Ulises Farinas

Erick Freitas

After losing their dad, 12-year-old Cloudia and her kid sister Rex are taken on a road trip by their mother, who is having a hard time dealing with the stress of sudden single-motherhood. When their car is blasted off the road by a strange bolt from the sky, the kids find themselves with strange abilities--Cloudia has super strength and Rex is . . . a woolly rhino. It seems they've been possessed by two twin gods, Thanatos and Hypnos, who are fleeing the god-realm which is being overtaken by The High Waveform, a single consuming entity. Their mission is to use the girls to ferry the remaining fleeing gods to the World Tree, where a new realm of gods can be reborn. It's all a lot for a 12 year old to fully appreciate until the weight of the responsibility catches up with her.

Cloudia & Rex

I received this ARC for NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. A big thank you to Ulises Farinas, Erick Freitas and Diamond Book Distributors!

This book has so much potential. But sadly it suffered in so many areas that it just didn't become what it could have been. 

Cloudia and Rex is a graphic novel about two girls and their mum as they fall into the middle of a vast, supernatural war. They encounter countless gods as they become entwined in the survival or destruction of each of them.

I mean that blurb sounds fantastic, right? And yet, the story is all over the place. There is no clear-cut plotline. The MCs are kinda just thrown into this war between gods for absolutely no reason. There is very little backstory for any of the characters. 



The MCs' story develops a little, but not until late in the story. But I had very little understanding of what was happening with the gods. Why were they were fighting? Who were they? Were they representative of actual religion or not? 

The story is, all in all, kinda bizarre. Also just the fact that the book is named after the two daughters despite the fact that their mum plays just a big a role in the story, makes no sense to me.

What the story did have working for them was the artwork. While it still completely unbeknownst to me whether the gods are meant to represent actual religious figures, I love how they were presented. Although I have no idea what the go is with this guy:



While largely it felt forced and just didn't work, there were moments where having a POC teenager full of attitude as one the MCs was just highly entertaining. I mean, I freaking love some of the sass: 



In conclusion, however, the vivid illustrations just made me want more of a solid, easy to follow storyline.


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Cloudia & Rex

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