Review: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo

Teen Titans: Raven
(Teen Titans #1)
By: Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo (Illustrator)
Publisher: DC Ink
Publication date: July 2, 2019
Genre: YA Graphic Novel
Rating:

When a tragic accident takes the life of 17-year-old Raven Roth’s foster mom–and Raven’s memory–she moves to New Orleans to recover and finish her senior year of high school.

Starting over isn’t easy. Raven remembers everyday stuff like how to solve math equations and make pasta, but she can’t remember her favorite song or who she was before the accident. And when impossible things start happening, Raven begins to think it might even be better not to know who she was before.

But as she grows closer to her new friends, her foster sister, Max, and Tommy Torres, a guy who accepts her for who she is now, Raven has to decide if she’s ready to face what’s buried in the past…and the darkness building inside her.

 

 

This is a graphic novel about Raven from Teen Titans. We are introduced to Rachel Roth (Raven) as she scrambles to makes heads and tales of her life. Having been in an accident at the beginning of the graphic novel, she has lost her memory of everything. She’s sent off to live with her aunt and cousin as she tries to gain her memory back. As if that isn’t enough, she has been having these vivid dreams about a demon, and there’s a voice inside her head telling her to do awful things to others. With all these weird things happening she starts to wonder who she was before the accident, and if she even wants to remember at all or just start over.

This was a beautifully drawn intro into Raven’s character. I really liked the illustrations and the portrayal of Raven as a human. She has no memory of being a half-demon and instead becomes a typical teen. She is faced with mean girls, navigating a high school setting, and talking to boys. While this may not be the Raven we know in the comics, I really liked this adaptation of her character. I mean, who’s to say Raven wouldn’t behave this way if her memory was completely wiped and she was taken in by her human aunt?

Even though I really liked this, I did feel like it was a bit rushed. I know Raven’s story because I’m a fan of her character, but for anyone new coming in, things are just thrown at the readers. The author did a good job trying to give the readers nuggets of her history in the form of Raven slowly getting her memory back, but there are still a lot of questions left unanswered. I know graphic novels are meant to be short, but a little bit more time developing her character, as well as her cousin and aunt’s characters , would have been nice.

This was a great graphic novel. I read it within an hour. I thought the artwork was beautiful and I can’t wait to see it in full color. I liked the portrayal of Raven as Rachel Roth and this humanized version of her as she navigated high school while regaining her memory. I wish it were a bit longer so that things could be more fleshed out, but I’m hoping that her character develops more as the series progresses.

 

 

2 Thoughts on “Review: Raven by Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo

  1. The cover is gorgeous if that’s a reflection of the artwork inside.

    Karen @ For What It’s Worth

  2. My daughter loves Teen Titans so I’ll have to tell her abut this.

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