(in which my hetero-normativeness is reinforced)
Okay — so I totally thought the ghost was a girl until it was explicitly stated the ghost was a guy. Then I went back and re-read up to that point and realized, nope, nothing said hey, I’m a girl, so good on Taproot for making me stop and realize how ingrained my hetero-normativity is.
So that’s the good. The bad: Taproot is a good idea too lightly applied. A gardener and a ghost fall in love, there’s a evil spirit/menacing spirit forest, then a brief story about another ghostly presence. Each of these should be a full comic/novel in their own right, not smushed up and run through as quickly as possible. Stories shouldn’t be a race to the finish and Taproot goes by so fast that everything ends up a muddle and the ideas and the artwork are not appreciated.
Maybe Taproot is the first of a series and the pace will even out later?
Maybe Taproot is more for shorter-attention span people than for me?
Maybe Taproot just needs a re-release under a tough-love editor who says Slow the heck down!
I’m always angry when good ideas are wasted. So I’m angry at all that Taproot could have been. I wanted a meal and got a pack of airplane peanuts instead.
Taproot by Keezy Young went on sale September 26, 2017.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.