This was ok. The story was mildly interesting and the artwork was good. I tried to read this a few different times and just couldn't get into it. Overall, it was just meh.

A huge miss for me. I had read it a quite long time ago, but I still remember I tried to read this like 5 times, and I could not finish at all. The artwork was nice, but the story was not interesting to me, the characters were plain and I did not care about them at all. Maybe I read too many similar things and compared this too much to them, or maybe I am overfed with this style of writing/drawing/kind of story.

'Alcyon Vol. 1: Harmony's Necklace' by Richard Marazano with art by Christophe Ferreira is a graphic novel set in ancient Greece.

A mythical necklace called Sycion is thought to be the thing to right a wrong between two tribes. The children of the two tribal leaders decide to look for the necklace, but that takes them in to Spartan territory. Along the way, they find a helpful guide. Meanwhile, the worried fathers have problems of their own.

It took a while for the story to kind of catch me, but I liked the journey and the characters. The art is really nice.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This was such a fast paced and really fun story to read. I can't wait to continue on with this series since I simply had so much fun when I was reading it

I liked the art style and the setting. A classical Greek tale of the hero's journey as two teenagers set off in search of a mythological necklace. I'm a big fan of the era but this moves at a glacial pace. Plus I constantly wanted to knock the two fathers' heads together with all their stupid bickering. I know it was meant to be humorous, but it was just tedious. I don't see myself continuing this series.

In this graphic novel, Alcyon and Phoebe set out to find Harmony’s necklace. But this is no ordinary necklace. It is said to have been forged by Hephaestus himself and many have looked for it but never succeeded.
I liked Alcyon and Phoebe. They weren’t outstanding characters but fit well enough on their role in the book.
With only 47 pages, we cannot expect a lengthy and well developed story. And it was not. It was a snippet of it, but a promising one. In my opinion, it was a bit slow but it still set an intriguing tone for the next volume that will, surely, reveal more of Alcyon and Phoebe’s journey.

I love mythology and anything about the ancient Greeks and Romans but despite this book being short, and really well illustrated, I found it quite hard to get into and even boring in the end. I think two of the biggest issues I had with it were that first and foremost, the "hero" of the story Alcyon is so whiny, obnoxious and insufferable. His friend Phoebe is cool but she is reduced to playing second fiddle even though she is clearly the brains of the operation.
It also hurts the story that all the adults are bumbling idiots, so there is no real sense that the kids are running from danger - since the adults are just too stupid to ever hope to catch up. Even the harpies are weirdly nonthreatening and they are freaking HARPIES!
Kind of a miss on something that had a lot of potential.

I struggled a bit with this. The artwork is fine, but the story failed to grip me. It's a new take on greek legend but does't really add much

"Alcyon" is a fun adventure graphic novel. The art is well done and the story has a lot going on on every page.

Meh – child-friendly fantasy comic set in Ancient Greece, where a feisty girl and a soppy boy go off in search of a cursed necklace that might at last end their bickering fathers' woes. Yes, there are two generations of bickering people here, and when you add in the mercenary also on the track of the kids you can count on a lot of nonsense verbiage. It looks alright and reads OK, but boy it's overly wordy. The opening of a trilogy.

47 pages| Europe comics| Myth retelling/adaptation, SFF, Fantasy, YA, MG, Translated fiction, Comic book

 

I received a review copy of this comic from the publisher via NetGalley.

 

<strong>The digest: </strong>Do you like comics? Do you like myth retellings/adaptations? If so then this issue is a must-read. This is a great start to what seems to be a promising story, with fantastical elements and interesting characters/

 

From Alcyon's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45917838-alcyon---volume-1---harmony-s-necklace">Goodreads page</a>:
<p style="padding-left:30px;">"Sycion, the jewel of ancient Greece, at the time of tyrants and myths... In order to right a wrong that threatens their tribes and fathers, Alcyon and Phoebe, two troublemaking friends, depart in search of Harmony's necklace, a legendary item forged by the god Hephaestus himself. Joined by Kyrilos, a young Spartan out to prove himself, their adventures in this world will be long, dangerous, and epic."</p>
 

<strong>What did I like?</strong>
<ul>
<li><strong>I do love a good story focused on ancient mythology</strong> -  especially the Ancient Greeks. I'll skirt around exact details due to the short length of <em>Harmony's Necklace</em>, but I will say that if you are interested in any sort of cross-over between the mortals and deities/monsters of Ancient Greece, then <strong>you will not be disappointed here</strong>. That isn't to say that we land in the middle of the Trojan War with heroes literally fighting gods, but this world is clearly in the Age of Heroes of Ancient Greece (<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-five-ages-of-man-111776">as <em>Hesiod</em> would probably put it</a>), and as such you can expect to see mythical beings in a 'real world' setting - that of Ancient Sycion.</li>
<li>For a comic just 47 pages long (I'm not quite convinced that this constitutes a 'volume' as it is labelled, especially comparing it to other comic volumes which are hundreds of pages long), <strong>there is a surprising amount of worldbuilding and character development going on.</strong> Of course, one shouldn't expect too much from such a short publication, but there are hints of developmental frameworks throughout and I'm excited to see where these lead to in the future. <strong>I felt like we were quickly brought up to speed about the general history of the characters' predicaments, and learned about fantastical elements as they did.</strong> Excellent, really.</li>
<li><strong>There were a fair few nods to real elements of ancient history</strong> - such as the assembly of the Spartans or how they dealt with tyrants. For those who have some knowledge of these things before reading the comic, this is a welcome addition to the worldbuilding, and for those who don't, it subtracts nothing from the story.</li>
<li>The story itself is rather straight-forward, but its focus on multiple groups of characters allows the reader to enjoy a fair amount of the storyworld. We aren't limited to just followed Alcyon and Phoebe, but also a mercenary and the protagonists' concerned fathers. It's an entertaining mixture.</li>
<li><strong>The artwork is nice and clean; characters and settings were clearly defined and I enjoyed its rather muted colours. Well done to Ferreira.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The translation is straightforward and in no way detracts from the story.</strong> I don't really have too much to add to this; the translation does its job with such fluidity that I wouldn't have known the comic was originally published in French.</li>
</ul>
 

 

<strong>What did I not like?</strong>
<ul>
<li>I found the formatting of my NetGalley ARC to be a bit off, and I'm not sure if this is an issue only I have had or not (I have seen no other reviewers commenting on it). The text boxes are your standard high-resolution text boxes, but the actual artwork was a bit pixelated on my iPad Mini. I'm assuming this is something to do with NetGalley so I haven't lowered the overall score of the comic, but might be something to check out if you're interested in reading this.</li>
<li><strong>The passage of time isn't handled all that well.</strong> By no means was this an overbearing issue which stopped me from enjoying the story, but the passage from day to night (or indeed going from week-to-week) could definitely have been clearer.
<ul>
<li>There are a few very minor niggles which are somewhat related to the above. For example, if there is a predator who hunts its prey during the night, it needs to be clear that it <strong>is </strong>nighttime, otherwise the storytelling gets a little muddled. Again, this is a relatively minor comment, but worth making all the same.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>The sense of urgency is similarly muddled,</strong> and I think that if you <em>are </em>being hunted by certain nasty monsters, then you probably wouldn't make some of the decisions our main characters do. Not necessarily a huge issue, but the story would have benefitted by being more consistent in its tone.</li>
</ul>
 

<strong>A bit eh?</strong>
<ul>
<li>Right. <strong>My main gripe in this section is the name of the series; <em>Alcyon. </em></strong>In this comic book, Phoebe (effectively our co-protagonist) plays a much more important role than Alcyon himself and is clearly both the more intelligent and brave of the two; why then is she not named in the title? This may be answered in future publications, but with such a small main cast I don't understand why the title is simply '<em>Alcyon</em>'.
<ul>
<li>Phoebe actually points out in the story that she is braver and smarter than Alcyon, and that there is no reason for him to believe that women are inferior - so why then is this subordination of the sexes here at all? Phoebe first makes her point very early in the story, so there isn't even much space for true character development on Alcyon's part as he learns that there is no reason to treat women differently to men.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
 

 

<strong>In conclusion: 4.5/5 </strong>rounded to 4 where required. I really enjoyed this short comic book, even if it is clearly just setting up for a more action-packed story. It's definitely worth a read if you're interested in Greek myths or ancient history, and I will most definitely be reading its sequel, <em>The Temptation of King Midas </em>as soon as I can. I urge you to pick this up if you can.

I've always loved Ancient Greece and Alcyon seemed like a great comic and I was positively surprised by this! The comic is set in Sycion, where political shenanigans take place and our heroes, Phoebe and Alcyon decide to find a necklace to save their fathers. It's not just any necklace but that of Hephaestus and it's basically cursed. This adventurer duo meet a Spartan boy called Kyrilos and together they travel. The plot is interesting and I love how their bickering fathers try to follow them and how the whole thing isn't as simple as it seems. The rhythm is great and basically this is a marvelous comic for kids! Alcyon is an adventure, but complex enough to create a mythical world where everyone has their roles.

The art looks very nice and the colors fit well with the image of Ancient Greece. The art is soft and childlike even, but it's a great comparison to the darker themes and harpies for example. I was slightly put off with Alcyon's constant complain how girls cannot do this and that, since it felt unnecessary and superimposed. Otherwise this surely works and I do want to keep reading this, since this volume is very well done and awesome. The cover isn't the greatest, but still. If you like Ancient Greece, then try this out!

A short but cute comic. We follow Alcyon and his friend Phoebe on an adventure to find the legendary Harmony's necklace in order to save their village. They are the children of the two leaders, who are always arguing. However, they are best friends. I definitely liked their friendship and Phoebe being so adventurous and independent while Alcyon was more of the dreamy type. Along the way, they meet Kyrilos, a young Spartan, who joins them on their quest. He lives in the wild and steals some chickens so he can become a real Spartan hero one day. He is tough but eventually becomes friends with Alcyon and Phoebe. Together, they form a great trio.

We do not only get to experience this trio, but also the assassin that is sent to stop them from finding the necklace and some terrifying harpies are also chasing them. We also see their dads being captured and later escaping to try and find their children. As far as the story goes, it was enjoyable but not that special. It is set in ancient Greece, which I loved, but it is predictable and the characters were a little flat. It was slow-paced, however, I had no problem with that.

The art was nice. It suited the story and the feeling of the comic although it may have been a little simple. 48 pages are not that much, so obviously, the story wasn't done yet. In the end, we are far from finding the necklace and there is still so much to be told. I can't wait for the next volume.

I really liked this! The art was done really well, and the story intrigued me. It made me want to read more graphic novels.

What a great new story for younger readers. A great introduction to the comic medium for younger fans of Rick Riordian. It is a tale of adventure and friendship set in Ancient Greece with a good dose of mythology. The beginning of a hero's journey.

An interesting story with good artwork. Two young people, Alcyon and Phoebe, embark upon a quest to find Harmony’s necklace, so that they can use it to help their fathers who have been imprisoned by a tyrant.

The necklace is a powerful relic formed by a god called Hephaestus. As they journey the children are joined by Kyrilos, a young Spartan who they meet. Danger follows the children when an assassin is sent to murder them and other monsters haunt their path.

Will the children be successful in their quest and save their fathers? This is book 1 in the series and it starts the story off nicely. The artwork is good and the story is engaging.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Lightweight Fun

This is a classic action/adventure quest tale set in ancient Greece. Alcyon and his gal pal, Phoebe, set off to find the mythical, or at least legendary, Harmony's Necklace in order to save their village. Along the way they pick up a young Spartan, Kyrilos, who rounds out the gang.

Alcyon is dreamy and excitable, and a bit whiny at first, and is taken with the old tales of the great heroes. Phoebe is smart, practical, independent, and feisty. Kyrilos is a street smart, tough Spartan who's training to be a seriously kick-butt hero of Sparta. Why the book is titled "Alcyon" instead of "Phoebe" I will leave to others to debate. Anyway, the kids are being pursued by an assassin who's tasked with preventing them from finding the necklace, on the chance it actually exists. They are being pursued by three Harpies, because, hey, that's what Harpies do. There is a lot of lurking, and hiding out, and some chicken thieving, and we traverse the countryside and sneak through villages, and hide in carts and in boats. It's good fun, and the kids are good company for each other, and for the reader. Alcyon and Phoebe have a bit of a crush going on, and that's sort of sweet-natured in a non-icky way.

The art is straightforward. Good color; crisp lines, and reasonably expressive. It's a bit old school, but you always know what's going on.

This is just the first part of a multi-volume series and it ends just as we start making some progress. We aren't anywhere near the necklace by the end of this volume and it feels like there will be lots more adventuring before we reach the end. In the meantime the tale is upbeat, fastpaced, cheerful, and just gripping enough for a younger reader.

(Please note that I had a chance to read a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

The art and story has a very classic vibe but it's so good. The lore and the differences between the tribes were interesting ((though I barely know anything about Greek mythology so I can't tell if it has a basis on that or not)) but otherwise I can't wait to see more Greek monsters and where this adventure will lead to.