A group of teenagers get transported to another world on Halloween night. In this world nothing is as it seems and strange creatures abound. The teens need to work together in order to get home and as they work together, they confront the difficulties they have with their each other and within themselves.

The artwork is great with weird animals, a peculiar quest and dreamlike graphics. The artwork is first class but the storytelling is a bit odd. The storyline runs quite smoothly until the end when things come to a sudden end without resolution. I was left wondering whether the teens got home in the end and how they managed to address some of the aspects of the story. It is a good story but left me wondering.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This graphic novel has beautiful visuals and a very interesting storyline. This gave me very strong Alice in wonderland vibes with the other world and with the deals, bargains, and high stakes. This is was a good read. I loved the diversity but I do wish we had more time getting to know the characters. There were a lot of heavy topics that I feel I couldn’t been more invested in if I had known them more. Overall this was a good read and I did enjoy it a lot!

This book was SUCH a bit of me! A cast of cool queer characters (Ty was my favourite - style!!!), anthropomorphised creatures in human clothing, and spooky scary sh*t. I just love it. I would adore mini spin-offs about some of the creatures in the Confetti Realms like Bitter Hops (my beloved), Yuriy Medvedev, Moira and her family, etc. Also Oliver in his raincoat is SO cute.

The dynamics between the characters are so believable and I was rooting for all of them, and I loved the fact that they had complex feelings. For example, Ty wondering if their relationship will last because they’re high school sweethearts. It all felt very grounded and realistic.

The perfect graphic novel for spooky season! It’s set at Halloween with great art to set the vibe. drama and growth between friends. Fast paced action. Good read!

Confetti Realms is an incredibly unique idea with beautiful art and storytelling to back it up.
Each character within this graphic novel had lost their way in one way or another and I believe many readers will find a "home" with the troubles and struggles at least one of our MC's are dealing with.

This graphic novel gives very (creepier) Alice In Wonderland vibes where our MC is transported in a twisted and whimsically weird world that teaches them more than their could have realized along the way.

**ending spoilers** The ending gives you a sense of bitter sweetness in the sense that while each character has come to terms with themselves and accepted the things they were denying earlier on in the story, we dont actually get to know if they make it back home. They all seem happy to stay though and be together in whatever happens but its a little open ended. This is definitely by design though and overall I really loved this one!

✨ Review ✨ Confetti Realms by Nadia Shammas, et al

A YA queer fantasy/horror perfect for Halloween / Spooktober!

These four teens are up to no good, having fun in the cemetery on Halloween when their choices lead them to Confetti World, some alternate dimension where teeth are an important currency.

The illustrations are wild and the concept creative, but in places, it felt a little TOO over the top for me to follow // or in their quest for teeth, it could also feel a little repetitive. I'm not sure I was quite fully invested in the stakes of it all.

With that said, the colors are fantastic and story was definitely interesting! I loved the unapologetic queerness of it all, and the quirkiness of the confetti realm. Definitely an interesting one to check out if you like this sort of thing!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5)
Genre: YA queer fantasy/horror graphic novel
Setting: The Confetti Realm
Pub Date: Aug 29, 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ YA queer graphic novels
⭕️ weird / creative / quirky fantasy/horror
⭕️ Halloween shenanigans

Thanks to Mad Cave Studios and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

** spoiler alert ** I loved the art and the characters were interesting but the storyline felt unfinished, almost like a chapter or two were missing (perhaps this was because I was reading an advance copy?), and we don't know if they go/get home in the end or are caught by the transfiguration.
I'd recommend if you like weird stories, but only if you don't mind being left hanging at the end.
2.5/5
(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance ebook.)

A whimsical tale which also tackles important topics. I loved the Halloween vibes and the cast of characters. The art is stunning. Overall, a very fun read.

First off, a huge thanks to Netgally and Mad Cave Studios for providing me with this ARC.
First off I'll share the things I enjoyed. I love the art. The vibe felt somewhere between Ghibli Studio and Tim Burton. But it also reminded me of Over the Garden Wall, all things I love. The characters arrive in a very weird, alternate word on Halloween night through a tomb in a graveyard. The unique environments and characters like talking animals with cryptic advice were all very fanciful, odd and a little creepy. The cast of characters are diverse and defined. I really liked Ty and Garrett. I wanted more of them. I also appreciated the teens talking about mental health issues and their feelings. It made me want to know more about each of them.

But the things I took issue with were; the lack of introductions, I had no clue who these people were or how they were involved with each other. I just had to read the vibes of their interactions. The pacing of the story going from a slow creepy vibe to fantastical, to weird and pretty soon I had no clue what was going on. And finally while I'm ok with the open ended ending, I can see how it can feel incomplete and abrupt.
So overall, I enjoyed the concept, the characters, and the art. But the story needed some reworking. It was hard to follow and kinda confusing and didn't really feel done in the end.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for a ARC to review.

I have to start by saying that I am not the targeted audience for this book. I had a hard time understanding what the audience was though, because there were older topics like drinking, partying, mental health etc. explored in the book. However, the quest" and many of the evil characters seemed very immature for older audiences. I liked the conversations about mental health and thought that it was delivered in a respectful manner, The rest of the story just seemed too far-fetched for me. I am hoping the target audience finds the story more believable.

Okay this was cute? But also I kind of wanted more 😭😂

This had the perfect amount of spooky and whimsical—blending horror and fantasy to create and atmospheric setting! Loved the queer, diverse fast as well. Though I feel like some of the pacing and the build up of characters and the drama were a bit off.

I also feel like it ended abruptly? Like in an open ending kind of way. Which is a shame because it wasn't until near the end that we started learning more about the characters and their inner struggles.

Love the art style and the colors as well! I feel like these really captured the otherworldliness of the strange new realm. I would have liked to know more about that world-building though!

Overall, this was fun and entertaining. But it also got deep and introspective, which was definitely a plus for me.

Exact rating: 3.75⭐️

3.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher as well as NetGalley for early access to this title in exchange for my honest thoughts!

This graphic novel was a fun read while also touching on tough subjects like experiencing panic attacks, a mention of a relative having cancer, and feelings of self hatred. I loved the art style, getting to follow the characters of this adventure, and all the autumn cozy vibes throughout this book!

I liked the art work and the story definitely showed real problems that teens and adults go through. I felt like the story had great potential when it first started out, but then it shifted and it turned into the problems that the four main characters were going through. Granted what the four characters were going through are very real and I did like that and the diversity of the characters.

I did feel that the story ended abruptly and I felt like I was left with a question of what happened next to these teens. What did they choose to do when it came time to decide?

Content Warning:
Mention of parent with cancer, panic attacks, depression.

Thank you NetGalley, Mad Cave Studios and Maverick for letting me read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I want to thank netgalley for providing me with this graphic novel.

On Halloween night, when the moon is full, teenagers get up to mischief. But when an encounter with a giant, sentient puppet in a graveyard sends five teens to a mysterious dimension called the Confetti Realms, they must overcome obstacles in their own friendships–and collect the debted teeth owed to the puppet–in order to make their way home. But the allure of staying in a fantasy world is a hard one to beat, and going home to their normal lives is starting to sound less and less appealing for some. Will these friends return home? Featuring a diverse cast of characters, this Tim Burton-esque, comedic, modern, and high-energy story is written by Eisner Award-winner Nadia Shammas, with art by Karnessa and colors by Hackto Oshiro.

a group of friends arrives in a new world through a tomb, if they want to return to their world they must help a giant puppet to get a series of objects, however as the story progresses the desire to return to the human world does not appear so necessary for some of them, since in their world not everyone is happy, and here perhaps they could be happy.

The drawing and the story is wonderful, as the synopsis says, it has a style to the worlds that Tim Burton creates. For a moment I thought that the story would take a slightly darker turn, but I liked that it wasn't like that, but that it still had a somewhat sinister air. Now that I think about it, it's like a world from Ghibli stories, where anything could happen.
The story reads quickly, the only flaw that I find is that at the beginning they assume that we know what the relationship of the characters is like and it is not like that, and although later on he tells us a little, I was not able to fully empathize with two characters .



I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

Wow what a completely batshit comic lol -- I loved it! When I started reading I was expecting it to be a slice of life halloween story but it took such a wild turn early on and went onto be completely bonkers. I really loved the world built in the Confetti Realm, and all of the side characters were incredible. I did really like the main four of course, but the emotional arcs of each of them I felt like didn't really belong, and just added panels with a lot of text. If the interrelationship aspects of the characters aren't the main aspect of the plot, I feel like the graphic novel is too short of a medium to begin to explore it.

Overall, there was a lot that I loved about this book. The fall/halloween vibes were there and I loved it, the art work was so fluid I felt like I was watching a movie. I started off liking our four mcs and the fantasy world was unique and imaginative.

However... we had this deep and beautiful fantasy world that was shown to us but only a glimpse. And then we were forced to slog through the characters personal problems instead. I'm all for a book that touches on mental health, but when it's the same mental health story plot I've read a thousand times before, it's hard to take interest. Especially when I'd rather see more of the fantasy world that was crafted and pushed into the background.

Confetti Realm follows four teens on the night of Halloween. Their goal? To summon a ghost. But what if they got more than they expected?

When they are sent to a completely different realm, filled with talking creatures and a task to collect teeth for the puppet that sent them there in the first place, will they be able to work together to complete the job, or will past secrets haunt and disrupt their night?

Tonight is a night about learning, discovering and, questioning what world feels more realistic to stay in.

With a bunch of queer characters (Ty was my favourite, I love them so much) and a task they need to compbefore they are stuck in this née place forever, I was immediately sucked into this book and didn't stop reading until the very end.

There was so much tension and funny moments in the book that I genuinely did not want to put it down!

This was full of marvelous art that kept me flipping pages and the spookiness on Halloween night that starts an adventure. I loved the diversity in this story. It was creepy but also touches ones heart. The story was quite interesting, gave a bit of Alice in Wonderland vibes. It was also fun the different characters, fantastical world.

I didn't care for this graphic novel. It felt like the author kind of gave up on the end and didn't really know what exactly they were going for.
This started out as a character driven story with some darker bits but about a quarter in the book the thread seemed to be lost. I couldn't tell what the author was going for or if anything was really solved. Everything felt very surface level. Like the author was afraid to dive as deep as they actually wanted to.
I will say the art work in this was really well done. The art was beautiful and this very weird world was brought to life so vividly. The characters were great and beautifully unique. If only the plot stood up to the artwork.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was so intriguing, but I feel like the execution was just not there. I liked the diverse characters, but on the other hand they were annoying at times, it felt very juvenile and there was just so much drama that did not feel necessary. I felt confused at times, the plot was messy, disjointed and the end felt very rushed with unanswered questions still. It felt like a fever dream where nothing is clear why and how things happen.
I liked the creepy, weird talking animals, i think those were my favorite parts to be honest.
The art style was interesting and i liked the autumnal colors, it definitely added fall creepy vibes to the story.

All in all, this was a fun, spooky graphic novel for middle grade-YA audience with deeper problems hinted in the story, so I can recommend it for teens who are struggling with finding their place in the world.