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amberdlewis's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I was admittedly not a fan of this book. It started out okay with great art and interesting characters. It definitely felt a but more middle grade than YA, though, with fast, bumpy pacing. The thing I didn’t like was the “twist” at the end. Autism isn’t a twist and, as the neurodivergent parent of an autistic child, using it as one left a bad taste in my mouth. It very much felt like someone trying to make autism more palatable and fun for neurotypicals. I understand that this was the author’s way of trying to understand and connect with his experience with his autistic child, but think it could’ve been handled better.
The intent was good, and the story up until the “twist” was okay, but the execution was lacking.
The intent was good, and the story up until the “twist” was okay, but the execution was lacking.
lou_christie's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
xsleepyshadows's review against another edition
1.0
The art is great...
The story is not. The author opens with, don't write what you know. Cause that's uncreative or something? Then goes on about how great starwars/LOTR is...then based the story on those themes/aesthetic, so in short, the author wrote about what they know. This really annoyed me immediately.
The story goes...somewhere??? and doesn't build world, characters, timeline and plot. I think most of these characters died or had a betrayal plot and I felt absolutely nothing. It kinda felt like a weird fever dream where nothing really mattered.
Was it a dream all along? No, it's autism. I think creating autism as a "twist" is just cruel. I'm not part of the autism community, I feel like this was written to comfort parents or maybe the author to self-soothe or something?? I don't think this had autism readers in mind, But, I'd like to know how someone feels about this with more experience than me. Please, share because i'm interested to know your thoughts!
Besides the art - this was not enjoyable to me.
The story is not. The author opens with, don't write what you know. Cause that's uncreative or something? Then goes on about how great starwars/LOTR is...then based the story on those themes/aesthetic, so in short, the author wrote about what they know. This really annoyed me immediately.
The story goes...somewhere??? and doesn't build world, characters, timeline and plot. I think most of these characters died or had a betrayal plot and I felt absolutely nothing. It kinda felt like a weird fever dream where nothing really mattered.
Was it a dream all along? No, it's autism. I think creating autism as a "twist" is just cruel. I'm not part of the autism community, I feel like this was written to comfort parents or maybe the author to self-soothe or something?? I don't think this had autism readers in mind, But, I'd like to know how someone feels about this with more experience than me. Please, share because i'm interested to know your thoughts!
Besides the art - this was not enjoyable to me.
macmower's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
corky12's review against another edition
1.0
TLDR: Increasingly ableist, shallow and personality-less characters, and breakneck pacing of a nonexistent plot
I picked up Adora and the Distance so excited about a fantasy graphic novel with a biracial girl protagonist. I could not have been more disappointed. The story’s pacing is breakneck, to the point where I could barely understand the plot. Said plot itself is so vague, it feels nonexistent. They’re escaping, then running toward The Distance whatever that is, and it wants Adora. This vagueness is because the whole thing takes place in Adora’s head, but that makes it seem even more ableist to me. So because she’s autistic, she can’t come up with a consistent story in her own mind?
The characters are shallow. Despite a diverse cast, I kept confusing the characters. None of them had fleshed out personalities or backstories. When they died, Adora moved on without a single tear. When they betrayed her, she immediately forgave them as if she saw it coming. Even Adora herself had no real conflict in the story. She stayed the same calm collected girl throughout the narrative, despite friends dying around her.
Now for the biggest issue, the ableism. Adora and the Distance was written by an author who has an autistic child. In my experience, these are the worst authors to depict children with disabilities, especially autistic children. (See my review on Rules for another example.) These parents only see the outside tendencies of their autistic kids. Where an autistic writer could flesh out Adora’s personality, a parent would only see the lack of outward personality (for lack of a better term). I am not autistic nor do I presume to speak for the autistic community. However, when you create a character that wishes an autistic child was neurotypical and base your entire story around that, that is automatically ableism in my mind.
Unless you get this book for the pretty art, don’t bother.
I picked up Adora and the Distance so excited about a fantasy graphic novel with a biracial girl protagonist. I could not have been more disappointed. The story’s pacing is breakneck, to the point where I could barely understand the plot. Said plot itself is so vague, it feels nonexistent. They’re escaping, then running toward The Distance whatever that is, and it wants Adora. This vagueness is because the whole thing takes place in Adora’s head, but that makes it seem even more ableist to me. So because she’s autistic, she can’t come up with a consistent story in her own mind?
The characters are shallow. Despite a diverse cast, I kept confusing the characters. None of them had fleshed out personalities or backstories. When they died, Adora moved on without a single tear. When they betrayed her, she immediately forgave them as if she saw it coming. Even Adora herself had no real conflict in the story. She stayed the same calm collected girl throughout the narrative, despite friends dying around her.
Now for the biggest issue, the ableism. Adora and the Distance was written by an author who has an autistic child. In my experience, these are the worst authors to depict children with disabilities, especially autistic children. (See my review on Rules for another example.) These parents only see the outside tendencies of their autistic kids. Where an autistic writer could flesh out Adora’s personality, a parent would only see the lack of outward personality (for lack of a better term). I am not autistic nor do I presume to speak for the autistic community. However, when you create a character that wishes an autistic child was neurotypical and base your entire story around that, that is automatically ableism in my mind.
Unless you get this book for the pretty art, don’t bother.
la_de_cha's review against another edition
2.0
I normally don’t write reviews. But what started as a nostalgic with art that reminded me of the Prince Valiant comic strip of my childhood turned into some ableist crap. I don’t think neurotypical people should be writing about neurodivergent people’s experiences, even if they are non-verbal. So much ableism.