Graphic Novel Review – City of Secrets by Victoria Ying (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Steampunk
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Release Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN-13 : 978-0593114490
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the City of Secrets series
Source: Bought for Son
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“Ever Barnes is a shy orphan guarding a secret in an amazing puzzle box of a building.
Most of the young women who work at the building’s Switchboard Operating Facility, which connects the whole city of Oskar, look the other way as Ever roams around in the shadows. But one of them, Lisa, keeps an eye on the boy. So does the head of the Switchboard, Madame Alexander . . . a rather sharp eye.
Enter Hannah, the spunky daughter of the building’s owner. She thinks Ever needs a friend, even if he doesn’t know it yet. Good thing she does! Lisa and Madame Alexander are each clearly up to something. Ever is beset by a menacing band of rogues looking to unlock the secret he holds–at any cost. And whatever is hidden deep in the Switchboard building will determine all of their futures.
On a journey that twists and turns as much as the mechanical building Ever Barnes calls home, he and his new friend Hannah have to and out what’s really going on in this mysterious city of secrets . . . or else!”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the City of Secrets series. I bought this book as a Christmas gift for my son.
Story (3/5): This book focuses on the Switchboard Operating Facility and the characters who work, live, and visit there. Lisa is one of the operators who keeps an eye on the mysterious boy Ever. Ever is charged with keeping a very big secret that his father told him about before his father was killed. Hannah is the daughter of the building owner and determined to ferret out Ever’s secrets. Little did any of them know that the whole secret ties back to mysterious secret society and the government.
The story here was okay. My son started reading this but never finished it because he said it was boring and I can understand why he said that. The story definitely lags at points and gets super political and a bit complex. I found my mind wandering a number of times while reading this and really had to make myself stay focused and finish it.
Characters (4/5): The characters in here are fine. I loved that they had a bit of complexity to them. All of them have secrets, except maybe for Hannah who is blissfully ignorant of most of the goings on until she gets involved with Ever and Lisa. I didn’t find any of them to be very relatable, but for a middle grade graphic novel they were well done enough.
Setting (4/5): We don’t get to see much of the city outside of the Switchboard Operating Facility. It seems like this could be a pretty awesome world and setting, but we have a very narrow focus in this book. I did like uncovering the secrets of this unique Facility building. A lot of the gears and cranks in this building give this book a bit of a steampunk feel.
Writing/Drawing Style (3/5): I enjoyed the unique drawing style a lot; although occasionally it was a bit hard to figure out what was happening. The writing was okay, the story lagged at points and I feel like this got kind of complicated for a middle grade novel. At first the story seems like it’s going to be a fun mystery adventure but then all of the sudden Ever is dodging people trying to kill him and secret societies and the government gets involved. It ends up having a kind of weird vibe and the story doesn’t really fit into the middle grade category even though it’s marketed as such.
My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this ended up being okay but I didn’t love it. The drawing style is nice and I liked how things started out. I enjoyed the steampunk vibe to this as well. Unfortunately, the story was kind of slow and the plot got kind of convoluted and too political for my taste. This is one of those books that I struggle to figure out what age group it’s aimed at. It gets a bit violent and politically complicated for middle grade readers, but I don’t really think it will appeal to adults either. I wanted to love this but don’t plan on continuing with the series at this point.
