Really interesting concept/story! The art wasn’t always my taste but it was still really well executed!
The second half of the graphic novel was some of my favorite content.

I especially enjoyed the little vignettes between the stories. Definitely great for unique sci-fi/dystopian fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and Image Comics for the digital ARC!

i have nothing bad to say about this book! it is 100% my favorite book i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading! i cannot wait to own a physical copy when it releases!

This was such a fun idea, one graphic novel with multiple stories & illustrators centered around the same central story line! Brilliant! I loved how everything connected seamlessly, and read fluidly! All of the illustrations & storylines were so unique yet so connected at the same time! I loved the diverse cast of characters including some queer characters! I really enjoyed this book and I hope to see more in the future!

Hello Fellow Readers,

To be honest with you, I am having a hard time gathering my thoughts about Dandelion. The Premise is interesting and I've always been a fan of science fiction, especially in graphic novels, but something fell flat for me. I can't pinpoint where it may have been the flow of the stories that really tripped me up. I don't need them to be linear, and I like it when stories are told in parts as it leaves me turning the page to find out more.

The stories had me feeling disjointed as if they were randomly placed rather than done with purpose. I could have really enjoyed the message of Dandelion if it was done differently. Unfortunately, what that way is I couldn't tell you which, I think, is why I am feeling so conflicted. The art is stunning though and I really enjoyed the differences of each scene.

Overall, I think it's okay but fell a little flat with its message.

“In 2041, Jen Nakamuto invented a floating pod—the equivalent of a trailer home that lives in the skies forever. She called it ‘Dandelion’. Vagrants, immigrants without asylum, and workers displaced by post-labor automation were sent to live out their days in these Dandelions. They were known as Exiles.”
So begins the science fiction comic anthology “Dandelion”.
I wasn’t super impressed with the art in this one (some stories were incredible, others were kind of so-so). I was, however, impressed with the way a single concept could be interpreted and woven together in the anthology. The stories take an interesting concept and bears it out to it’s most likely (and sometimes worst) conclusions.
This is the way sci-fi is supposed to work, and I love seeing it.

My thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for giving me access to a digital copy of the book to review.

The artistic style in Dandelion reminded me strongly of The Sandman series: crisp lines and filled areas in jet black ink contrast strongly against the vibrant colors that resemble alcohol markers. There's scarcely a square inch of space that is left unfilled with color or black lines. Many people love the Sandman series for its artistic style; I'm unfortunately not one of them. I found the artistic style in Dandelion too unsettling for my personal enjoyment, and I couldn't get into the story because I was too distracted by the style.

One chapter in the middle jumps into a completely different style, which I would term "Procreate tutorial" in the more positive way possible. I enjoyed looking at those pages. The story on them, however, didn't grab me - it felt shallow and short. But that is likely influenced by the fact that I couldn't get myself to read through the previous pages and get the context.

"To build a paradise first, you need a hell..."

"Dandelion" is a graphic novel that showcases a world where people live in the skies. A dandelion is essentially a floating home with no way for the inhabitants to come down once they go up. As with every new development, there are pros and cons and also differences in the final product versus the original. But the person who created the dandelion only intended one thing. And per usual, the wealthy find a way to corrupt an innocent thing and turn what could have been great into something heinous. The poor and less fortunate are exploited by the government and treated as if they were nothing more than trash. There's heartbreak, violence, hope, and brief happiness sprinkled throughout each story.

I found this graphic novel very intriguing, especially how the story is told through vignettes surrounding those who live in dandelions. The art style is also both captivating and beautiful. I, however, didn't have any strong feelings towards most of the stories. My favorites were "The Bird," "The Pirate & The Fisherman," and "Grounded." I think I expected more of the stories to affect me rather than just the three, but overall, this was a fascinating and realistic look at what could be.

I want to start by saying that I have never read a graphic novel before, and I'm not that heavily into science fiction so I didn't necessarily have any expectations of this book. That being said, Dandelion shocked me. Each section of the novel was drawn by a different artist and each one was just as equally impressive! But it was the story itself that really got my attention. With the world we live in right now it's not uncommon to see theories and stories about how climate change will effect our lives in the immediate and distant future, however, this was the first time I've seen an idea like the dandelion. Going between Jen Nakamuto's vision and the "real-life" application of her invention is brilliant to see. I didn't know who Sabir Pirzada was before reading this novel, but I definitely do now.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I really enjoyed Dandelion, both the premise and the execution delivered. The characters are interesting and I enjoyed the way that the stories were tied together. The art and changing art styles were also great.

3.5 Stars - Dandelion is a compelling graphic novel comprised of stories and vignettes. The central concept is that Earth's exiles take to the sky, aboard individual sky homes called Dandelions, when Earth becomes unliveable for the average person. The stories are sometimes interconnected and threaded together by discussions of the now-missing founder of the Dandelion.

I've been looking forward to Dandelion for a long, long time. Speculative stories are my favorites, especially those that involve a ravaged near-future earth and a society that must deal with the consequences. While Dandelion had a unique premise, it didn't hold my interest as well as I'd hoped. I also didn't find the art in the graphic novel pages quite as breathtaking as the cover.

I do think Dandelion has an audience - and even an audience that will rate it five stars. For me, though, Dandelion wasn't fresh enough and didn't grip me right away.

It took me a little while to get into this one, some of the characters stuck more than others. Getting to revisit characters/plot lines made it more immersive, and the world building is pretty cool. An interesting combination of sci fi and current concerns/issues in society. Certain stories are really heightened by the art with beautiful colors, details, and scope.

Conceptually, I think Dandelion has an incredible premise and some really strong world building ideas. At least for me, however, the choice to tell this story through an anthology of short stories meant it didn't land as well as it could've. I felt like there wasn't enough there to get deeper into the characters or world, it all felt a little surface level. The art, throughout, was beautiful.

*2.75*

thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this in return for an honest review (apologies that it isn’t a positive one)

when i read the description of this i thought “brilliant, this is going to be the perfect graphic novel that critiques the rich and really fleshes out the characters” but it didnt do any of that for me, if anything it fell flat. I loved the idea of having multiple POVs and character storylines throughout, but to me they all lacked depth that made them feel so distanced that i didnt really care about them. the “dystopian” element also fell flat to me, because yeah we got some small details about the world and some minor flashbacks to its creation, but we didnt really get to see into the characters enough to understand the impact of the new world. I wanted to get more experience of the characters thoughts and feelings regarding their new situation to understand how the world has gone backwards and the impacts it has had- but i got barely anything.

I know that graphic novels are short and therefore its inherently harder to provide more detail, but i do think there were so many ways inn which the world could have been developed better to help the reader get a better grasp.

unfortunately this was not for me.

Dandelion has a really intriguing premise, but is much more focused on the effects of this premise on individuals, rather than the world-building. As someone who is a big fan of a character-led narrative, this wasn't an issue for me - even with the short vignettes only returning to a fraction of the characters featured. I did feel like there were a lot of loose ends - particularly in the more plot-focussed short glimpses, where we don't learn what happens next even after violence or terror, and we are often not shown a lot of the character's motivations. Certain ideas could have been explored more fully - for example, the impact of climate change on the world below only really becomes apparent towards the very end of the collection and throws into question some of the things the reader thought they knew about the world that the stories are set in. However, all in all, this was a fascinating read - although some of the vignettes weren't very effective for me, others were beautiful - and the premise of the Dandelions and the communities fostered by them will give me food for thought (I would happily read more set in this world).
3.5 rounded up to 4.

I'm not sure how I felt about this one. I'd give it either 2 or 3 stars, but I'm undecided in the way I'm leaning. The stories felt pretty disjointed and all over the place, but maybe that's part of the point. I feel like it tries to say so many things and touch on so many different topics that it, sadly, doesn't talk about any of them well or enough. The cover art is beautiful, and some of the art in the comic are beautiful as well, such as the last chapter. I can appreciate the threads that, I think, the stories were trying to tell, but feel like it could have been plotted out better and deeper to create more impactful meaning overall. It was also difficult to remain interested in the storylines and just felt....like it lacked something. I do appreciate the attempt with this work! Perhaps I'm just not the right audience for it?

I appreciate the quick pace of the novel as well as its topical subjects. The illustrations are very well done. I will be adding this to our library's collection.

"Dandelion" is a collection of non-chronological vignettes that create a troubling view into what our world will quickly become without systemic change. In this dystopian version of our future, displaced and disenfranchised individuals are all but forced to give up all of their worldly possessions and move into suspended trailer parks and are exiled from living on the earth's surface. It is a violent view at the impact climate change, corporate greed, and desperation, though it never veers into the fantastical. It feels to real that I am reticent to call it scifi, despite it being clearly scifi.

This graphic novel includes:
- futuristic tech
- "stick it to the man" attitude
- social commentary on bootlickers
- LGBT
- TW

I received this graphic novel ebook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Sabir Pirzada (and collaborators), and Image Comics for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

There are works in here that I really enjoyed... And works in here that I really hated...
There was one specific story that while I wasn't super interested in the story but the art had me completely enthralled
"Oil and Water" art by Thomas Campi had such a drastically different style from the rest of them it stood out.

Overall I just don't think I was the audience for Pirzada's works and that's okay.

As a collection of comics depicting a near future where exiles or otherwise unwanted citizens are sent away in flying structures called Dandelion, this album explores a gritty reality from multiple point of views, bringing in interesting reflections about AI, the over reliance on technology and the ecological implications of human impact on the planet.

I especially enjoyed Thomas Campi’s art in the chapter Oil and Water and the story of The Pirate and The Fisherman.

I’m grateful to have had a chance to read an advance copy from NetGalley.

Posted on good reads:

4.25/5⭐️
This dystopian world is brought to life through the stories of those directly impacted by this new invention and by an old interview of the creator of said invention.

Dandelion is an airborne home that was originally created to have another way of living, affordable, a way to travel while living, you know a whole positive view. That is until the governments uses this method to send up all of the riff raff , the poor, the disabled…all of those they deem unwelcome on ground.

The artwork is beautiful. Loved the cover and enjoyed reading the different POV and their tale of how Dandelions have impacted their life.

Thank you netgalley, image comics and creators for the opportunity to read this arc.