Graphic Novel Review: Project Nought by Chelsey Furedi (Author, Illustrator)

Project Nought
by Chelsey Furedi (Author, Illustrator)
February 21, 2023

Publisher: Clarion Books (Harper Collins)

Genre: graphic novel, young adult, science fiction, LGBTQ+, 

For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic.

Ren Mittal's last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating…he’s not!

Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like…from real-life subjects who’ve been transported into the future…and Ren is one of them.

In 2122, Ren’s life in the 1990s is practically ancient history—and Ren’s not sure how to feel about that. On top of it all, he learns that his memory will be wiped of all things 2122 before he’s sent back to the '90s. Adding to Ren’s complicated feels, he's forming a crush on his student guide, Mars.

And when he crosses paths with the absolute last person he expected to see in the future, he has a bigger problem on his hands: What if Chronotech isn't the benevolent organization they claim to be, and he and his fellow subjects are in great danger?

I've waited over two years for this story. Project Nought first appeared on the webcomic app Tapas and I instantly fell in love with Mars and Ren. I've been using an image of Ren's face as my avatar on Tapas because it is such a mood! LOL

Look at that expression! We've all been there.

Then Chelsey announced Project Nought would no longer post because it got picked up by a publisher! I was excited for her...but...I would have to wait two years to get the rest of the story! 

*dramatic fall to the ground* 

Was the wait worth it? Oh yeah. She changed the art style a little. It is now more polished than cartoony. I love Chelsey's art style because it is so expressive. You can't help but smile at Mars's infectious personality and feel for poor mopey Ren. Diversity is a big part of Chelsey's comics and something young adults have been craving...as well as some adults ;) 

Project Nought has a cool premise. Imagine if your school could time-travel people from the past to spend a semester with your class so you can learn about history from their point of view. Brilliant! The corporation that owns the technology has a secret... it took me by surprise and that is hard to do, lol.

There is a sweet romance between Mars and Ren but the story focuses on the cast of friends coming together to right a wrong. The drama and heavy issues are balanced with lots of humor. There are many types of developing relationships woven into the complex plot giving the reader 336 pages of quality reading.

Project Nought would be a great addition to a middle school or high school library...and my own. I'm waiting for my pre-ordered hardback to arrive.

Take a look at some of the preview pages.

4.5 "time-traveling" Sheep

SharonS 

About the Author

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Chelsey Furedi is a comic artist and illustrator with a passion for inclusive visual storytelling that explores both interpersonal connections and interesting new worlds. She started her career in comics during university with her online hit, Rock and Riot, before stepping into the publishing world with Project Nought as her debut. If she could time-travel, she’d go one hundred years into the future to see what everyone’s wearing. She currently lives in New Zealand and balances working as a background artist alongside her publishing journey. Twitter and Instagram: @cheriiart.

https://www.instagram.com/mithanielmars: 

Book Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Tell the Wind and Fire
by Sarah Rees Brennan

Hardcover, 368 pages
April 5th 2016

by Clarion Books

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows the young men’s deadly connection, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

Celebrated author Sarah Rees Brennan weaves a magical tale of romance and revolution, love and loss.

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I choose this book from NetGalley because of the interesting excerpt and the fact that I enjoy reading Young Adult novels looking for some "lesson" or "encouragement" for the younger readers. I am not sure I would classify this as a YA except for the fact that the main characters were in their teens (I think 2nd or 3rd year high school age). The story had quite the little dark side and some gruesome scene descriptions. The main character seemed a little self absorbed but I think that is not uncommon to teenage years.

The story is set in a city with "Dark" and "Light" factions which translates to oppressed "dark" magicians and governing "light" magicians. I had a little trouble relating to the descriptions and use of those terms throughout the story. The dark city magicians didn't seem to practice evil dark magic, they just seemed to be born on the wrong side of the bridge!

Lucie was born in the Dark City of a Light magician father and a Dark magician mother who never married (or hid it if they did). She was considered a Light City resident and when her mother disappeared and her father captured, she freed her father and took him to the Light City to live. There she met a young man from one of the Light City's governing families and fell in love. This is where the story starts to become a little more convoluted. Her new boyfriend finds out he had a doppelgänger made of him at the time of his birth (which is a punishable offense) in the Light City. They try to keep him secreted away so the governing family can continue in their high societal status.

An uprising of the Dark faction of the city puts Lucie, Ethan (her boyfriend), her father (not without some mental issues), the doppelgänger and her friends in grave danger. They use her as their "cause" for their rebellion and she wants no part of it. She sees the rebellion as trading one vicious ruling class for another.

The points I drew from this story were to be true to yourself, loyalty and understanding that oppression can come in many forms. The right "cause" people fight for can turn into a nightmare just as ugly and unjust as the one that is being fought against.

The ending left me sad and unfulfilled as to the future of the city with ends just not tied up neatly. I must be on a roll with depressing fantasy novels. This is now 2 in a row and I am craving some "light fantastic" fantasy to cleanse my palette!


I give this story 3 "redeemable" doppelgänger sheep.

Jeanie G

About the Author:
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Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. The books most often found under her desk were Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves them all today.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.


Sarah’s latest series is the Lynburn Legacy, beginning with UNSPOKEN, a romantic Gothic mystery about a girl named Kami Glass, who discovers her imaginary friend is a real guy, and one of the mysterious Lynburn family who have returned to the sinister manor on the hill that looms over her town, and who may or may not be involved in dark deeds in the woods. It’s lucky that she’s a sassy girl reporter determined to discover all the secrets that have been kept from her by the town, Jared, and her own family. The trilogy concluded with UNMADE. Buy Unspoken through Random House,  Amazon or Barnes & Noble.