For all that the artwork and design of this book were beautiful, the story was incredibly lacking in development. It paints itself as a post-apocalyptic young-boy-has-to-save-the-world trope, but neither the characters nor the setting were developed enough to drive the story properly even though the ending confirms the protagonist’s success in his goals. The stark dissonance between the lush illustrations and the lack of story development somehow made the whole product even more disappointing, since the implication of a nuanced story is expected by the reader. ( )

The Cloud is a fantasy graphic novel about a boy and his wolf who go on a journey to find the boy’s father and return a wish that was stolen from him.

The Cover: This is a beautiful cover that clearly defines the fantasy elements of the story, however it does not convey that the book is a graphic novel. This is fine if it is housed on the bookshelves under graphic novels, but my suggestion to the author would be to add some subtext to make it clear. Something along the lines of ‘A fantasy graphic novel that will take you on a beautifully illustrated adventure.’

The Good Stuff: There is an interesting tale here set in an interesting world and it is beautifully illustrated. The layout and quality of the artwork is done to a professional standard, and it certainly looks like a graphic novel should do.

The Bad Stuff: While the tale is interesting and the artwork is visual feast for your eyes, by all accounts the story seems to be a little hard to follow. If you are a die-hard graphic novelist/comic reader, you may not be fazed by this, but for me, well… the artwork made it well worth a read.

Overall, if you are a lover of good art you will enjoy this book, but if you are after a smooth flowing, easy to understand story this may leave you a little unsatisfied. I’m giving this one an eye opening, mind marvelling 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks.
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Beautiful art, and an interesting story with a bittersweet ending. The timelines were sometimes a little difficult to follow, but I still loved it. ( )