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nelnjali's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Ugh...I'm so frustrated I can't give this a higher rating. I hate getting burned by short run comics. This comic was absolutely fabulous until the end. The art is gorgeous. The characters are fantastic. We were just being able to see some awesome lore developing...and then it ends. It just ends. In my opinion, it isn't even a full arc. Just as it is getting really good, the book ends, and there is no indication at the moment if there will be anything more. I'm giving it as high a rating as I am because it is really is stunning, but man, I'm disappointed that it didn't go anywhere.
jgintrovertedreader's review
3.0
Very solid start to a series with beautiful illustrations, but I didn't realize it was a series. It felt like it just stopped and left me hanging. I'll look for further installments and might raise my initial rating later, but this is where I'm at right now.
heidisreads's review
4.0
Oh! Stumbled upon this and devoured it on the day of publication. How long do I have to wait for more??? AWESOME ARTWORK!
jasmine_elizabeth's review
4.0
This was a fun beginning of an adventure in the desert.
It was different to read about a deaf character, it doesn't really go into much depth about that but hopefully the next one will, also Jaime, a boy who comes to her aid has one purple eye and one brown which, again was different, for some reason that's never seen in books.
As for the plot, we arrive at this tiny town in the middle of nowhere and they are terrorised by these people with power who think they are superior to the poor town folk. Abbie gets caught up in all of it, which results in a scene that made me LOL. This looks like it's going to be a fun adventure story and I can't wait till the next book comes out.
It was different to read about a deaf character, it doesn't really go into much depth about that but hopefully the next one will, also Jaime, a boy who comes to her aid has one purple eye and one brown which, again was different, for some reason that's never seen in books.
As for the plot, we arrive at this tiny town in the middle of nowhere and they are terrorised by these people with power who think they are superior to the poor town folk. Abbie gets caught up in all of it, which results in a scene that made me LOL. This looks like it's going to be a fun adventure story and I can't wait till the next book comes out.
olicooper's review
3.0
A power lies within, too bad you don't get to see it until the very end. Ahhhhgg, the frustrating tactics deployed to get you into the next book...
hedgehogbookreviews's review
5.0
You can also find this review on Hedgehog Book Reviews!
Abbie is alone, traveling through the lands, in hopes of reaching a mountain range to scatter her mother’s ashes. Abbie reaches the village of Little Marigold, where a boy named Jaime finds her in pretty poor condition, and his family takes her in to address her wounds. Abbie and Jaime are quick to become friends as they learn more about each other. Rogues, who bully the residents and demand gifts from them, frequently visit Little Marigold. Abbie must decide if she wants to release her hidden power to help the people who kindly healed her in a time of need, or sit back and watch them get hurt. If Abbie shows her true strength, she risks being ostracized by Jaime, his family, and their entire village. Abbie and Jaime, in their newly discovered friendship, aren’t ready to say goodbye to each other just yet.
I absolutely loved the idea behind this story. Abbie is deaf and requires a hearing aid to communicate with Jaime and the rest of Little Marigold. Before M.F.K., I hadn’t read a graphic novel that focused on a character with a hearing impairment. Abbie truly is someone very unique and I’m so glad I got to know her. Books featuring strong, deaf characters are so important for representation and education about deafness. The frustration that comes with realizing literature lacks characters like myself is something I know all too well, and I’m sure readers who have hearing impairments are familiar with this struggle, too. I’m so pumped about this graphic novel, which has an interesting story, amazing art, and an empowered female, deaf character. My hope is that books like M.F.K. inspire other authors to start writing about deaf characters, as the best seller list could certainly use more diversity.
Another thing I liked about M.F.K.’s story was that it’s very sweet. Putting down this book after turning the last page, I felt happy and excited for the next installment in the series. Sometimes, diverse books are very depressing and just…sad. M.F.K. is certainly not like that. It’s kind of like the joke that the entire lesbian section on Netflix either features a couple that ends up splitting up or a character that dies at the end. I’m not sure why this is the case, but often, diverse characters are given unhappy storylines. M.F.K.’s ending made me want to call Nilah Magruder and tell her to hurry up with the sequel because I NEED to know where Abbie’s journey takes her next. The book left me with such a positive feeling, for which I’m grateful.
I’m so honored that Insight Comics sent me this beautiful work. It was such a pleasure reading it and planning out this review. I would recommend M.F.K. to anyone in search of a graphic novel, whether they’re specifically looking for a diverse read or not. I truly think anyone will enjoy this book. Thank you so much to the publisher for this gorgeous title and I look forward to reading more Insight Comics works in the future!
Abbie is alone, traveling through the lands, in hopes of reaching a mountain range to scatter her mother’s ashes. Abbie reaches the village of Little Marigold, where a boy named Jaime finds her in pretty poor condition, and his family takes her in to address her wounds. Abbie and Jaime are quick to become friends as they learn more about each other. Rogues, who bully the residents and demand gifts from them, frequently visit Little Marigold. Abbie must decide if she wants to release her hidden power to help the people who kindly healed her in a time of need, or sit back and watch them get hurt. If Abbie shows her true strength, she risks being ostracized by Jaime, his family, and their entire village. Abbie and Jaime, in their newly discovered friendship, aren’t ready to say goodbye to each other just yet.
I absolutely loved the idea behind this story. Abbie is deaf and requires a hearing aid to communicate with Jaime and the rest of Little Marigold. Before M.F.K., I hadn’t read a graphic novel that focused on a character with a hearing impairment. Abbie truly is someone very unique and I’m so glad I got to know her. Books featuring strong, deaf characters are so important for representation and education about deafness. The frustration that comes with realizing literature lacks characters like myself is something I know all too well, and I’m sure readers who have hearing impairments are familiar with this struggle, too. I’m so pumped about this graphic novel, which has an interesting story, amazing art, and an empowered female, deaf character. My hope is that books like M.F.K. inspire other authors to start writing about deaf characters, as the best seller list could certainly use more diversity.
Another thing I liked about M.F.K.’s story was that it’s very sweet. Putting down this book after turning the last page, I felt happy and excited for the next installment in the series. Sometimes, diverse books are very depressing and just…sad. M.F.K. is certainly not like that. It’s kind of like the joke that the entire lesbian section on Netflix either features a couple that ends up splitting up or a character that dies at the end. I’m not sure why this is the case, but often, diverse characters are given unhappy storylines. M.F.K.’s ending made me want to call Nilah Magruder and tell her to hurry up with the sequel because I NEED to know where Abbie’s journey takes her next. The book left me with such a positive feeling, for which I’m grateful.
I’m so honored that Insight Comics sent me this beautiful work. It was such a pleasure reading it and planning out this review. I would recommend M.F.K. to anyone in search of a graphic novel, whether they’re specifically looking for a diverse read or not. I truly think anyone will enjoy this book. Thank you so much to the publisher for this gorgeous title and I look forward to reading more Insight Comics works in the future!
sarag1701's review
4.0
I’m excited to see where this story takes us. I think it’s off to a fantastic start and while the art style isn’t my favorite, the use of colors and character style works well for the story.
It actually surprised me and had some genuinely laugh-out-loud funny parts. It was well done.
It actually surprised me and had some genuinely laugh-out-loud funny parts. It was well done.
diaadiary's review
3.0
Honestly, I don't have much to say about this because it didn't really hit that hard for me. I believe it's a little too early to make a judgement about this GN. I hope there are more novels because the art was fantastic! I loved the facial expressions and humor in this too lolol
saidtheraina's review
5.0
Holy crap please please please finish this story, [a: Nilah Magruder|8349969|Nilah Magruder|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1448441766p2/8349969.jpg].
I loved the themes and concept and want to know more about this world.
Thank you for addressing systemic oppression and broken systems and changing the world.
I loved the protagonist/cast, particularly that a hearing aid features in the plot.
The production on the book is fantastic - fully 8.5x11 pages, beautiful full color, hardcover.
The illustration style does shift periodically, I suspect because it was a webcomic (see pages 60/61) - there are some extremely cinematic, airbrushed-feeling pages, and some clearly manga-inspired pages where the pencil marks feel very close to the surface of the page.
More. More. More. More. MORE.
I loved the themes and concept and want to know more about this world.
Thank you for addressing systemic oppression and broken systems and changing the world.
I loved the protagonist/cast, particularly that a hearing aid features in the plot.
The production on the book is fantastic - fully 8.5x11 pages, beautiful full color, hardcover.
The illustration style does shift periodically, I suspect because it was a webcomic (see pages 60/61) - there are some extremely cinematic, airbrushed-feeling pages, and some clearly manga-inspired pages where the pencil marks feel very close to the surface of the page.
More. More. More. More. MORE.
ellelainey's review
3.0
Book – MFK (MFK #1)
Author – Nilah Magruder
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 129
Cover – Gorgeous
Genre – Comic, Graphic Novel, Children's, Death
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
Okay, so this was a strange one for me. The cover and blurb tells us that this is Abbie's story, but it's really not. It's the story of Jaime, the kid who discovers Abbie already on her trek to scatter her mother's ashes, injured and with a dying pet/travel animal. Now, considering the cover shows Abbie travelling with this animal, I find it a bit misleading, because the animal dies on the first page they enter the story and there is no “journey” that matches the image on the cover, within the actual story. Abbie is discovered kneeling beside her dead animal on page one of her part of the story.
The story begins with Jaime helping his grandfather gather sand, which is a thing, apparently. Then it journeys through finding Abbie and her dead pet, taking her back home to be treated, and how she changes everything in their small hick town, in the middle of nowhere, just by being there.
The entire story is told in Jaime's POV, through what he sees and feels, with only a few deviations into Abbie's thoughts about her mother. It explores her magical powers in a fight, which would have been more impressive if we haven't been set up for the big reveal both thanks to the blurb and Jaime's aunt spilling the beans too early.
Overall, this is just a chapter in a bigger story, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. It took too long to get to the point, gave away things that shouldn't have been revealed yet, and failed to keep my attention. The art work was excellent and the plot itself could have been great, but there were a few too many problems for my liking.
Author – Nilah Magruder
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 129
Cover – Gorgeous
Genre – Comic, Graphic Novel, Children's, Death
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
Okay, so this was a strange one for me. The cover and blurb tells us that this is Abbie's story, but it's really not. It's the story of Jaime, the kid who discovers Abbie already on her trek to scatter her mother's ashes, injured and with a dying pet/travel animal. Now, considering the cover shows Abbie travelling with this animal, I find it a bit misleading, because the animal dies on the first page they enter the story and there is no “journey” that matches the image on the cover, within the actual story. Abbie is discovered kneeling beside her dead animal on page one of her part of the story.
The story begins with Jaime helping his grandfather gather sand, which is a thing, apparently. Then it journeys through finding Abbie and her dead pet, taking her back home to be treated, and how she changes everything in their small hick town, in the middle of nowhere, just by being there.
The entire story is told in Jaime's POV, through what he sees and feels, with only a few deviations into Abbie's thoughts about her mother. It explores her magical powers in a fight, which would have been more impressive if we haven't been set up for the big reveal both thanks to the blurb and Jaime's aunt spilling the beans too early.
Overall, this is just a chapter in a bigger story, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. It took too long to get to the point, gave away things that shouldn't have been revealed yet, and failed to keep my attention. The art work was excellent and the plot itself could have been great, but there were a few too many problems for my liking.