taproot- keezy young arc review
Special thanks to NetGalley, Keezy Young and Oni Press for providing me with this graphic novel. Everything written below are my own thoughts on the novel.
I downloaded this book today, thinking that it would be a short and cute read, and I was right. This book revolves around Hamal and his life with a bunch of ghosts, one of them being Blue. I enjoyed the graphics, though I did not fully understand the context/plot because of the lack of (many) pages of the arc I downloaded via NetGalley. Despite that, the scenery and the author’s illustrations were spectacular, embellished with the use of a lively palette and many species of flowers.
Taproot is a mixture of a cute and uncanny graphic novel about Hamal; a gardener who realises that he can communicate with ghosts, and Blue, who is a ghost that followed Hamal back to his home. Their relationship does not develop slowly but rather quickly. It kind of felt like this was the sequel of the first book and not the first book of a series. Which was a bit disappointing because it had potential
“I didn’t used to mind being dead. It was a little lonely, sure. You watch the world pass by but you’re not a part of it.”
It took me 40 minutes to read this graphic novel, because I love appreciating every little detail on each page but it might take shorter for other readers to read. I must say, the story was a little bit rushed. I have read graphic novels under 140 pages which told more of a story than this book did, so that was one less star from me. I could not connect with the characters and we didn’t even have background context of some of the ghosts’ lives which could’ve been useful to create a character arc in the future perhaps. We should also keep in mind that many of the pages were missing in my e-arc, hence, I cannot know for sure. I am once again thankful to have read this graphic novel before this edition is published on the 28th of June 2022!!
Here is a description of the book:
“Blue has been living as a ghost for a year when he meets Hamal, a beautiful and sweet gardener who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Together, their friendship develops into something more, but being a ghost, Blue can never truly be connected with Hamal.
When Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may be putting him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him–even if it means leaving him.”
A link to the goodreads page of taproot
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