Synopsis: An epic graphic novel about a girl who travels to the ends of the universe to find a long lost love, from acclaimed author Tillie Walden.
Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. When Mia grows close to her new friends, she reveals her true purpose for joining their ship—to track down her long-lost love.
An inventive world, a breathtaking love story, and stunning art come together in this new work by award-winning artist Tillie Walden.
Review: On a Sunbeam is a sci-fi graphic novel that follows Mia at two points in her life. One is when she is a freshman in high school and she gets close to another student. The other is years later when Mia is working on a ship and traveling in space. I liked seeing how sure of herself Mia is. There are a lot of same-sex couples in this story, and it is just refreshing to see them normalized. We also have a non-binary character which is really cool. They aren't treated great by another character but, thankfully, that is quite minimal considering how large this book is. Normally, I don't like when stories jump from one time to another, but I think On a Sunbeam was done quite well. I loved seeing Mia at school compared to her out in space. We see how she has grown in this time span and I loved it.
I thought the story was done really well. We have a lot of threads that connect in an interesting way. The story did jump from slower to suddenly action packed at the end. That was a little odd. The relationship between Mia and Grace also threw me off. It seemed like they were barely taking, and suddenly they started dating. On a Sunbeam is already a long graphic novel, but I would have liked to see more interaction between Mia and Grace before they started dating. I liked that On a Sunbeam wasn't heavy sci-fi either. It was great for people like me who haven't exposed themselves to a lot of science fiction.
4 howls
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