I loved this graphic novel. I read it in one sitting and wish it was longer. I need to know what happens! I can’t wait to see what else this author publishes in the future.

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

3.5 Stars
The Secret of the Raven's is about a pair of twins, Elliot and Liza. Whilst trash-picking in order to get money, they stumble across another trash-picking kid chasing a raven. After watching and then talking to said kid, they find out about "Raven's Unkindness". A mysterious game set up by an unknown game master, which requires the player to complete a task and receive a sum of money in return. The twins decide that this will be much more lucrative in earning money than their regular trash picking, so they follow the ravens to try and earn as much money as they can. Their journey takes them to the capital, where they quickly end up in over their heads, and Liza is critically injured after a failed raven quest. The magic system in this graphic novel is one of the more unique systems that I have seen! The combination of plants and magic words was an interesting one, and I enjoyed it. I also liked that the world is inspired by Filipino culture and folklore. Another refreshing change from the usually Celtic-based magical worlds and systems. However, the plot felt like it moved a bit too fast. The twins learn new skills weirdly fast, and things seem to happen just a little too conveniently. The fast speed of the plot feels like it never gives you time to breathe. Also, I found myself not really caring about the characters. Something about their personalities felt very stereotypical, so I slowly found myself getting bored. The art style was great, I really enjoyed the fashion and the world-building. The way magic was drawn was also super fun to read as well! This is the first volume of a new series, but I am on the fence about seeking out the second volume.

Elliot and Liza live alone after their parents death and scrounge what they can from the local dump to sell in order to survive. When their freind Connor shows them a game where they can catch magical ravens, perform quests, and be rewarded with cash, this seems like a better option. They decide to move to the capital city of Kawumiti in order to have more access to the ravens, but the city is much more expensive as well as treacherous. They manage to find a place to stay, and are befriended by Seb, a member of the King's Royal Apprentices. Elliot is particularly averse to accepting any help, but when the twins go on a quest to get venom from a giant snake and Liza is poisoned, he asks Isra, a mage, for help. She sends Elliott on errands to get several ingredients, like black lillies, but those haven't been seen for a long time. Seb agrees to help if Elliott will promise to join the apprentices. Not everything is at it appears, and Isra has a troubled past. Will Elliot and Liza, with Seb's help, be able to support themselves and help find a way to make things right in the kingdom?
Strengths: While there are a lot of fantasy quest novels, there are not as many in graphic novel format. They are fighting against both an evil mage as well as an evil king, so there's plenty of action and adventure. This makes good use of the orphan trope bu showing how the two are able to use their wits and hard work in order to survive rather difficult circumstances. The author, who also illustrated Soontornvat's The Tryout, is of Filippino descent, and there is a flavor of that in the setting and characters. The characters exhibit an array of body types. There are some indications that Elliot might think Seb is cute, but it's just in passing. There are also strong messages about the treatment of the twins when they are homeless, and the imbalance of power in the kingdom. This has a surprisingly large number of details reviews on Goodreads.
Weaknesses: I would have like to see a little more of Elliot and Liza's back story. Why are they wearing what looks to be school uniforms? How can they do spells by crushing up various flora? (Although there are notes about this at the end.) It felt like we started in the middle of their story.
What I really think: This is a good chioce for readers who like magical quests like DasGupta's The Chaos Monster or Soontornvat's The Legend of Lotus Island.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It tells the story of two siblings who lost their family and are struggling to take care of themselves as they are homeless. They come across another kid using magic to capture an enchanted Raven, that takes them on tasks to retrieve items in exchange for pay. The siblings, Elliot and Liza, realize that if they can learn to do this they can make more money than collecting garbage to recycle. They go on an adventure, trying to provide a better life for themselves when terror and corruption arises.

This was so beautiful in terms of the art, the use of color and form was really enchanting. The story captured me in. This wasn't a 5 star read for me, but I really enjoyed it. It would have been a five star if there were was more exploration into their past and also the past of Isra.

I highly recommend this book and I'm buying a copy for myself and my younger cousins.

I received this book for free as an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review. This is my personal and honest opinion of the work.

This was a wonderful graphic novel and I can't wait to add it to my middle school graphic novel collection! Twins Liza and Elliot are orphaned and on the streets. They collect trash to make enough money to eat, but one day at the trash heap, they learn that if you catch an enchanted raven, you can complete its quest and get more money than you could ever make collecting trash. Liza and Elliot complete bigger and bigger quests and soon ravens aren't as plentiful, so the twins venture into the capital. The capital is filled with elitist royals, snobbish guards and unhelpful townspeople. The only person who seems to want to help them is a formerly homeless guard named Seb. When Liza and Elliot take on a quest with enough money as the prize to keep them off the streets for awhile, the draw is too much, but will they be in over their heads?

Read on to find out!
What I loved: the art, the dark color palette, the social commentary, the honest depiction of homelessness, the magic, the corrupt politics/government, the Filipino inspiration

Thank you Netgalley and Clarion Books for the ARC!

- I loved how easy it was to get swept up by this world! The pacing was really well done-it wasn’t too rushed, but it wasn’t slow enough that I lost interested.
- I got enough information to not feel clueless, while also not too much at once-I find this is a big struggle for a lot of similar graphic novels, but this one avoided the issue!
- the crow magic is such a cool concept, and some of the information from the last bit of the book made me need to keep reading.
- I really liked the art style and character design!

ARC was given by NetGalley & HarperCollin Children's Books.

Expected publication: November 7, 2023


Content/Trigger Warnings: Explosions, fire, talk of financial hardship, homelessness, loss of parents (in the past), scene of snake, poisoning, scenes of bullying, mentions war (in the past), depictions of a toxic relationship


"We can do anything as long as we do it together."



I had such a fun time reading this graphic novel! I ended up reading this in one whole sitting and have zero regrets. I was very invested in the story and I just need answers! There's also so much to unpack with this entire graphic novel and I'm so excited to see this be continued into a series. Clearly, the way this book ends, the story isn't over, it's only just getting started.

We follow two twins, Elliot and Liza, who rely on scrounging for plastic and metal as a means to make money. Until one day they learn about the raven quests and soon they're traveling to new places to follow the ravens, and keep making money. However, things turn deadly serious when a quest goes wrong and now Liza is poisoned. Elliot begins racing against the clock to save his twin sister and in the process will uncover many secrets.

I don't know where to even begin with unpacking this graphic novel. I think we'll start with our characters. Not only are our main characters BIPOC, but all the characters we see throughout the story are characters of color. We also have a plus-sized/fat side character, Commander Leya. I loved her so much. She's such a baddie and I hope we get more insight to her relationship with Seb. Speaking of Seb, Seb and Elliot are attracted to one another. No sexuality is confirmed, but it's made very clearly they're both romantically interested in each other and also plays a key role in their relationship as the story plays out. All of this aside, the sibling bond between Liza and Elliot was everything. You can tell from page one how much they rely on one another and how much they love one another. The way they would do anything for one another made my heart so soft and mushy because I'm the same when it comes to my siblings.

The other major thing you need to know about this story is the accurate portrayal of rich and poor dynamics in this comic. Homelessness and financial hardship is something that plays a huge role in the twins' lives and when they move to the capital city in the Kawumiti Kingdom, we see a lot of parallels between our world and the twins' fictional world. The poor and homeless are treated very unkindly, there's a whole scene of an homeless elderly man being threatened to being imprisoned for being homeless, the twins are bullied by Seb's friend's, and we even see scenes with the king willing to fully wipe out anyone in the city who seems/is poor or homeless. This is such an important theme especially if you live in Canada where law enforcement has done scenes exactly like we see in this graphic novel with the homeless. There's multiple videos all over Youtube that you can watch and there are plenty of articles that have addressed this, as well. And just in general, no matter where you go, I'm sure if you haven't seen the homeless being treated poorly, you've heard stories from friends, family, coworkers, etc... This is such an important topic and it's a good reminder that we need to be better towards each other, that we need to help out where we can, and how we need to support the organizations that really try to provide aid to those who find themselves in financial hardship or dealing with homelessness.

All serious topics aside, the storyline was really captivating. I love books that have a fast paced storyline because I know I can just sit down to devour them. That's exactly what happened with this. I started it and I couldn't put it down until I had finished it, and realized there's no book two yet. This is fine. Just going to be internally screaming until there's a boo two announcement. The way the story concludes ends on a tiny cliffhanger and I just need more. I need more of these characters, I need to know what's going to happen to Seb, and I'm so sad it's over. It was a really good story, I loved the characters and I'm hooked enough that I'll be continuing on.

Overall, if you're looking for a new fantasy graphic novel that you can fly through, put this one on your radar. Now, this doesn't come out till November 2023, but I think it's worth the wait. This was so good and a great pallet cleanser/break for me in all the reading I've been doing lately. Plus, I always love the magic that surrounds ravens and crows. They're such versatile creatures in fantasy and I always love seeing what authors do with them being featured. I highly recommend this! It was a really fun, captivating time!

The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

All thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions are honest and my own.

This was a RIDE. And these illustrations? BABY. They were incredible! I’m very interested to see how the rest of the story plays out in book two as there are so many questions in terms of predating-the-book history between the kingdoms. This was great and I was riveted the whole time!

A fantastic story developed beautifully, full of new magic and some dark magic. What a cliffhanger at the end, though! I really liked the sibling love, the unique adventure and the glossary at the end!

Joanna Cacao crafts an engaging and wonderful graphic novel, full of fantasy and creativity and centering youthful characters. Both the images and the story support a journey to another world.

This was a good first graphic novel, and I look forward to seeing where this series will go (I’m assuming there will be more based on the cliffhanger at the end of this book). The magic system was interesting, I loved the illustrations, and I loved how diverse the characters were.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

The Secret of the Ravens is a middle-grade graphic novel about twins Elliot and Liza in the magical Kawumiti Kingdom. They are orphans trying to get by any means possible. One day ravens start appearing, paying coins if they complete fetch quests. Liza is injured on a quest, and Elliot must work with Seb, a Royal Army guard to help save her.

Pros:
-Adorable artwork
-Diversity in sexuality (hints that Elliot and Seb are gay), background characters (many women guards), and body sizes (Commandor Leya forever!)
-Interesting magic system

Cons:
-That ending. This really needed a Part 1 attached to the title to prepare me for that cliffhanger

A great graphic novel recommended for 4th-6th graders. Kids will enjoy the artwork, characters, and easy-to-follow story.

Awesome debut for this author/illustrator.
I love fantasy world stories that are not portal fantasy but with their own worldbuilding and lore such as this.

Two orphan siblings need to earn money to survive and stop searching for garbage to sell. Instead, they begin to use magic to activate ravens. These ravens activate quests that will lead to rewards. They try to have a go at the main city although they don't agree with the regent's way of governing the people, but they still don't have enough money to survive. Because they don't want to join the apprenticeship program that serves the queen and king, they try again to use magic, and one of the siblings gets mortally injured.

This first volume focuses on the healing of the sibling, with a lot of fast-paced quests but there are larger and darker forces acting in the background that will define the main core of this series. This volume sets up the world and main conflict, although it resolves one problem initiated in this volume, the main story continues in the next volume.

The magic system is pretty cool, it uses hand gestures, ingredients, and voice, but in a cool way. There is a glossary at the end with all the spells, and detailed information on the right pronunciation, ingredients required, and purpose of each spell.

The story is full of quests, adventure, great pacing, and not too heavy on text in some pages and panels making it easy and fast to read. It's about surviving, learning to trust, friendship, revenge, family, betrayal, and sacrifice.

I like that the author illustrated "diversity" and also different body shapes. The usage of warm and cold colors at the right moment helps to set the mood.

We sure appreciate the last pages including a few making of and the evolution of this comic related to cover, character, and page design.

A lesson that I've learned from this story: We can do anything as long as we don't do it alone.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the Arc. My opinions are voluntary and honest.

Oh, how could I resist a graphic novel about ravens.

So,, the basic story is that there are ravens that will give you quests, if you capture them, and the rewards are coins. So, tired picking garbage, Elliot and LIza decide to go on quests for Ravens. They don't’ know why the ravens are doing this, or what the point is, but it is easier then picking garbage, so heck yeah.

And of course, they get greedy and try to go on a quest they are not ready for, involving a humongous venomous snake, whose poison they have to capture. Suffice it to say it does not go well, and Liza gets sick, and now Elliot has to find a way to save her.

So, while he was questing for Ravens, he soon finds he is questing for a spell to save his sister. But like asking for chicken’s teeth, the things he has to find apparently no longer exist. Or is that true?

This is a good, story, face paced, and fun to see how they solve the puzzles, but it is only part 1, and ends on a cliff-hanger. But the story is good, and once the sequel comes out, who cares if it ends where you least expect it.

Interesting world building, and the spells are explained at the end of the book, they appear to be Filipino words, which makes sense, since the author is Canadian-Filipino.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 7th of November 2023.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
For orphan twins Elliot and Liza, scavenging through metal and plastic helps them receive coins for doing so. They begin a raven quest to earn more coins for shelter and food, but one incident causes Liza to be poisoned. With the help of Seb, who's in the king's army, both boys begin their search for ingredients from a mysterious person who promises to help Liza. Can Elliot save his twin sister from hidden secrets and dangerous magic before it's too late?
From twin thinking to magical ravens, Liza and Elliot survive on their own after their parents' deaths. As they decide to visit the capital, the locals are blunt with unkindness and rude behavior. Except for one named Seb, who wants to help and be friends. The royal king and queen want to change the kingdom for their own benefit, despite the homeless locals and starving families. Eliot becomes strong in mind and spirit for his sister, and with the help of the charismatic Seb, he might be able to. But with the shadowy benefactor, can Elliot truly save his sister in time? An enjoyable read, and I can't wait for book two!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this graphic novel, especially the delightful sibling dynamic. The magic system was captivating, and I truly hope there will be a sequel to uncover Elliot's fate. The adorable crush between Elliot and Seb was a joy to witness. Overall, this book was a delightful blend of mystery, enchanting magic, and stunning artwork and I can't wait to read more of this story.

Thanks to netgalley for this eARC!

An awesome book that effortlessly captures the imagination of middle-grade readers. With Twins Elliott and Liza at the helm, this enchanting tale takes us on a thrilling adventure of survival and hope. When these Homeless orphans struggling to survive, they stumble upon a unique opportunity to complete quests from magical ravens. Then they meet Seb, a kind person who offers them a job at the palace, Liza sees a chance for an honest living, but Elliott's skepticism pushes them into a dangerous mission instead. Tragedy strikes when Liza suffers a grave injury, and their only hope lies with a mysterious magician who tasks Elliott and Seb with a seemingly impossible quest. The story is very well crafted with captivating illustrations and a gripping conclusion that leaves readers anxiously anticipating the next book.
Thank you to the author, HarperCollins publications, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange of a honest review.

Liza and Elliott are twins who are living on scraps and whatever they can buy with money they scrounge up. When they start completing Raven Quests for money, These quests take them to the capital and a greedy king. Things go even worse when Liza is poisoned. Elliott has to now team up with a mysterious stranger to try to save his sister before it's too late.

Overall, I think this was a decent graphic novel. I think some things could have been explained more clearly, especially since this is gauged toward middle grade kids.

Twins Elliott and Liza are homeless orphans just trying to make enough money to feed themselves each day. When an acquaintance shows them a way to make bank by capturing and completing quests from magical ravens, the twins feel like they finally have a chance to improve their lives. But in order to get enough raven quests to survive, they must move to the city. In the city, they meet Seb, who once was homeless like them, and who offers them a job working for the palace. Liza wants to accept and make an honest living, but Elliott doesn't trust the offer, and instead forces them to go on a dangerous raven mission. Unfortunately, Liza gets gravely injured, and the only person who can help cure her is a mysterious magician, who asks Seb and Elliott to find some rare, extremely hard to get items. Who is this mysterious magician and what is her aim? Will Elliott and Seb be able to save Liza in time?

I loved the story told in this graphic novel. I was immediately immersed in a fantasy land with a unique magic system consisting on magical words that pair with herbs. At the back of the book, there is an index of what each spell/herb combination means (of course, I didn't know this till the end, so I had no clue what spells they were performing). It was precious how much the twins cared about each other, and would do anything for the other. I loved the artwork and the style the illustrator used to help tell this story. It was beautiful and in color; you can tell that the illustrator spent a lot of time working to perfect each panel.

Some things I did not like were that the story ended on a cliffhanger. I guess I am to assume this will be a series? If so, I am excited to read the next installment! I can't wait to continue the story! One more thing is that I felt that the author kind of hinted at a romance, but it didn't go anywhere. So I'm guessing it will in the next book? But I felt this could have worked as a story of friendship as well.

I would absolutely recommend this story to middle grade readers. I think it is a great introduction to fantasy and to graphic novels, and I think it would appeal to middle grade readers, which is presumably the target demographic.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an ARC copy of "The Secret of the Ravens" in exchange for an honest review.