Scan barcode
trevoryan's review against another edition
4.0
Incredible! I am so glad that I was able to buy the box set with all 6 issues because each book is a quick read and it's an incredibly captivating story. With WONDERFUL art. Highly recommended.
longchamps's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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? No
4.0
galexywitch's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.5
ponch22's review against another edition
5.0
Looks like I saved the best for last—several weeks ago I purchased three of TKO Studios' 6-issue, oversized graphic novels after hearing about them on a podcast I listen to: [b:Goodnight Paradise|43672246|Goodnight Paradise|Joshua Dysart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548127229l/43672246._SY75_.jpg|67947515] (3*), [b:Sara|43204208|Sara|Garth Ennis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551238042l/43204208._SY75_.jpg|67041548] (4*) and this book, [b:Sentient|51485031|Sentient|Jeff Lemire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593385181l/51485031._SY75_.jpg|74100821] (5*).
[a:Jeff Lemire|543719|Jeff Lemire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1568921362p2/543719.jpg]'s story is simple—the USS Montgomery is a spaceship about to enter the "Black Zone," an area of radiation that will prevent all communication back to the dying planet Earth or forward to a new colony the crew of families is traveling to. However, all the adults are killed by a rogue separatist, leaving the children and Val, the ship's AI, to fend for themselves.
The story uses a lot of sci-fi tropes and feels a little rushed (given the 6-story arc every TKO Studios title is forced to have) but overall was an excellent read.
My copy seems to have several printing errors—nothing major, just some places where the black seems to be misaligned causing a slightly "fuzzy" look (most noticeable in the word balloons):
Strangely, the misalignment (when it happened) seemed to be worse on the panels at the top of the page and almost not noticeable on the panels at the bottom... Not exactly how I'd imagine a printing error to be present but I'm no expert.
Not sure if this was in all copies (I don't see any other complaints) or just in some but it seemed to stop happening as the story progressed (so maybe it was just an early-issue issue). Ignoring these occasionally "fuzzy" panels, the rest of [a:Gabriel Walta|3856312|Gabriel Hernandez Walta|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1564958819p2/3856312.jpg]'s artwork is very nice to look at—he does a great job at showing emotion in these kids' faces.
[a:Jeff Lemire|543719|Jeff Lemire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1568921362p2/543719.jpg]'s story is simple—the USS Montgomery is a spaceship about to enter the "Black Zone," an area of radiation that will prevent all communication back to the dying planet Earth or forward to a new colony the crew of families is traveling to. However, all the adults are killed by a rogue separatist, leaving the children and Val, the ship's AI, to fend for themselves.
The story uses a lot of sci-fi tropes and feels a little rushed (given the 6-story arc every TKO Studios title is forced to have) but overall was an excellent read.
My copy seems to have several printing errors—nothing major, just some places where the black seems to be misaligned causing a slightly "fuzzy" look (most noticeable in the word balloons):
Strangely, the misalignment (when it happened) seemed to be worse on the panels at the top of the page and almost not noticeable on the panels at the bottom... Not exactly how I'd imagine a printing error to be present but I'm no expert.
Not sure if this was in all copies (I don't see any other complaints) or just in some but it seemed to stop happening as the story progressed (so maybe it was just an early-issue issue). Ignoring these occasionally "fuzzy" panels, the rest of [a:Gabriel Walta|3856312|Gabriel Hernandez Walta|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1564958819p2/3856312.jpg]'s artwork is very nice to look at—he does a great job at showing emotion in these kids' faces.
analyticalchaos's review against another edition
3.0
Very fast paced and captivating. A quick bite-sized sci-fi read.
geekwayne's review against another edition
5.0
“Sentient” by Jeff Lemire with art by Gabriel Walta is a science fiction graphic novel that explores themes of survival, family, and what it means to be human.
An isolated spaceship full of colonists suffers a separatist attack that kills all the adults on board. The survivors are a group of children who are left alone with the ship's AI, Valerie. They must learn to take care of themselves, keep the ship operational and find a way to reach their destination. Suspense is introduced when outside characters call the AI in to question with motives that may or may not be suspect.
Lemire is known for stories like this one and this is no disappointment. The level of tension and suspense kept me wondering until the end. The artwork by Gabriel Walta is rich and atmospheric, and it perfectly complements the story's tone. In the deluxe edition, there were added alternate covers, character design and pages of the art and script as it developed.
An isolated spaceship full of colonists suffers a separatist attack that kills all the adults on board. The survivors are a group of children who are left alone with the ship's AI, Valerie. They must learn to take care of themselves, keep the ship operational and find a way to reach their destination. Suspense is introduced when outside characters call the AI in to question with motives that may or may not be suspect.
Lemire is known for stories like this one and this is no disappointment. The level of tension and suspense kept me wondering until the end. The artwork by Gabriel Walta is rich and atmospheric, and it perfectly complements the story's tone. In the deluxe edition, there were added alternate covers, character design and pages of the art and script as it developed.
nichole1988's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
twicomb's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
6 out of 5 stars. This book has shot to my top ten for graphic novels, and there's some stiff competition up there. Where do I even start?
The story, first off. Oh, the story is So Good. I was deeply, immediately invested in these characters. The directions the story goes are both unexpected and brilliant.
The art is absolutely gorgeous. The detailed, careful linework that is deliberate and thoughtful - the watercolor shading and layering that gives the art a tactile feel - the complicated environments with strange and new architecture and machinery - I am convinced this artist grew up reading Moebius comics. There's clearly deep inspiration drawn from Moebius's work, but this artist has his own unique style as well.
The lettering (which people often forget about) is beautifully rendered. Be sure to notice how well it's done when reading these pages.
The ending actually got me choked up a little. That doesn't happen often, especially with graphic novels. I only wish this had been longer. Much, much longer. I wish this had been an open-ended series. But that could still be done - there's no reason the writer and artist couldn't collaborate on more graphic novels covering the time period between the climax and the ending.
I cannot recommend this graphic novel enough.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.
The story, first off. Oh, the story is So Good. I was deeply, immediately invested in these characters. The directions the story goes are both unexpected and brilliant.
The art is absolutely gorgeous. The detailed, careful linework that is deliberate and thoughtful - the watercolor shading and layering that gives the art a tactile feel - the complicated environments with strange and new architecture and machinery - I am convinced this artist grew up reading Moebius comics. There's clearly deep inspiration drawn from Moebius's work, but this artist has his own unique style as well.
The lettering (which people often forget about) is beautifully rendered. Be sure to notice how well it's done when reading these pages.
The ending actually got me choked up a little. That doesn't happen often, especially with graphic novels. I only wish this had been longer. Much, much longer. I wish this had been an open-ended series. But that could still be done - there's no reason the writer and artist couldn't collaborate on more graphic novels covering the time period between the climax and the ending.
I cannot recommend this graphic novel enough.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.
adenhailemariam's review against another edition
3.0
Lemire and Walta? An AI plot? Graphic novel? Of course I picked it up. Reading this after Descender may have made this feel too short or not paced well. The beginning and a one or two other places had shock factor. I felt bad for Isaac but never felt like it was important for him to be the POV character. I felt that Val meant well for the kids and I liked her but something felt off about the way she spoke. It was interesting, though, when Lil told Val not to speak to her using her mother’s words! The illustration, the scenes were great. I think you’re meant to read left to right across the two pages rather than l-r page by page, I was thrown off a bit there. Coincidentally, just finished season 2 of Raised by Wolves which I thought of while reading this.
inthebelljar's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, I think a huge part of this being 3 stars for me is because I had very high expectations. Sentient has been recommended by multiple reviewers and the AIs-with-feelings is one of my favorite tropes of all time, especially if that AI isn't necessarily supposed to have feelings. So, upon finishing this graphic novel, I think I most of all just felt...underwhelmed. This is a short graphic novel - only 160 pages with no sequel - and it ultimately felt like I was getting snippets from a larger, more moving story.
The ship's AI, Val, was super endearing. I liked her a lot and I actually was super interested in how her initial reaction to being left alone to take care of the kids was panic - I don't feel like most AIs in sci fi get a chance to be uncertain, and it felt warranted in this case. Another thing I found interesting was that she wasn't made to be taking care of children, and at times this showed. For example, when Val parrots back things that she heard the parents say to their children before they were killed. Lil, the oldest of the kids and one of the main characters, points this out and tells her to stop - leading to Val speaking to her more stiffly, more formally, more like she's an adult. Like Val was still struggling to be a more human-like mom to these children if she wasn't parroting what she had heard before. I only wish that these sorts of things were explored more.
Which is a big complaint I felt overall - great ideas, but very little exploration of them. I felt like I kept being told how much Val had changed, but we as the readers only really see a handful of scenes of how Val was before there's a timeskip and the children and her are settled into a routine and she's taken on a very mom-like persona. I'm told that this is wildly different and that she has changed so much but I barely knew Val as a character before this happened, which really flattened any effect this could have had.
Same with the children; obviously, the events that occur have traumatized them and having to run a ship without any adults when all of them are age 10 or younger made them grow up fast but I rarely saw any evidence of this. They fight, they argue, they cry about things that have happened but ultimately they still are literal children doing adult jobs with no problem, defending their ship and keeping things running smoothly. The kids didn't feel very child-like to me besides a few ridiculous arguments that felt like okay, yeah, I guess kids would argue about these things because they're children, but not much beyond that. Yes, it's unfair and tragic they lost their childhood to these events but I never really....bought it? I didn't get attached to the kids, either. There's really only focus on two of them throughout the whole graphic novel despite this being a large group and even then I felt like the two main children only had maybe two traits each - the boy is timid and sad, the girl is angry and defiant.
Again, I felt like the narration kept telling me how traumatizing and important and life-changing these events were but I witnessed very little of it as a reader. I could probably go on for longer but I feel like all of my complaints go back to "I wanted more and I was so underwhelmed." The art was great, I enjoyed the style and the looks of things. I liked the ideas and themes. Val was interesting at times. But I just felt mostly disappointed by this title and felt like I had read the same themes in sci fi, done better, many times before.
The ship's AI, Val, was super endearing. I liked her a lot and I actually was super interested in how her initial reaction to being left alone to take care of the kids was panic - I don't feel like most AIs in sci fi get a chance to be uncertain, and it felt warranted in this case. Another thing I found interesting was that she wasn't made to be taking care of children, and at times this showed. For example, when Val parrots back things that she heard the parents say to their children before they were killed. Lil, the oldest of the kids and one of the main characters, points this out and tells her to stop - leading to Val speaking to her more stiffly, more formally, more like she's an adult. Like Val was still struggling to be a more human-like mom to these children if she wasn't parroting what she had heard before. I only wish that these sorts of things were explored more.
Which is a big complaint I felt overall - great ideas, but very little exploration of them. I felt like I kept being told how much Val had changed, but we as the readers only really see a handful of scenes of how Val was before there's a timeskip and the children and her are settled into a routine and she's taken on a very mom-like persona. I'm told that this is wildly different and that she has changed so much but I barely knew Val as a character before this happened, which really flattened any effect this could have had.
Same with the children; obviously, the events that occur have traumatized them and having to run a ship without any adults when all of them are age 10 or younger made them grow up fast but I rarely saw any evidence of this. They fight, they argue, they cry about things that have happened but ultimately they still are literal children doing adult jobs with no problem, defending their ship and keeping things running smoothly. The kids didn't feel very child-like to me besides a few ridiculous arguments that felt like okay, yeah, I guess kids would argue about these things because they're children, but not much beyond that. Yes, it's unfair and tragic they lost their childhood to these events but I never really....bought it? I didn't get attached to the kids, either. There's really only focus on two of them throughout the whole graphic novel despite this being a large group and even then I felt like the two main children only had maybe two traits each - the boy is timid and sad, the girl is angry and defiant.
Again, I felt like the narration kept telling me how traumatizing and important and life-changing these events were but I witnessed very little of it as a reader. I could probably go on for longer but I feel like all of my complaints go back to "I wanted more and I was so underwhelmed." The art was great, I enjoyed the style and the looks of things. I liked the ideas and themes. Val was interesting at times. But I just felt mostly disappointed by this title and felt like I had read the same themes in sci fi, done better, many times before.