Thank you Titan Books and Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. Negalyod is a graphic novel about a dinosaur shepherd named Jarri. He joins a rebellion that wants to destroy the totalitarian government that controls his dystopian world. "In a post-apocalyptic far future/alternate world, dinosaurs roam the desolate land, while the last denizens of humanity survive together in technological cities run by a military regime."

The writing style was good, and I love the art.

Negalyod starts out quite interesting - our main character herds a troupe of dinosaurs, which get killed by overflying semi-sci-fi looking aircraft that supposedly control the weather. So our dinosaur herder wants revenge, and he thinks he'll find it in the city. The city is a huge sci fi monstrosity and things get complicated. There we encounter the titular god network, a kind of AI that governs the city.

That all sounds interesting enough, and it is, with nice Moebius-like art, with nice designs of the city and its inhabitants.. but then it all fizzles out in the last third, with an unsatisfying ending.

Sad network.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I love a good dystopian world, and combined with dinosaurs I was expecting to really enjoy this. Instead I was met with flat characters (there is an attempt to make some of them mysterious, but for me it did not work at all), world-building and lore that does not go further than surface level and a plot that, combined with the other two things, was so slow and jumpy that I wanted to DNF at 30%. I stuck it out, but did not feel like it improved for me. Again, the biggest problem I had was that I did not care for any of the characters and the ending only left me feeling very meh.

Maybe someone will like this, but I did not (sadly).

My thanks to Titan Books Titan Comics for a digital review copy of ‘Negalyod: The God Network’ written and illustrated by Vincent Perriot. It was originally published in France in 2018 and translated from the French by Montana Kane.

This science fiction graphic novel is set in a post-apocalyptic far future/alternate world where dinosaurs roam the desolate lands and the last denizens of humanity survive together in technological cities run by a totalitarian military regime.

The story focuses on Jarri, a dinosaur shepherd. On his way to the city his herd of triceratops is deliberately destroyed. Justifiably angry at this slaughter, he seeks those responsible and becomes involved with a rebel group. Together they uncover a conspiracy that will reveal the true nature of the world they live in.

A brooding dinosaur shepherd! Dinosaurs able to communicate with some humans! Stygo, Jarri’s dinosaur mount, who is just awesome! I was so on board. The artwork was stunning, both in its detail and the use of colour, provided by Florence Breton.

However, as much as I could lose myself in the images, I really needed more world-building and character development alongside the artistic beauty. The potential is definitely there.

I understand that there is a second volume and do hope that Titan Comics will eventually make this available in English.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

A book that wants to think itself utterly different, because it features people who want to bring down the big sky-borne controlling elements of the world, but with the help of dinosaurs. If you ask me, take away the glitchy visual style (digital review copy only, perhaps) and remove the dinosaurs, and you get something from the Valiant Universe, where some floating uber-controllers have to be forced to crashland and then duffed up a lot. Don't get me wrong, this is about a lot more than who has the best pecs and alien tech, but it thinks it's surprisingly novel when it isn't. The decision to never explain why dinosaur herders and high-tech floating city controllers exist in the same place and time will be a Marmite one, and the characters don't exactly do much of the lifting when it comes to removing the derivative feel. Only the final spurts of mildly interesting thinking and surprise prevent this from being a three-stars-at-best book, but three and a half is still too many.

Oh, and stupid title. Which is never explained.

I won't be cross posting this review as I feel it is largely due to panels missing/cropped out of each page. I'm not sure if it's just my copy but this may be why several of the reviews of Negalyod: The God Network on here speak about how difficult the story is to follow. I have emailed the publicity team at Titan but have received no reply.

The artwork suits the world being built, though it likely won't be everyone.
I loved the premise of a dinosaur-cowboy herding triceratops. Unfortunately, this doesn't last nearly long enough for me. The sale of Stygo particularly hurt since there was a long journey to go.

The story was exceptionally difficult to follow, hence the low score.
Still, I would be very willing to buy a physical copy to give it a proper go.

Have you ever romanticized being a cowboy or an outlaw? Do you also wish it was dinosaurs instead of cows? Then you will love this book.

Negalyod is a graphic about a Sheppard ( a dinosaur Sheppard!) who goes on a mission to find the people responsible for killing his flock. The world has a lot of interesting details that I hope to see elaborated on in any future titles. There was a lot of potential for creating a must-read series with the set-up for this title. I would love to learn more about how this world works and who its gods are. Why are there dinosaurs there? I think if I understood more about the circumstances of this world that it would really hook me in for more.

It was an interesting read and I will be picking up the next title if Vincent makes a second title, what more can you ask for in the first graphic novel in a series?

Negalyod – The God Network is the latest science fiction graphic novel offering from Titan Comics that transports readers to a strange world where science and technology have run amok, but where dinosaurs roam the vast desert lands where small pockets of humanity are doing their best to survive outside of giant cities in the sky.

Negalyod – The God Network follows Jarri, a dinosaur shepherd who has made a small life for himself tending a herd of triceratops’ with his faithful companion, Stygo, a Pachycephalosaurus. The two of them travel the vast, barren desert with their herd, taking them from one safe location to another. However, when a weather truck, a huge tanker like vehicle that produces lightning and storms, driven by cybernetic prisoners, passes by his herd it kills every single one of his triceratops.

Enraged by the senseless slaughter of his dinosaurs, Jarri travels to one of the nearest settlements, hoping that he can find out who is responsible for the weather truck killing indiscriminately, and stop them. Upon arriving in the settlement, a vast slum-like city high above the plains, he learns that things are more complex than he first believed. Despite living above the deserts most of the people there are barely surviving, eking out a living as little more than slaves to those who live even higher up than them. Jarri soon finds himself meeting with the charismatic leader of a local resistance group, and decides that he could be his best way of getting higher up in the city to get his revenge. This sets Jarri on a path that will cause him to become an important ally to the resistance, and part of a mission that could change the world.

Negalyod – The God Network is a strange book. There’s a quote on the back cover comparing it to Mad Max, and that’s an apt description for a few reasons. The first and most obvious one is that it’s being set in a future time where the Earth has gone to hell and people are struggling to survive in harsh desert environments. But the less obvious comparison is that, like Mad Max, this story drops you into that setting with no real explanations. We don’t know why the world has ended up like this. We don’t know how humanity changed and evolved to this point. We don’t know why there are dinosaurs everywhere or why Jarri can speak to them. It’s just stuff that’s part of the story and we’re left to deal with it.

Because of this, there are times where the book feels like it’s being deliberately vague, to the point where even after reading through some parts of it twice I found myself having to try and fill in some of the blanks with small context clues and my own suppositions. This isn’t necessarily a bad way to tell a story, it does leave the author free to concentrate on the tale they want to tell, rather than having to spend time explaining the world that they’ve created, and it means that each individual reader can come away with their own, personal interpretation for the story. However, there are times where I was left wondering why things had happened a certain way, why characters made the choices they did, and even what the ending meant.

There’s a vagueness to the story here that feels part deliberate decision to leave things open to interpretation, and part laziness. That might sound overly critical, but when a story reaches a conclusion and you’re left asking what actually happened it feels very frustrating. I don’t know what the end of this story is trying to say. All I know is that the book ends with a world different to how the story started, but not why or how.

Just as the story is very vague and lacks any real depth, so do the characters. Jarri is our lead, and the only character I get a feeling that I know. His motivation is understandable, he goes in wanting revenge, and over the course of the book we do learn a little more about his history and why he’s such a driven person. But there are still times where I look at the character and don’t feel like I know much about them. And the secondary characters are even worse for this. Many of them react in the moment whenever something happens, but the way they react and their motivations seem to change from scene to scene. Someone can be very confrontational in one scene, but super friendly in the next. A character can be closed off and guarded one moment, but be an open source of information on the next page. The characters seem to be here to serve a story purpose and to move things forward, and have no real sense of consistency because those needs are constantly shifting.

The artwork for the book is provided by the writer, Vincent Perriot, with colours by Florence Breton. The art feels very simple at times, with very little detail being given over to the characters; however, the backgrounds and environments are filled with detail and small bits and pieces. Whilst you will find yourself skimming over the people, catching a glance at their faces and moving on, you can spend a good while sitting and looking through some of the bigger scenes, taking in everything happening behind the main focus. The colours for the book are pretty muted, with the desert environments coloured in oranges and tan colours, whilst the technology and cities are in cold blues and greys, giving the different locations their own feel and flavour that’s instantly able to be recognised.

Negalyod – The God Network is a book that I think may divide readers. Some will like the open, less clear style of storytelling and will enjoy being able to fill in those blanks, whilst others will find some frustrations with that. The book does have a look and style that sets it apart from other graphic novels on offer, but it’s one where I can’t predict how it’s going to be received by readers.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for the AVC.

I was really intrigued by the title and themes of this book. I'll admit that I haven't read a lot of European comics. I've read through the first book of The Incal and maybe a half a dozen others. Most of my appreciation for comics and graphic novels are generally from English-language creators. But I was eager to see what this one was about. I have to admit, it just didn't work for me. The art style is certainly unique, though you can certainly see influences, maybe most notably from European artists like Moebius. Though, I think Moebius' work tends to be both more detailed and more colorful. But it just didn't work for me. It's a bit too simplistic, which makes it difficult to express emotions well. And because this book is both image-heavy (there are often full pages without dialogue) and comics themselves are a visual medium, I felt a lot was lost with a less detailed art style.

Next was the world. It's certainly interesting. The book summary describes a "post-apocalyptic far future/alternate world, dinosaurs roam the desolate land." But for the most part you are just thrown into the story with little explanation of the world or its inhabitants. Obviously, some of that is revealed as you go, but the book really does require the reader to fill in a lot of the gaps. That's not always a bad thing, but in this case it left me feel detached from the story being told.

I do think there is something interesting here, though. I liked a lot of the concepts and the basics of the plot can easily be transformed into a compelling story, but it just didn't work for me. I do think sense that some of my issues may be my American sensibilities. I have a feeling this book was likely better received by European readers or fans of European style comics.

This was quite an interesting mix of a wide ranging future that also includes dinosaurs. I didn't stick with the characters and found myself skimming a little bit. This could just be my problem but i wanted more of the future society than i did the dino-rangers. It was a very credible mix though.

Not a fan of this one. The plot was pretty confusing. It’s a shame because the concept was very cool. I can’t judge the artwork as it was a pixelated (not final) version.

Hmm… so, that’s it?

As much as I love the style of the art and the idea for the whole story (DINOS!!!), this book left me completely unsatisfied. The pacing was too rushed, leaving no time for actual development of the characters or even the storyline, which can be described like a box of really tasty chocolates which can only be eaten separately because if mixed together have no taste. It’s hard to even say anything about the whole thing because it felt like the author dreamed a story with a great plot but after waking up wrote down only the pieces he remembered, leaving it messy and incomplete.

I’m sorry for all these metaphors but it’s really hard to describe ‘Negalyod’ with words when the thing that perfectly illustrates the feeling of it is ‘😐’.

Overall, I hoped for something much better than was I got. My rating: 6/10 for the art and dinosaurs

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this ARC :)

In a post-apocalyptic world where the oceans have dried up and dinosaurs exist beside humans, dinosaur-shepherd Jarri seeks revenge on the people that killed his herd. Before he knows it, he's involved in a rebellion.