Jing Liu

Lorie Hammond

From Early Republic to People’s Republic

The Way Forward

Skyler Hess

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

The visuals themselves are great, and easily work to convey what the author is trying to teach! I really enjoyed the variety of styles used. Some pages came off as more "serious" than others by being depicted as very realistic or lonesome. The depiction of Hiroshima honestly gave me chills with the murky black swirls filling the page. The use of the more "2-D style" art for less dark/serious history really helped to balance graphic novel out when need be. 

However, the dialogue came off as a bit stilted and information-heavy at times (which makes sense, seeing that this is an educational book meant to inform), and reminded me of middle/high school presentations that have been done in the past. I believe that there was simply too much content that needed to fit into this 224-page long work, as it was a bit confusing to read at times due to its relatively fast pace. Even though this is one book in a series depicting the history of China, it would have benefitted from being broken down even further, so that there would be more space to fully explore certain historical facts and themes. At times it seemed as if too many facts/words were mentioned in one speech bubble (or even page) that it got easy to lose track of the main point. 

Ultimately I enjoyed reading this graphic novel. I believe that it is more accessible than a general textbook that covers this time period, as it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Even though it can be wordy at times, it seems like the best medium to teach history! The beauty of a graphic novel is that the words and art really work together to better convey very complicated topics.

The Way Forward From Early Republic to People’s Republic

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