Review: Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia Illustrated by Gabriel Picolo

ARC from NetGalley, all opinions here are honest!

This graphic novel follows Raven, a teen who has recently moved in with her Aunt and is trying to sort through amnesia and being relatively certain she has super powers. The plot is hard to set up without spoilers but it takes place in New Orleans, has a mystery at the core of the story, and has excellent family relationship explorations.

I had a lot of fun with this story! The art in this book was especially beautiful to experience; I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished form the art will take. I didn't know Gabriel Picolo before reading this book, but I am now looking forward to seeing his art elsewhere. 

My Teen Titans background is not extensive, I watched the TV show casually as a kid but had never been an active participant in their stories. I now look forward to reintroduction into this world. 

I had also never read anything by Kami Garcia! She is such a well-known person in the YA community. I am not sure how I hadn't encountered her books before. 

I found a lot of the story elements interesting, I thought the interplay between the words and the illustration was very strong, but the way the story concludes wasn't the most exciting ending for a visual medium. I also wanted a little more information before we got to the end, this is obviously the beginning of a series, but I would have liked a more solid foundation to jump off into the rest of a series. 

I really liked the setting and the characterization; these factors were done quite well. Sometimes with comics and graphic novels, I can forget precisely who a person is, but I had a pretty good grasp on all the characters from the jump. 

I will totally be continuing with this if it is a series, it was such a fast fun read.

I gave this book four stars on Goodreads, the story alone would have probably been a three but the art is so good it got a bump up.