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51.2k reviews for:

Heartstopper Deel 1

Alice Oseman

4.47 AVERAGE

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I adore this series and the first volume is a perfect start. 

Boy meet boy, boys become friends and then become more. Its beautiful and refreshingly innocent and sweet. 

The rest of the characters are an amazing mixture of race, sexuality and representation that feels natural and not all forced. 

Love is love. 

Just like with every story, Heartstopper began with a change. A letter was shown at the very beginning telling every student of Truham Grammar School for Boys that a new vertical form group was being introduced that year. For Charlie Spring, that simple, small change would signal a much greater development in his life. And to Nick Nelson's too, who was as typical as English boys can be. He was a straight, easy-going, rugby-playing lad who became Charlie's seatmate. After which became a friend.

Oseman tried not to settle on the common formula of a (queer) young adult romcom story and its characters. Charlie, as sullen and shy as he can be, was considered popular among the school. And although he was bullied overtly, his openness to being gay was a matter of public information (for which he still experienced a more covert, yet much more sinister form of intimidation). And he played rugby. At one point, the actual breaking off from the stereotype became on the nose when Nick defended Charlie's inclusion to the rugby team (“Mate, I don't actually think being gay makes you bad at sports”). This conscious choice to not make Nick and Charlie as formulaic as possible made their characters more realistic, despite some of their dialogues being a bit stilted and unnatural. But the story was still a familiar one, though drawn with a newer stroke. And Oseman's sketch mirrored the overall lightheartedness of the story. A lot of irregularly shaped panels made the whole thing more fun to read.

Although the general feel for the whole comic was lighthearted, Oseman touched on serious and heavy themes like consent and sexual assault, sexuality, and bullying. And these were all included well, neither trivializing nor romanticizing anything. And this indicated that although she intended to make Nick and Charlie's tale as lovable and charming as possible, real-life issues of the world they lived in (and ours, for that matter) would play a part on their story, just as these play a part on our real lives.

In the end, this meet-cute between these two boys was adorable. Nick and Charlie could be considered as polar opposites, but their interests merged as they met in the middle. And through this clash, this movement, this change, events of great emotional confusion and chaos happened. At 14 and 16, this could be overwhelming and our tendency to unintentionally hurt other people's feelings were at their most frequent during this time. And that's exactly what happened at the end of this volume. It's a nice cliffhanger for a very nice, sweet, and cute introductory volume.

idk when i read this book but i know i read at least this volume on webtoon!! it was cute i liked it

So my daughter pulled through for me and got her hands on Volumes 1 and 2 from her school library. Yep. My kid is cooler than your kid.

I read this in one sweep. It's fairly short and doesn't have a ton of dialogue. Much of the speech/thought bubbles consist of "Ha ha ha" and "

A cute little start. I can’t wait to pick up the second one

My heart ☺️

Oh my goodness, that was so blissfully sweet! I love ❤️

The scene where Nick stands up for Charlie against Ben had me tearing up. Tears, this early? I think I'll be in trouble when I continue this series.
emotional lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes

Cute, fluffy, well written.