Beautiful colors and dreamlike atmosphere for a story about a very ambiguous, undreamy world. I thought the ending was too abrupt, but your mileage may vary. It's not for me, but I can see why others would enjoy it.

Gracias a NetGalley y a Humanoids Inc por dejarme leer este anticipo!! Esta historia me parece muy interesante por el tema del que habla y la delicadeza con la que trata a los personajes. Creo que merece la pena darle una oportunidad a esta lectura.

Our main character loses herself after moving to Soul to start her university studies. She loses her closest friend, who just stops messaging and meeting her. We only see her "night-life", where she is working at a store. One day, this strange woman starts to pull her into weird situations and she tries to reveal some truth to Seong-ji.

I don't even know how to talk about this book. The drawing style is breathtaking. I enormously enjoyed the shapes, the colors, the overall feeling of it. I don't even mind the focus of the story, a young girl feeling lost because she has a hard time figuring out life and her own feelings. But then there is a strange character, who breaks into people's apartments and talks about how she learns about life through this action - that was so random for me, I could not place it. There were some strange events and the two of them were seemingly connected, but I could not feel any depth behind them. Maybe I just feel, live and see on a different level, and that is why I could not really connect with the book as a whole. I believe the art style is worth your time, but I am not sure about the characters and the story itself.

No spoilers review!

I was able to get approved to read this ARC by Humanoids Inc and am so thankful! This is my first read from this publisher and this set the bar high.

What drew me: I was drawn by the title and the fact that it takes place in Korea.

Overall review: This was a beautiful and touching read. It actually made me think about things in a deeper way and isn’t that the best part about books? I didn’t expect that going into the book.

Overall, it’s a slow and deeply emotional read as you follow the protagonist’s journey. They go through universal struggles about ‘change’ that all humans run into and you can feel their pain, dread and fear.

The drawings in this book look like watercolor drawings and they are enhance the overall tone of the story. I found them to be so beautiful and unique. Personally I haven’t read another graphic novel with this kind of art and I loved it.

Although slow, it was never dull and I was able to enjoy and easily finish this book in one sitting.

I am slightly unsure about the ending. I understand what happens but perhaps because I got attached to the main characters, I wish I had a better glimpse of their lives in the epilogue. I liked everything but just wanted to see more.

Overall, I’m so glad I got to read this. A beautiful read!

A philosophical approach to acknowledging sexuality that doesn't go for the traditional happy outcome that other stories of the same topic conclude with. The ending is more about telling yourself the truth rather than having feelings be reciprocated and accepted. The epilogue is a nice touch in showing how not acknowledging the deepest parts of yourself prevents you from growing in life.

The art was beautiful, but the dialogues felt quite off, sometimes not realistic at all. Didn’t feel connected to any character, hence, didn’t feel anything regarding the story.

I also didn’t enjoy the aspect of an eighteen-year-old hanging out with a stranger who’s in her late thirties. Moreover, I didn’t feel any depth nor symbolism in the act of breaking in people houses.

I don’t know, I think this missed the mark, for me, at least.

4/5


The best part of this graphic novel was without any doubt its art.
I loved it and it's definitely super close to my all time personal favorite. It has a very painting type of style and the coloring was spot on.

The story was indeed a good one, even if there were some elements that I wished were different.
Starting from the breakimg into the houses passed as a good and totally normal thing... mmh not really? Not very good normalizing such thing.

Another thing that I wasn't a fan of was the general plot of the novel. I think it needed more development to fully understand it. I personally found myself a little lost after the half book mark and the finale didn't help either.

There was a great concept behind this book and an amazing art to look at, but it was missing that final touch for the story to really stand out.

"Seoul Before Sunrise" is a slice of life, new adult, graphic novel, exploring that phase when moving out of the teen years into adulthood, and falling in love. We follow a Korean young woman moving out of home to Soul, working to pay for her studies, and struggling with her best friend drifting away.

Truthfully, I don't know how to feel about that comic. The illustrations are breathtaking, the watercolour style is absolutely beautiful, I particularly enjoy the cityscape, the rain, the delicate hands and feet rendering, making the story feel truly like we are watching life from the narrator's perspective, in extreme close up. The rain gives a certain murkiness that reflects the sense of being adrift and lost.
The pseudo philosophy served by the love interest, on the other hand, is utter rubbish. And I always have ethical problems with relationships with a large age difference, like in this case where one of the women is literally twice the age of the other. The romance is all in metaphors and suggestions, but it still is very uncomfortable. Is it another metaphor where the narrator was looking more for a parent figure? I have no idea.
I like slice of life stories because I like getting to see different perspectives of life, but of course that means sometimes not hitting something you gel with - this definitely was the case. Might talk to other people... but the story doesn't offer much resolution.

The art style of this is very beautiful. The story is a little bit haunting/melancholy. Interesting story, a bit of an open ending up. Thought provoking and a bit strange. Middle of the road read for me.

I have mixed feelings about this story.
This story, full of metaphors, is about growing and growing out of a very close friendship.
The only thing that made me really uncomfortable was breaking into people's houses at night....stealing other people's access codes and "analyzing" their lives at night is creepy. I did not understand this metaphor, if there is one.

Seoul Before Sunrise was a wonderful experience and I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to read the ARC. I loved the style of drawing and overall enjoyed this graphic novel!

Thank you to Samir Dahamni and Humanoids Inc, for the advanced review copy of "Seoul Before Sunrise," set to come out May 21, 2024.

"Seoul Before Sunrise" is a poignant exploration of self-discovery and the haunting echoes of lost connections. This is the first time I've read anything from Dahamni and I can honestly say the visuals in this novel were stunning. The watercolor art style of the artist really helped incapsulate the depth and atmosphere of the story, a mixture of nostalgia and melancholy. It truly felt as if I was immersed in the dreamlike atmosphere of Seoul' during the night.

The book's themes on growing up, friendship, and self-discovery had so much potential, but unfortunately, I think the author fell short. The novel had shallow exploration of some of the themes mentioned above, specifically with the main character's sexual identity. We see the revelation of the Seong-ji's own homosexuality after making homophobic comments at the beginning of the story, but this acknowledgement was so brief and superficial that I question whether it was due to the author's inability to relate to the experiences of queer individuals and of Korean teenagers dealing with specific issues such as homophobia in a country with its historical and current political climate. Self-discovery was a huge plot point of this novel and it felt extremely rushed and glossed over. By the time you get to the end of the story, you are left with a confusing ending full of unresolved plot points and loose ends.

I had high hopes for this novel after reading its description and getting a glimpse of the art style on the cover, but finished the book feeling disappointed. Though I did not have a great experience with this novel, it seems like others did. Everyone should at least give it a read once so they can formulate their own opinions.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Samir Dahmani for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Seoul Before Sunrise coming out May 21, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first graphic novel I’ve read by this author. I love stories about Korea, so I was really excited to check this out. It ended up being something different than what I was expecting. I enjoyed the watercolor artwork. I thought the first half was really interesting. I think the second half was a little muddled. I don’t quite understand if it was a friendship between a grown adult and high schooler or if it was supposed to be a representation of Seong-ji as an adult. The reunion with the friend was sad. There was an epilogue, but the ending felt very unresolved. I would’ve liked to see more resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley and Humanoids Inc. for the advanced review copy of this work in exchange for an honest review.

Seoul Before Sunrise follows Seong-Ji who is navigating adulthood during university after coming to terms with the fact that she had a one-sided codependence with her childhood best friend, This one-sided attachment hints at the fact that Seong-Ji might even have a crush on her friend, while using homophobia to disguise it. Which I was not a fan of.

She ends up forming an unlikely friendship with an older woman whose hobbies include breaking into people's homes and spouting very philosophical analyses of life and the nighttime. I won't lie, this honestly just gave me the creeps as it was a much older woman spending her nights with this young university student.

There are a lot of themes that are explored in this book that are only touched upon surface level and did not go into enough detail. Quite frankly, without sharing too much detail and bordering spoiler territory, the way certain themes and events of the book are handled, kind of makes me feel as though the author has no sympathy towards queer women.

While the art style was very nice and my favourite part about this novel, the story itself leaves much to be desired and does not encourage me to want to read more by this author.

I want to preface this by saying thank you to NetGalley, Humanoids, and Samir Dahmani for this ARC.

I was drawn in by the visually appealing watercolor art, which was gorgeous and kept me engaged. I love seeing unique art styles in graphic novels and comics, and this definitely makes it stand out. It's very simplistic at times, but clearly conveys what is happening visually. I do feel like sometimes the dialogue feels disconnected from the art, to the point where the story falls flat. Understandably it is a coming of age story, but there are a lot of loose ends that don't do it justice. My main gripe was the older woman's importance in the story. Sure, this was supposed to be a surreal piece about the older woman showing the protagonist that there is more to life than what's on the surface, but it brings into question what the protagonist actually experiences vs what she thinks she's experiencing. It felt like there were panels where suddenly the entire setting shifts to unfamiliar places that do not hold much significance in the story. Not to mention the confusing ending where there's a huge time skip that is never explained and suddenly the older woman realizes that maybe she shouldn't have dragged an on-the-clock college student employee on her nightly escapades. The older woman being portrayed almost romantically towards the protagonist admittedly weirded me out a bit as well.
Overall, it had good intent, in addition to beautiful art, but I wish there was more clarification on certain plot points.

The art in this was so soft and beautiful, that it truly felt alive. I enjoyed this very much, and I liked that it was unclear what exactly the purpose was other than finding yourself which is pretty abstract anyway.

This was such a beautiful graphic novel. The watercolor illustrations are in muted tones and match the mood of the story. The story is a common one of someone losing a friend and having to find herself again, but this one has a twist that almost turns into fantasy. I appreciated this quick and mellow tale.

The watercolor style illustrations of Seoul are beautiful and capture the feeling of the neighborhood and emotions of the characters. The story itself was strange and unresolved, but tied in with the dream-like setting of the nighttime city area and occasional surrealism. The plot almost seemed like Murakami's writing style, with a combination of ordinary settings and magical realism elements, and troubled and mysterious women characters.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free graphic novel.*

"Seoul Before Sunrise" is a quiet coming of age story. The main character and her best friend finish school and are drifting apart. When working night shifts at a supermarket, our protagonist befriends a somewhat weirder woman in her 30s who takes her on little trips around the city. The protagonist then realises that she was in love with her best friend...

I found the conclusion / ending of the graphic novel quite rushed and unsatisfactory. I also expected a supernatural element but was disappointed. Overall I think the graphic novel could've profited from a bit more quantity: develop the characters further, give the mysterious woman a bit more complexity, sharpen the great themes of realising one is queer and also losing friends when starting university etc.

I loved the style of drawing and overall enjoyed this graphic novel!

3.5 stars

Seoul Before Sunrise is French cartoonist Samir Dahmani's first graphic novel to be translated into English. It is scheduled for publication by Humanoids on May 21, 2024. Thanks to Net Galley I received an advanced review copy of it. The book follows a young woman who sparks an unlikely friendship with a stranger and begins walking the streets of Seoul with her at night.

The publisher's summary: Longtime friends Seong-ji and Ji-won are excited to begin university in Seoul, swearing to stay close in the big city, but from the moment they arrive, they begin to drift apart. Her focus split between her rigorous accounting program and her overnight job at a grocery store, Seong-ji tries to make peace with the loss. It’s during her overnight shifts that she encounters an enigmatic young woman who spends her nights entering the empty homes of other people to paint and photograph these places. Now, the normally rational Seong-ji finds herself swept up in a dreamlike otherworld, made up of freedom and creativity. As she explores these quiet places, she uncovers not only an intimate portrait of strangers, but perhaps even herself. But as the nocturnal walks reveal the possibilities of the future, they also force her to relive the pain of her lost friendship with Ji-won…

This is a coming-of-age story where Seong-Ji eventually discovers that she is in love with her childhood friend Ji-won. When she finally tells Ji-won of her feelings, Ji-won is horrified and immediately ends their friendship. However, Seong-Ji has found a new friend in the stranger, a ghost, who befriended her at the store she works at. The ghost helps Seong-Ji see life more clearly through the lens of that liminal space between the end of the night but before the sun rises.

Seoul Before Sunrise is an emotional and sad story. I felt bad for Seong-ji as she waited day after day for contact from her childhood friend. She was an unhappy person due to the loss of this friendship. Seong-ji admitted to herself that she doesn't make friends easily and didn't have any other friends. She was lonely. When Ji-won finally contacts her 149 days after they arrived in Seoul, she is ecstatic. The story ends with the ghost entering the store looking for Seong-ji. However, she no longer was employed there because she was fired for leaving the premises during her shift. It's a sad ending but realistic.

The artwork was done in watercolor by the author. One of his paintings was selected for the book cover. He has a diffuse style that perfectly fits a story that takes place in Korea.