A review by xabbeylongx
Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Spoilers Ahead: 
This book is beautiful, and definitely a lot better than I expected! Having started reading it after the show, I was expecting it to be of the same sort of quality (I’m not a massive fan of the Netflix series), but I’d say the graphic novel is actually so much better! 
We follow Charlie as he’s in a new form room, next to a guy from the year above, Nicholas Nelson. They start to talk a bit more, and when Ben, Charlie’s emotionally manipulative ex ‘thing’, starts to try and push Nick around, and Nick comes to his rescue. Charlie was bullied when he was outed the year before, but now he’s really popular. Charlie gets him to try out rugby, which he actually gets to be really good at. 
They start hanging out, and Nick starts to get really confused, because he might start to like Charlie. They kiss at Harry Greene’s birthday party, when they start hurling homophobic abuse at Charlie, but he’s only there because Nick asked him to be. When Nick runs off, Charlie is upset at himself. Both of them, really, are upset with themselves. 
It’s a beautiful story. I like how more teenage they feel in this book, because in the show it felt like a very different vibe. I like the fact that Nick swears in the book, because it shows off more of the character. I think both of them are such lovely characters, to be honest, and they’re very sweet together. It’s nice reading about a gay relationship in school, especially for people who never used to be able to read stuff like that when they were kids. 
So I felt like a real graphic novels nerd reading this book, because I was looking at how some of the speech bubbles went into multiple panels, how things spilled over the gutter, and how everything wasn’t in a uniform box, the SFX, everything like that, and it was really pleasing to the eye. Don’t even get me started on how good the drawings are - especially Nellie, who I would literally die for in this comic! Somehow, they made her look even cuter. 
So, overall, creatively and literally, this book is a definite must-read!!! An easy-to-read book, and so heart-warming too! 
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