and the story had so much potential. The illustrations were brilliant, capturing the expressions and details with accuracy.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun quick read with an interesting storyline and the art to go with it.

Dreams Factory is set at the very end of the Gilded Age in 1892. Indira, our main protagonist, works every day in the mines with her fellow children in order to support her young brother. But once her younger brother disappears, she goes on a desperate chase to find him. I have very mixed feelings about Dreams Factory. The overarching plot idea is a classic fairy tale plot line; an elder sibling going on an adventure to find their missing younger sibling. The world-building concepts were interesting, but they felt very rushed. They introduced one concept and then immediately moved on to another one. Also, I felt utterly disconnected from all of the characters. This story goes so fast, there is no character development, so they don't feel like tangible characters. On a surface level, the characters are interesting conceptually, but the story never shows us how they are interesting as people. Characters also change their minds so many times, that it's really hard to pin down what their motivations are. Asides from base motivations such as "I want power" or "I want to protect my sibling" I have no idea why they are doing what they are doing. The book also introduces character after character, so the cast feels a bit overwhelmed. The pacing of this book feels very oddly paced. Chapter one is a slow ramp-up since it's mostly the setup for the plot, but then from chapter two onwards the plot goes into overdrive and starts going a hundred miles an hour. The last chapter also confused the hell out of me. I get it's supposed to be this insane huge magical moment, but I was just confused. Like...why is this happening? What is going on here? The story, while having interesting elements and world-building, feels messy. The plot lines don't flow correctly, they just feel like tangled strings. The artist's style on the other hand is wonderful! It's got a lovely style and a good panel flow. The action scenes are done in a good way that flows nicely. I didn't really like this book, but I might try to see if I can find an English copy of the second volume.

Dreams Factory is a beautifully illustrated tale of class, rebellion and family. A truly captivating art style displays the setting and the characters wonderfully. It is extremely clear that significant time and care has gone into crafting each and every panel.

Furthermore, each character has a distinct visual style that expresses their persona effectively and is engaging to the reader. This also makes it easy for the reader to distinguish between the characters, despite a large variety of characters being introduced throughout.

I found the text and the colour choices to be very accessible and easy on the eye, although the navigation through some of the panels required a bit more thought.

The narrative itself is based on a very intriguing concept that has a lot of potential to develop into a great wider storyline. However, I personally found that the reader was thrust into a world with little world-building or explanation to provide the necessary context. This was a little jarring and confusing. While the key features of the wider plot made sense to me, I'm not sure I understand how that sits in the world as a whole, or what relationships the characters have with one another.

I think perhaps one reason for this was that the graphic novel is very short, so a lot of action occurs within the space of very few panels which can make it rather difficult to follow and keep up with at times. This is especially the case as the characters are frequently on the move, which can be quite disorienting.

Furthermore, while the large cast of characters are very unique and provide new layers to the story, I feel that too many characters are introduced in a short period of time, and each backstory is given very little attention. The effect of this is that I don't understand the motivations or feelings of any of the characters besides the protagonist. The protagonist also was not given much room for depth in my opinion, her motivations seem to be solely to look after her brother. Though as this book is middle grade and potentially targeted at a younger audience, this is less of a concern.

I would have loved to have seen more interaction between the characters to establish their dynamics with one another, as well as their motivations. Many of the backstories, some of which I still do not understand, could use a lot more attention and exposition, particularly Odin's. As could much of the world-building, especially if the book has a young target audience.

Overall, I feel this graphic novel has brilliant potential to turn into something wonderful if the narrative is given as much attention to detail as the artwork. It is truly beautiful, with a magnificent concept and dynamic characters, it is just slightly lacking in execution for me.