I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this one for the cover and then I saw the blurb and I was totally sold!

In this one we meet Maya a girl who is a comic book artist but not having the most fun life. She is constantly working, but so not satisfied with what she has to make. She struggles a lot, but I wonder if she was ready for what comes next! Because things go from 0 to 100 when Maya meets Soma, a small alien which looks like a blob with an eye and tentacles. Soma has big news, bad news even. His planet consists of warriors and they are in the need for water… and guess what? They are coming for Earth. I thought maybe we would have a bit more time to get to know Soma, but other than a few moments the invasion is HERE. And WOW, I have to say I was 100% in! From that point on there is no boring moments, everything is high tension and it was fantastic, though also shocking, given that I had expected (based on the cover/illustrations) that this invasion would be full of action but maybe not as much death. I will warn you, people will get shot, a car with people is volleyed into a building by two aliens playing tennis, and there is much more. There are a lot of desperate moments in which you wonder if maybe the city/the world is doomed.

I loved how Maya and Soma worked hard together to fix things and to make it better again. Soma cannot do much alone (again blob with tentacles) but with the help of Maya he may just reach the mothership and may just get things right. He has some deets on his kind (who he isn’t a fan of) and well, remember snails? You can also use that for these aliens. Soma wasn’t too entirely happy to share that nugget and we see that he was horrified when Maya, without any care which is logical as her world is being destroyed, used that against one of his own kind. But their teamwork is strong and I loved seeing their bond grow.

We also got a backstory on how Soma has arrived on Earth and how he was able to find help. This backstory broke my heart in two ways, that is all I will say.

Next to Maya we also follow her friend Juu/Juju whose design I wasn’t entirely a fan off (the eyes). He is stuck in the midst of the invasion as well and makes quick friends (and maybe more) with a girl and her sibling. I loved following them and seeing what they experience. Because with Maya/Soma you follow them on their mission to save the world, whereas with Juju you see him try to survive and get to safety.

I am delighted that we got to have an epilogue and see how the city/world is doing now. That last page though was ominous.

The art was just FANTASTIC. Seriously, I love the style. It was so colourful, so cool, so energetic.

I would highly recommend this kick-ass graphic novel to all.