When this book says dark and spicy it really does mean Dark and SPICY. Like you yet your phone into the ground because you opened an unsuspecting attachment to find nudes.. Which to be fair is exactly what was happening to the main character to evoke a similar response from me.

But as strong of a feeling as that managed to evoke, it felt like nothing else in this seemed to quite hit the mark. Crave definitely had a lot of things is wanted to do, but in reality the only thing it did fantastically was the art. It felt like all of the story points never really came close to hitting there true potential. Instead extra plot points just keep getting piled on top, with a side of *plot* in hopes that we will let that none of them done as well as they could be.

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this.

This was a thrilling mystery getting into the of the human basic instinct. I really enjoyed the plot and the illustrations and I thought the overall concept was great. It did take some getting used to with the very explicit imagery which I wish had been toned down a bit personally as it could be too jarring even for the story it was trying to tell.

Set at the end of a semester, a new app spreads across campus, fulfilling any desire typed into it, whether feasible or not. This leads to a frenzy of either sexual encounters or violent confrontations among everyone involved. The story revolves around computer whizzes who created this app as a final project, which spirals out of control. Despite a swift resolution veiled by NDAs, leaving everyone ostensibly content, the narrative fails to engage. While initially average, it picks up in issue 5 with the Collaborative Crave segment, only to shy away, opting for a clean and somewhat satisfactory ending. The satire lacks bite, and the sexual content feels more like pandering than integral to the story. Although intrigued initially, the story feels rushed, resembling a condensed "Black Mirror" episode lacking substantial plot development. The characters, particularly Sofia and Mars, stand out somewhat, but none captivate enough to form a genuine attachment.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wish there were more backstories for characters. The illustrations are good. Very mind bending

i first read crave as individual issues as a caveat but i looked forward to each issue as it came out as i loved the idea of using desire as a vehicle to explore the relationships in the university. in an age that doesn't communicate very well, what if people could go after what they craved? how would that change their lives for the better. i just wished this was a longer concept as i wanted to know more about the characters than what we were given.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for this arc in exchange for an honest review!*

This comic is set in a University were everyone has mysteriously has an app called “Crave” on their phone. Which helps them satisfy their craving and from there chaos starts to happens.

It was a quick and very enjoyable read.

Pros
Art style was lovely
Loved main characters

Cons
Wish it was longer
Also would have loved more characters backstory or development.

Over all really enjoyed and would recommend.

Loved this graphic novel series! The graphics were cute and great and the plot of the book was really interesting! Wish there was more!

This honestly feels like the author wanted an excuse to draw a lot of sex as the plot is so thin it's see-through. It's the end of the semester and a new app is uploaded to every person's phone on campus. They are able to type in whatever thing they crave and it provides instructions on either how to complete the craving or that it's impossible. This leads to everyone either having sex with each other or beating the crap out of each other. The plot is that some of the computer geniuses on campus were given this as a project for their final, and it goes completely insane. Don't worry though, it takes like 5 minutes to defeat and then it's not talked about again due to NDAs. But don't worry, everyone is happyish in the end. This just was not entertaining.

I really enjoyed the story and the artwork. It went so fast. I feel like I need to give it another read to enjoy it more.

Crave
Maria Llovet
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
I was disappointed in Crave. There was a lot of sex scenes which is good but the plot lacked depth. The characters are flat. Someone else may enjoy this book

I was intrigued by this but it was just a little weird. It is very black mirror vibes but i just seemed way too short to have any plot lol.

I think the only characters i thought were better than the rest was probably Sofia and mars? They seemed cute but yeah. Couldn’t really form a likable attachment to any character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange of my honest review

This was pretty run of the mill until issue 5, at which point it upped the ante (the Collaborative Crave segment) only to back off and let everyone off the hook so the some clean resolution and happy-enough endings. Shame! I wish its satire had a little more bite to it, or that the sex served a more concrete function other than a vector of popular desire - maybe there should’ve been a little more violence or other types of cravings fulfilled? I’m impressed at Llovet working double duty here, I just wish it crystallized into more than the sum of its parts.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Image Comics and the author for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is what I would call a horror erotica. The book follows the story of students at a college where an app called crave has caused unimaginable chaos. The app is designed to make cravings and dreams come true through answering prompts. In this world where AI is slowly taking over with people using it for their gains this is very much the kind of thing we should be scared of. The art is beautiful and colourful. The though the erotic part of it exists I feel like its more horror than erotica for me.

A quick fun read with an interesting premise and amazing art. I think I would have liked a bit more detail into the story.

TW: Sexual imagery, suicide attempt, Arson, Hacking, Violence, illegal video leaks

This was such an interesting concept for a book! I loved the concept of being careful what you wish for and the idea that if everyone got what they wanted, no one would be happy. I liked the ending and although this wasn't my favorite of all time, I would read a second one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this eARC

I liked this graphic novel. Very lovely artwork and an enjoyable story with an interesting plot. I felt there wasn’t enough development of the characters or the reason for/premise of the app. I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been expanded on a bit more

A beautiful art style, spicy content, horror?

The story is entirely based around a campus of college(?) kids going nuts over an app that gets them the people of their dreams on campus but forces people to do specific tasks in order to be successful.
Overall the story is very horror coded and there's no much romance. And in terms of erotica, it's more just mild sexual imagery. It's not the main focus for our characters, really.

David and Alex are supposed to be the main characters, and while they are likable - I fell in love with Albert and Sofia moreso.

It's a very fastpace, short graphic novel with heavy cyber horror aspects that anybody who is afraid of AI takeovers will be scared by.
Highly recommend.

I the story was fine, but it left me wanting significantly more detail. That being said, the illustrations were great, and the premise very interesting. If this were to become a longer saga, I'd be very interested.

When a mysterious app appears that promises to make your inner desires come true, university students (predictably) begin to use it as a hookup app. As requests on the app escalate and campus becomes increasingly dangerous, the students must discover the origins of the app and figure out how to reign in the chaos...

Put simply, I LOVED this comic! Once started, I could not put it down. Comparisons will undoubtably be made to "Black Mirror", but that comparison is very warranted. Much like "Black Mirror" at its best, "Crave" takes modern technology to it's darkest conclusions. Be aware, this is very much an adult story with extremely adult situations. But the sexual content always exists in service to the story and to show the further heightening of impulses and desires unleashed in the wake of the "Crave" app.

It's also very much worth noting that Maria Llovet pulls doubly duty here, as both writer AND artist and excels in both regards. Early on, I knew I was going to track down and read every comic by this writer and every comic by this artist. Then, I realized they were one and the same and my admiration only grew.

I really wanted to love this graphic novel. The story itself is compelling all the way to the end, it's a fast read (I read the entire volume in one sitting), the art is beautiful, and the erotic scenes are sexy. But even with all of those positives, this one did not live up to the high bar set by its comparative titles.

The pacing was just too fast to be satisfying. I love the premise, the concept and the art, but it speed runs through the plot. I think this could have been amazing if there had been any focus on building up the characters, the setting, and the plot. The conflict is solved too easily, with almost little involvement from the four characters who are presented as the main cast. There’s little to no character building and/or development among said characters. And I feel like the character we know the best is the one presented as the minor antagonist.

I think when you comp Black Mirror you set an expectation that your story is just as much about the characters and the human condition as it is the crazy, high concept speculative element. Crave just didn’t have the character work to substantiate the concept. To tell this story in a satisfying way, there should have either been more issues, or it should have had fewer characters. In either instance, more time could have been devoted to getting to know and understand two to three characters as opposed to the four to five it tries to get away with.

Another misstep, in my opinion, was the distribution of the erotic content. The sex scenes are concentrated at the beginning, with a few sex scenes of background characters as the plot starts to develop in the middle, but then become none existent by the end after the main characters disable the Crave app. There needed to have been more regular scenes in the early issues to enhance one of the aforementioned story elements, as well as having some semblance of sex and wild antics at the end of the last issue to show that while Crave was responsible for a large part of the depravity, college kids are, at their core, still horny little freaks.

It actually saddens me to give this less than three stars. It only scratched the surface of what I wanted from it and what it could have been.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
This book was nothing like I expected it to be, the storyline was so much more interesting and complex than I originally imagined it to be. I also loved the art style, all of the characters were so beautiful. I also VERY MUCH enjoyed that this wasn't about a group of high schoolers, but a group of university students. So often in media high schoolers are over sexualized, it was definitely good to see that with such mature content it instead focused on an older demographic.