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Perfect for readers who want:
- A graphic novel with lots of colorful pictures and tons of action
- Strange, paranormal events that keep readers guessing
- Super cute doggo (which may or may not be evil)
- Trans and neurodivergent rep
- Fast-paced action
- Magic, angels, and demons
- Stories along the lines of Gravity Falls
Many thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
The covers of this series gave me aaaall the Gravity Falls vibes. I probably don’t need to say how much I love that series. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Obviously, that meant I definitely had to read this series, despite the fact that I knew nothing about it. In some ways, that’s the best way to enter this book, because phew, even if you think you know what it’s about, trust me, you don’t.
DeadEndia is a humorous, paranormal graphic novel where angels and demons exist and are at war, dogs may or may not talk, and the unexpected will ALWAYS happen. Especially when you least expect it.
If you’re not a fan of books that are bizarre and sometimes random, this is going to be a miss for you. However, if you have a dark sense of humor and enjoy things getting weird in unexpected (but super fun) ways, you’ll appreciate this series. Almost every time I thought I knew where the story is going, I was pleasantly surprised. While the first book was slow to start, it definitely picked up towards the middle and had me hooked, which carried through the second volume. Such a fun story!
DeadEndia: The Watcher's Test
by Hamish SteelePublished by: Nobrow on August 7, 2018
Genres: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Paranormal
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Barney and his best friend Norma are just trying to get by and keep their jobs, but working at the Dead End theme park also means battling demonic forces, time traveling wizards, and scariest of all--their love lives!
Follow the lives of this diverse group of employees of a haunted house, which may or may not also serve as a portal to hell, in this hilarious and moving graphic novel, complete with talking pugs, vengeful ghosts and LBGTQIA love!
Welcome to DeadEndia, a Dollywood-esque amusement park inhabited by several too many demons that is, in all likelihood, probably haunted.
As far as locales go, it’s probably not one you’d be keen to visit in real life (although I sure would), but it makes for a rather fun backdrop to a story. There’s something strange about DeadEndia, in case the demons weren’t enough of a giveaway.
The idea of an amusement park that’s not quite right is every bit as much fun as it sounds. It combines two of the best things: amusement parks and paranormal. It’s a setting that already, on its surface, is quite magical. Only, now it’s literally magical. You never quite know what you’ll encounter, which is part of DeadEndia’s charm.
If you’re a fan of shows like Gravity Falls, which mixes paranormal and humor, then this book is definitely for you.
If you’ve not seen Gravity Falls . . . what even are you doing with your life? I mean, I support you and your life decisions, because that’s the kind of person I am, but still . . . I’m questioning your life decisions just a little bit right now.
DeadEndia plays with the same sort of setting of real world mixed with the supernatural, but in a way where the reader doesn’t quite know the rules (and neither do the characters). Which means anything can (and does) come up.
There’s a lot of diversity in this book, in ways that are both heartfelt and spark deeper (albeit brief) conversations that readers may relate to.
Of the two main characters, one is transgender and one is queer. One is also neurodivergent (autistic). So there’s quite a bit of representation going on, but not just thrown in there lightly. Barney has recently run away from his family, who were having trouble accepting him as transgender. Even though he knows he’ll eventually need to reconcile with them, he’s struggling with how and when, and all he really needs right now is a little space to figure it out. As for Norma, she’s struggling with getting her own family to understand what her neurodivergence means.
While neither of these are the focus of the book, they both get their due time (with Norma’s story rounding out more in book two). However, I felt this was done very thoughtfully and really struck an emotional chord with me. At the heart of it, all of these characters (human or otherwise) really just want to be seen for who they are.
This book is very slow and confusing to start with. The reader is essentially just thrown into a world with no rules and has to make sense of it themselves.
I was so confused for probably the first quarter of this book. Part of that, I’m sure, is the fact that I went into the book blind. However, part of that is just the fact that there’s not a whole lot of explanation at the beginning (book two circles back around and fills in missing parts from book one). Despite there being some pretty big actiony things in the beginning, the story also felt like it started kind of slow. Probably because while there was certainly action, I didn’t understand the characters, setting, or background and so had very little reason to care about what was happening. The story definitely picked up, but if you’re struggling to get into it at the start, give it a bit more of a chance!
DeadEndia: The Broken Halo
by Hamish SteelePublished by: Nobrow on November 1, 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Paranormal
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
In the second installment of this quirky, heartfelt, LGBTQ adventure comic, war is brewing across the thirteen planes and as always, haunted house attraction and portal to hell Dead End is right at the center of it.
It's been weeks since Dead End was destroyed and as it reopens as a hotel, resident tour guide turned hotel manager Norma is determined to leave the ghosts of the past where they belong. But with her friendship with Barney up in the air and angels and demons using the hotel as their literal wrestling ring, Norma soon finds that unwanted ghosts can appear at any moment, especially when they're your own.
About Hamish Steele
Hamish Steele (he/they) is a freelance animation director and illustrator who grew up surrounded by legends, myths, and folktales. Since graduating from Kingston University in 2013, Hamish has worked for the BBC, Cartoon Network, Disney, Nickelodeon, among others. He is the creator of and showrunner for the Netflix series Dead End: Paranormal Park, based on his graphic novel series, DeadEndia, and the Eisner Award-winning creator of the graphic novel, Pantheon. Hamish currently lives in London and can be found online at https://hamishsteele.co.uk/.
Our little squad is back and badder than ever. You know, in absolutely all senses of that word because . . . yikes.
Okay, so, they may have accidentally unleashed magic into the world that they can’t control and now Norma has trouble keeping her soul in her body. Pffft, could happen to anyone. If you thought DeadEndia was charming, be prepared to find a whole different side to this world. This book takes you into the throes of the angels and demons, as well as rounding out the conflicts between them, without leaving the struggles of our heroes behind. Our heroes who haven’t spoken to each other since the last book, because each feels like they’ve done something unforgivable to the other.
DeadEndia: The Broken Halo rounds out some backstory from the first book, providing a more holistic (and necessary) version of the characters that explains quite a bit about how things have turned out.
I’ll admit that I feel a little weird getting this in book two rather than when it was applicable in book one. That being said, I do understand that it would have definitely slowed down the first book and the reader would’ve cared less had it been in there. The timeline of this book is a little wonky, jumping around a little bit between the past and the present, but it really rounds out the characters and explains a bit of backstory that the reader is now capable of appreciating a bit more, having spent some time with them already.
If you thought the first one was a little slow in places, the second book is a non-stop rush of action that will keep you turning pages.
It’s only natural that the first book had to set the scene. But now that that’s out of the way, make room for some action. I couldn’t put this book down and rushed through it in one sitting, because so much was going on and I wanted to know more! The characters are already established, the world (while traveling to new places and still being surprised) was a bit more familiar in that sense of “expect the unexpected” sort of thing.
There are no heroes here, and the villains aren’t quite what you think.
This is one of my all-time favorite tropes! Not that there aren’t good characters, because our leading trio of humans are definitely good, but . . . it’s complicated. Can you be truly good if you use dark magic, even for all the right reasons? This book raises a lot of similar questions, especially around the idea of good and evil. Nothing is as clear-cut as it first seems, and the reader will likely have all their initial assumptions challenged over the course of reading it. Life (and morals) are super messy, and I love the way this book reflects that!
You can find the full tour schedule and information here.
April 24th
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April 25th
Nonbinary Knight Reads – Review, Favorite Quotes
April 26th
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April 28th
Unconventional Quirky Bibliophile – Promotional Post
May 1st
May 2nd
The Book Dutchesses – Interview
May 3rd
May 4th
The Momma Spot – Review
May 5th
The Bookwyrm’s Den – Review
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This series was pretty fun. I hope there will be more in the future. Have you watched the show on Netflix? It really hit the spot for me. Great reviews!