Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis and illustrated by Brooke A. Allen

Summary (from Goodreads):

Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together...and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!

Review:

So, there are two reasons I read this book. One; it’s written by the author of Nimona (one of my favorite books of the year so far). And two; A girl/teacher I made friends with in line at the Boston Comic Con told me I had to read it. I’ve definitely been getting into graphic novels more and more lately. Frankly, there have been some seriously awesome YA and Kids graphic novels that have recently come out. This one seemed like it would be a winner.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t that good either. In comparison to Nimona, it seriously fell flat. It had a lot of super amazing things going for it too. It deals with summer camp, friendships, mythological mysteries, and adventure. It sort of has the makings of a super amazing middle grade novel.

I think my problem was I kept comparing it to Nimona, which isn’t exactly fair. Also, it was not linear enough for me. It felt kind of like several different, disconnected stories piled together, and I was expecting more of a typical graphic novel format. There wasn’t a ton of things to connect the stories together.

It also kind of felt like the beginning of something good. It read like the first 10^th of a Rick Riordan book. There was that much action and adventure, and even humor. There just wasn’t one steady story arc, connecting it all (at least not yet).

The book does have charm. I loved the art. I also adored the friendships and the characters, even the bossy councilor. Some of it made me laugh (like when the boys camp gets involved). It just wasn’t quite enough for me.

All in all, Lumberjanes read like a fun beginning to a series for me, but there wasn’t enough story or connecting aspects within the different stories to make it enough for a novel yet. I did enjoy the setting, the characters, and the sense of humor. And I do think I’ll keep going with it, in hopes of getting that something more. I can see some readers enjoying it a lot more than me. I give it a 7/10.