Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo
Product Details
Web ID: 15415156Fell short
I liked the art style and premise, and the diverse cast of characters was refreshing, but that’s unfortunately about it. It’s very much a “could have been great” for me. As a queer person who chose this book specifically to enjoy a supernatural queer romance, Tony and Eli’s romance in this graphic novel really came off as hamfisted, and the story as a whole would have been better served without it. The supernatural werewolf and ghost plot as well as themes of teenage conflict within their respective families got sidetracked to deal with the romance conflict, which wasn’t even compelling to begin with. If the story was one or two books longer, maybe the situation could have had its time to be resolved, but it felt overwhelmingly rushed and underdeveloped. I honestly couldn’t enjoy the main couples interactions together after Eli did something I personally couldn’t forgive, given how it was handled by the characters at large. SPOILER. Eli, mad that Tony didn’t stick up for him consistently when Tony’s friend Biff harasses and pushes him around, steals Tony’s inhaler. This happens of course just after Tony DOES sticks up for Eli, during which Tony confides in Eli that he needs his inhaler for his big race coming up. After the race starts Eli feels bad and tries to return the inhaler, only to get stopped by Biff, who thinks Eli is “snooping through” his friends gym bag, so Eli just turns around and leaves, throwing Tony’s inhaler into the woods. Tony ends up having an asthma attack and needing an ambulance called. After two thirds of the story is over, Eli finally comes clean about stealing the inhaler. Tony is rightfully upset and doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. Tony essentially gets the event minimized to a “mistake”and that he should just forgive Eli for by his last remaining friend, as he’s cast off Biff as a bully, and been rejected by his peers at school since the asthma attack at the race. Tony all at once forgives Eli’s actions for the sake of a romantic reconciliation, and the curtain drops. It’s all really rugged narratively and feels contradictory to Eli’s character as a chronically ill person to steal someone’s inhaler, and feels like it got shoved into the story just to be an “obstacle” to their romance plot later. It genuinely made me think that Eli was an antagonist in the story at first, like a “bullied kid snaps and almost gets someone killed” type beat. I really wish I could have loved this one. I liked the ghost and werewolf plots, and the conflicts seen in the teenage characters homes. Well, all except Marcia, the single black female character, who doesn’t get a background or home life like the other three main male teen characters do, as her entire plot line revolves around being Tony’s “goth friend” who helps him with his lycanthropy. (Disclaimer; I’m white and can’t fully speak on this subject with the level of knowledge, depth, and nuance it deserves, but it was still noticeable that Marcia’s character was a sidekick rather than her own person. The space she took up narratively could have easily been replaced with an animal/pet sidekick.) I do genuinely hope these writers further develop their narrative craft, because I did genuinely like the premise and art styles.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Loved it
Loved the slow burn romance the two had going on hoping to see more of them in the furture
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Highly enjoyed!
I received this arc from NetGalley and these opinions are my own. I’m newer to the graphic novel type but I’ve been enjoying the ones I’ve read. I liked the slower build to Blackwater and that it took a bit for the reader to find out what was going on! It felt realistic and I feel like it provided room for both Tony’s and Eli’s backstories to be told! I also liked the way Tony was with Eli it was cute to watch him trying to get close to Eli, clearly someone who has a crush! I also enjoyed the art, really helped paint the picture of the story! This is definitely a story that I can’t wait to read again when it comes out!
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com