The Mushroom Knight, Vol 2 by Oliver Bly

Thanks to #Netgalley and #MadCaveStudios for the ARC, I leave my review voluntarily.

A teenage girl called Lem is searching the woods near her home for her missing dog. A mushroom faerie named Gowlitrot is on a mystical quest to protect the biome from catastrophic ruin. Now that they've met, their friendship develops and Gowli uses his tracking skills to help uncover the fate of the missing dog. However, he can’t stay long—he’s needed in the Fae Kingdom of Glöd for an important and sombre duty.

I read the first volume of The Mushroom Knight at the start of 2024 and, while I enjoyed it, I was also left a bit confused and hoping for clarity with the next installment. Fast-forward to November 2024: volume two is now out! I’m happy to say it delivered the clarity I’ve been waiting for, along with a dash of whimsy, and a dark mystery, all wrapped together with a running thread of environmentalism.

The story is set in Philadelphia in the ’90s and the sense of time is embedded in every detail of Lem’s bedroom, toys, and clothing and as a ‘90s kid, I was eating it up! This second vol is where both protagonists begin to interact with each other in the way I was hoping for in vol. 1. I’m a big fan of ‘fish out of water’ stories and watching Gowli get his bearings in the human world was deeply charming and adorable. While Gowli’s misadventures are funny and integral to the plot, they also provide an outside perspective on how the fae creatures see the human world: a wasteland.

This leads into the other POV of this story. While Gowli is away, the citizens of the Fae Kingdom of Glöd are forced to bear the burden of humans' carelessness toward their shared environment. The bulk of the drama in that POV centers around a caravan of trash. But this is also where parts of the conspiracy from the first volume are being cleared up and new questions are arising. The mystery element keeps me engaged, and I'm eager for the next installment, where I hope Hoppalong, Gowli’s frog steed can be part of the adventure once more; I did miss the ‘lil guy! That being said, I suggest you read the volumes back to back for best results.

Oliver Bly returns once again with bright colors, deep worldbuilding, and scientific factoids backing up strong ecological messages for The Mushroom Knight volume 2!

This volume continues the story very much in the same vein as the first, perhaps disappointing some readers by devoting one half of the narrative to various secondary characters back in Glöd (the world of the forest) while Gowlitrot and Lemuelle team up for the other narrative thread. I think it makes up for pulling attention away from our heroes by organically filling in several gaps in the worldbuilding, establishing better the scale, society, and species of Glöd, making the wild whirl of slightly grotesque creatures a bit more intelligible, and focusing the mysteries Gowlitrot encountered early in the first volume into a conspiracy investigation plot that looks like it might prove quite interesting. In the human world Gowlitrot and Lemuelle’s friendship is interesting and heartwarming without being too sweet, and has a subtlety to its growth even within the relatively short frame of the narrative.

Despite the interesting mysteries on the Glöd side of things and the compelling chemistry in the human world, the main weakness is that the ending of this volume has much lower stakes than the previous one. The reader can easily guess the resolution to the quest Lemuelle has set for Gowlitrot, leaving us with not much tension for their joint narrative thread. Even the cliffhanger at the very end promises at most the death of a quite obscure character.

I very much want to see more; I just think I could have been made to want it more powerfully than I do.

Ever wonder if there was a world with the plants and animals that live in your backyard or forests? In this book, you get to see forest animals and plants living and building their own little civilizations in the forest where to them humans are giants. A mushroom takes something from a young human girl, that causes her to unable to use one of her legs properly. The small creature finds the girl again and gives what he took back and tell her that he will grant her 3 tasks he will do for her for taking it from her. Though one of the tasks she asked him do might not have the results she is hopping for.

I picked up the first two volumes (all that’s out so far) of this graphic novel series, because I managed to snag an arc of the second volume through NetGalley. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. I had a great time with this series! I wasn’t sure what to expect with the start of this series, because it’s relatively new and I haven’t heard anything about it yet, but it was a lot of fun. It was also quite strange at times, which is always a plus for me.

This series follows a little mushroom guy who finds himself in a tricky situation and has to use magic to help him get out of it. The magic he uses ends up having a negative side effect on this human girl who happens to be passing by this particular part of the woods. Immediately after she leaves, she begins to have trouble walking, and the only way to cure her is to undo the magic.

The reason she was in the woods in the first place is because her dog ran away into the woods, and she was searching for him. The little mushroom guy lives in the woods with other tiny creatures, many of whom also have physical traits drawn from nature. For example, there are little creatures with insect limbs or flower heads or made of rock.

It kind of felt like watching a Ghibli movie, with all the cute but bizarre little forest creatures running around everywhere. The art of this series is so incredibly gorgeous. It makes you wish you could run away into the woods and shrink down to the size of a bug. But on top of all the cute nature drawings, there’s also this weird undertone that permeates through everything and leaves a lot of world building still yet to be discovered.

When the forest people talk to each other, they speak in a really confusing way that reminded me a lot of the way dialogue works in Alice in Wonderland. If you’ve ever read the original books or seen the old cartoon Disney movie from the 50s, you’ll probably know what I’m talking about. I can’t help but wonder if this series is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, because there were so many similar aspects.

But I could also see this being inspired by something like Arietty, which is a middle grade chapter books series that got a Ghibli adaptation. That series/movie is all about these tiny people who live under the baseboards of this old lady’s house. I specifically see this series as maybe being inspired by Arietty in the way that the tiny forest creatures interact with humans and other larger animals.

I think if you’re going to give this series a try, I highly recommend reading the first two volumes together. I didn’t feel like I understood all of what was happening until I finished the second volume, because the first volume is really just an introduction to the world, characters, and initial plot threads. If I had only read the first volume, I might have not been super interested in continuing the series, because I didn’t know what the heck was going on.

But now that I’ve read two of these, I’m hooked. I need to know what’s going on in this weird, wacky world, and how it all connects together. I get the feeling that there’s a lot more to this story than has been revealed so far. Thanks again to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read an early arc. I’m definitely going to be continuing this series. It’s so cute and weird. I love it.

I’m so glad I stuck around for this installment! While the first volume had a lot of world building, this one has a bit of room to work on characters. We get to explore the interactions between Gowlitrot and Lemuelle while still finding pieces of the overall plot against Glöd.

The art remains striking and impactful, and I love how the magic system is based around ecology, Definitely a series to follow!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I had the opportunity to read and review the first volume of The Mushroom Knight and I loved it, so I jumped at the chance to review the second one and it didn’t disappoint.

Volume 2 builds a lot on the first one, with the same characters and art that I loved from the first one. I loved seeing the relationship between Lem and Gowli grow and evolve and I cannot wait to see more of them. The world building in this one is a lot more in depth than it was in the first one and I liked learning more about the world in the book. I’m still a little confused on what’s going on but I’m eager to follow along into the next volume and see what happens next!

3.5 ⭐️

My main take away from Vol. 1 was that the story felt a little lacking, but that I loved the art style and the nature setting. I’ve got to be honest, I’m still not sure what all is happening here in Vol. 2, but I certainly enjoyed the adventure it took me on! The art was just as beautiful as it was in the first volume, and I do think the story is developing, albeit slowly. I am intrigued to see what will happen in the next issue.
**3.5 rounded up

Mad Cave Studios provided an early galley for review.

Continuing where volume 1 left off, this richly illustrated, dark and stylized fantasy story is oddly fascinating. It reminds me of the type of stories that would appear back in the day in the pages of Heavy Metal magazine; not the usual comic book fare I made a steady diet of but certainly something outside of the box to cleanse my palette.

The way that Lem and Gowli start to bond is presented with a magical innocence. It is a timeless kind of relationship, seen many times before, but it is one that hits the mark when presented well as done here.

The next three chapters of this story go by at a fairly quick pace but also in a most satisfying way. I certainly look forward to the next installment of this story.

Putting it against the first volume, something feels lacking. Still an enjoyable read. I'm not sure there is enough to have me continue in the series.

I liked this one more than the first volume! I feel like it's less confusing and got me more interested in the story. It's sad and it's funny and it feels REAL. Also, I still can't get over how beautiful the art style is. So bright and vibrant! Probably my favorite from all the comic books I've read.

Another beautiful story with beautiful illustrations that continues the tale of The Mushroom Knight. The unique world, characters, and plot all continue in this second volume.