AVEREE - graphic novel

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK



Imagine a world where a social media platform has such power as to determine who should like whom, who has enough social rank to get the better jobs and even determine someone's credit score simply based on their social rank.

In the graphic novel, Averee, it's not just students who are on their phones constantly, checking their status on the powerful app, Ranked. You can be awarded points for good behavior, but just as easily you can find points stripped away for not conforming. When Averee's rank plummets overnight, she quickly finds herself hassled at school, not allowed to park in the structure closest to school but one a few blocks away that allows for lower Ranks, and her mom even loses her job.

This is devastating for the teen, but fortunately she's got a best friend, Zoe, who's already bottom ranked because she refuses to give in to an app-based lifestyle. Add one cute guy, Luke, who's willing to risk his Rank because he likes Averee, and a team of teens is ready to take on and take down the most powerful social app on the planet.  Fortunately they get a little help from the inside.

Overall, I really liked this.  The art by Marika Cresta is bold and clear. The inside art is in the same style as the cover as seen here (which isn't always the case). Coloring by Andrew Dalhouse provides nice texture.

The story, by Stephanie Phillips and Dave Johnson, is a little bit simple and the metaphor just a bit too obvious for me, but I can easily see many teens - especially the nerds and geeks - really appreciating this and nodding with recognition of so many of their classmates.

The book is direct, with hardly any subplots (it's told in five chapters [ie comic book issues]), but I think that's to its benefit.  Trying to pad this with subplots would have drawn the story out too much and many readers would likely have gotten bored.

I enjoyed this and I recommend it to students who enjoy reading over social media trolling.

Looking for a good book? Averee is a science fiction graphic novel by Stephanie Phillips, Dave Johnson, Marika Cresta, and Andrew Dalhouse that speaks to teen anxiety and social pressures that have been set in place by corporations controlling social media. It is a quick but enjoyable read with very nice art.

I received a digital copy of this book directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * *

Averee

authors: Stephanie Phillips and Dave Johnson

artist: Marika Cresta

publisher: A Wave Blue World

ISBN13: 9781949518122

paperback, 136 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more