Bumpy Oak Books

3 stars

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Jérôme Hamon brings us Nils: The Tree of Life, a nordic inspired fantasy graphic novel set in a society where things have ceased growing. The land and people both have become infertile. Nils and his father seek to find the source of the problem with the land, and find themselves in the middle of a conflict between gods and men.

The art style and color choices for this graphic novel are absolutely gorgeous. I have absolutely no complaints about art style and visual representation for this story in the slightest.

I do feel that the characters and story were either under developed, or that the author did not have the space in the less than 200 pages to flesh out the characterization and plot line. As most fantasy fans are aware, when you start to read an epic fantasy, you know you’re likely starting in on either a tome or multi-book series. It appears that this graphic novel is intended to be a relatively short standalone, but having the themes and plot of an epic fantasy. Something has to give in this situation, and, unfortunately, the plot came across as abrupt and the characters really could have been replaced by any other characters at all and the story been told in the same fashion.

All that being said, I definitely enjoyed the graphic novel and what I did see, but overall was left wanting more. I would not hesitate to pick up future works from this illustrator or author, but would likely look for series rather than standalones if concepts are in a similar vein as this graphic novel.