Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

I've followed Flor for a few years and was so excited to see he'd published a manga novel. He is quirky, tackles the hard topics and is not everyone's cup of tea. He is brilliant and hopefully this will be the first of his many novels.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Dancing on the Volcano, by Floor de Goede
★★☆☆☆
256 Pages
Content Warning: cheating (possibly?), on-page nudity


Nothing about this graphic novel was what I expected.
From the cover, the image of Flo made me think this was a YA story about a teen or young adult who was travelling for the first time without his boyfriend. The image on the cover is the same image used throughout for Flo – the graphic novel embodiment of the author, Floor, as this is an autobiographical story. However, that image implied a child or young adult, to my eyes. Maybe it's just me, but that was how I went into this story, and those were my expectations.

That was NOT what I got. At all.

For me, the biggest issue is with the timeline. There is no real flow or order to the stories told. Nothing about the blurb or cover of this book said this would be a collection of slice-of-life comic strips, ala Strange Planet. At least there, I went in knowing the stories were disconnected, but here, up to page 90, there was ONE consistent story, with a logical flow, a full exploration of one event in Flo's life. Then, suddenly, there was a total switch to an unknown timeline, with no notice of whether it came before or after the trip. Maybe if there had been chapter breaks, different titles for each story, or AT LEAST a timeline note, it might have made more sense, but half the time I began to wonder if some of the events were another weird segue in Flo's creative mind.

Also, I had a repeat of page 44 right between pages 53-54, for some obscure reason.

I think my biggest issue was the relationship dynamic between Flo and Bas. To start with, during his trip that is 90 pages long, Flo comes across as extremely co-dependent, missing Bas desperately, and constantly messaging Bas, to the point where he doesn't even enjoy his trip. He's so disinterested and forgetful (I assume, since no explanation was given) that he doesn't even charge his camera properly, despite being on the trip as a photographer. He keeps harping on about being a comic artist, but the only signs of that are his imagination, where he imagines wild events in the middle of an ordinary day. I would have LOVED to see him sketching pages or plotting stories as he was on the trip.

Instead, what we got was a lot of whining and complaining, missing Bas and being treated shockingly by his friend, Sander, who was obnoxious and rude towards him. Then, somehow, there was a total flip after page 90, where it was Flo who was looking at someone else, fancying someone else, and jeopardising his relationship. Bas warns him that it can only be the two of them – even after Flo makes the brave suggestion it could be a poly relationship – only to then flip his opinion later.

The real issue I had with the entire book was continuity. There was NO continuity or explanation of what was going on, what the timeline between events was, or what order the events happened in.

Flo is drawn/written as a very immature, childlike figure, in both personality and behaviour. There is a LOT of swearing and nudity I wasn't expecting. And Flo spends most of the last half of the book partying and looking for a new boyfriend, despite already having one. Or not. Because, without the continuity/timeline markings, we don't know if Flo and Bas broke up but just kept living together or not. Which ended in a lot of cheating and potential cheating.

I might have bought the relationship more if Bas had been even slightly open to the poly idea, if they'd been in an open relationship, or if we actually saw Tom – the love interest – as someone worth being in love with. Instead, all he did was sleep over on the couch and date other people a lot. It felt like Flo's connection to him and interest in him came completely out of nowhere, probably more a case of being bored with Bas than any actual feelings for Tom himself.

Worse, at the end of the book, there's a sort-of unexplained flashback of events from Bas' point of view. We see the time when Flo was on his trip to the volcano, and Bas is *actively* dating other people, actually getting frustrated and annoyed by Flo's messages, and doesn't seem to miss Flo at all. Which is HUGELY confusing, since this was the part of the story that actually flowed well and made sense, at the very beginning. At this point, it puts a whole new light on the first half, which is just confusing.

In the end, I think someone NOT connected to the events of the story – since it is autobiographical – needed to step in and warn how this would come across to readers not in the known. Someone needed to read it, then say “we need a little more” to help explain the events, the time passage, and the background to what was going on. However, I think Floor was too close to the story – since it is their story – and that never happened, so I'm left feeling conflicted and confused.

Nothing was clear. The artwork was nice, but gave the wrong impression, and left Flo seeming more like a teenager in a world of adults, as he was one of the few people drawn the way he was. With some help, this could have been a touching exploration of the reality of a relationship drifting from romance to boredom to friendship. It could have been a great slice-of-life storyline about the evolution of Flo and Bas' relationship, but it just lacked the continuity and background to properly showcase that.

This comic book about a trip to photograph a volcano is funny and well-drawn.

To take pictures of a volcano, author Flo journeys to the Aeolian Islands. Although he has traveled alone without his companion and is staying in a beautiful location for business, he must share a room with a bothersome coworker. Although the author enjoys the island's beauty, being apart from his spouse makes him lonely.

Due to my love of travel, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for an advanced copy of this graphic novel.

I enjoyed this novel about Flo and a glimpse of Flo's life. I think there was a tad choppy pace with me wishing some scenes had more frames and others were faster, but I nonetheless loved the artwork and the analogy used for the title. There was also a realism of a relationship portrayed through the graphic novel that I enjoyed.

Thanks to Netgalley and Oni Press for a copy of this book.

This is an autobiographical graphic novel.

For the first part of the book, as a photographer Flo accompanies Sander a journalist on a trip to a volcano. Flo however is missing his boyfriend, Bas.

The other parts of the book chronically parts of Flo and Bas' relationship.

The story lacked context, so we never really understand what's going on our feel connected to the characters. The timeline is disjointed and confusing. Flo looking like a child in compared to other characters felt uncomfortable.

Dancing on the Volcano is an autobiographical comic following Flo, a comic book artist from Amsterdam, as he travels and ponders his relationship with his boyfriend Bas.

The book has a well-thought out quality with chapters exploring the relationship between Flo and Bas (and Flo and his work) that, while chronologically out of order, build a nuanced portrait of both Flo's insecurities and the ongoing dynamics of two people who have been together a long time. I was especially fond of the epilogue, which provided some good perspective.

That's a lot of words to say: this comic is good and I recommend it.

This is a well drawn and humorous graphic novel about a trip to photograph a volcano. The problem is this is a work trip’ (Insert music from Jaws).

The author Flo travels to the Aeolian Islands to photograph a volcano. It is a beautiful place but this is a work trip and he has travelled alone without his partner and he has to share a room with a work colleague who snores and is somewhat irritating. The author appreciates the beauty of the island but he experiences loneliness because he is away from his partner.

I enjoyed reading this, probably because I had a job that involved a lot of travel. I enjoyed it but it was always a wrench to leave home and the familiarity of routine. After a while a hotel room is just a hotel room and they all become the same. I once travelled to Australia for a conference only to find that my colleagues and I were booked into an airport hotel! Every morning I looked out of my window to see planes, trains and automobiles. The conference was good but the trip as a whole was a missed opportunity to experience another country more fully. Needless to say, I realised then that it was time to look for another job. That’s work travel for you and Flo experiences that mix of enjoying work, but missing home.

The best part of work journeys is arriving home, for me it is any way and this book in some way captures all the reasons why I feel this is true but the second part of the book explores the reality of Flo’s home life and how being away from home can be a bit of a break from the relationship. I found this second part a bit confusing but it explores another trip Flo takes to New York to see his sister and how he spends time partying while his partner also spend time partying at home.

In this book we explore the reality and hum drum of a relationship in the every day and how this can change when the couple are apart and absence makes the heart grow fonder. I did enjoy reading it and I liked the artwork and the simplicity of the colouring.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The art style is too cute, and I enjoy the author's art work in general. 
I liked snippets of everyday things that, I think, most people would relate to.

The story follows Flo and his struggles as he goes on a trip, leaving his boyfriend behind. Long distance relationships are hard, but he only left for ten days. They have been together for a couple of years (seven? i think) so ten days shouldn't cause that much of a fuss.

Flo is portrayed as a skinny guy and a head shorter than everyone around him, so I thought he was a kid at first. My guess is that the author wanted to appear twink-ish.

As for the story? And the time jumps? Oh boy. It was all over the place.
Most of the time I was wondering what the hell was going on.
'Maybe there were some metaphors that flew over my head? Did I miss something? Did I receive a copy missing some pages?'
Oh wait, nevermind. Chapters are just not in chronological order.

New characters are hurriedly introduced, so you are left wondering 'who is this guy and what's his role in a story?'

There is no right way 'to be in a relationship'. I always like to read books that explore different kinds of relationships, not just your "standard" boy-girl ones.

Flo says to his roommate when they are in a club, "I want to kiss."
After a few pages, when a random guy is making moves on him, "Wow, I have a boyfriend."
One confusion after another one.

Overall, it was an okay story, but it left me too confused. I'll read it again soon so I can make more sense of the story.

Miigweetch NetGalley and Oni Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is a comic about a gay Dutch man named Flo who goes on a vacation and pines for his boyfriend Bas. At least, I think that is what the story is about, and the first third of the book supports my hypothesis, but then the reader is subjected to time travel, but whether this is a flashback or a catapult to the future is unclear. Much of the “conflict” in the story seemed to stem from Flo and his wishy-washy personality. I found it grating that he was unable to enjoy the vacation to the volcano because he missed his boyfriend too much, but in the next plot line, he’s ready to leave that same boyfriend for a dude that they let sleep on their couch??? The conflict from the introduction of this third person into the relationship could be solved with ethical non-monogamy/polyamory, but I digress. It was a different time then, I suppose.

I couldn’t enjoy this book because the timeline is all over the place, making it difficult to assess relationships and interactions between the characters. Overall I liked the art style, but there was not a lot of substance to the story line, which made the reading experience enjoyable for me.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.

As I understand it, this is a book from a concept that the author/illustrator had of making comic strips from his relationship anecdotes. I liked how real, emotionally charged, and believably illogical the situations that Flo finds himself in are.

I guess I, maybe didn't understand the assignment, since I kept wanting some sort of narrative thread to emerge, or some take-away reason... and in the end, it's just a gay man telling the world about his escapes, which... fun... but also... give me something more interesting! And it's not like this doesn't have interesting moments... it's just that those moments never coalesced and I guess that's what I wanted.

This is an enjoyable graphic novel that follows Flo as he travels away from his boyfriend Bas twice for work. The story gives an interesting take on relationships and how relationships mean different things to different people. The timeline was confusing and I had to go back a few times to understand how the events flowed.

This was a good book exploring different forms of love. I liked the art style and the writing as well.
However I can't help but feel the shift between chapters was quite abrupt, making the timeline confusing. It was good to keep us intrigued and use our brain to figure out what happened in between but...it was kinda a lot to fill in the gaps, if you know what I mean.
Except for this, I genuinely enjoyed the book and would recommend it if you like to read short, easy to read graphic novels that talk about love.

I mostly enjoyed the illustrations and I found the story intriguing. But I didn't totally follow the story and it felt a little disjointed. Perhaps it would have been more powerful for people who have been following the author over time and have more context. Also, I felt like the illustrations might have been a bit fatphobic? I got the sense that the author sees himself as very wee so I get the contrast he is probably going for but, some depictions came off as fatphobic to me. And ultimately the story was a bummer for a substantial part of the book, even if it did sort of end on a possibly more hopeful note.

3/5
thanks to oni press and netgalley for the arc!

this story follows flo overtime and his relationship with his boyfriend, bas. the timeline at times was confusing for me and i didn't connect with the characters much, but i enjoyed the artwork and the discussion that it allows about relationships and what people want from them, and that they require work.