On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
Published by Avery Hill Publishing, 2018 (first published in 2016)
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Walden’s science-fiction epic is a graphic novel told across two timelines. The first follows Mia as she befriends and falls in love with Grace, the new girl at school. The second, which plays out simultaneously, follows Mia several years later as she joins the crew of a ship that travels around the galaxy, repairing historic buildings. It becomes clear that she has an ulterior motive, however. Having lost all contact with Grace for more than five years, she wants to find and reconnect with her first love, to make peace with the way they parted company.
I really enjoyed the characters and the story, feeling suitably invested to keep the pages turning with ease. The sense of camaraderie between the crew is great, and the balance of charm and adventure makes for a fun read. The sci-fi society that Walden created is undoubtedly interesting, but I felt the handling of the world-building was underwhelming, failing to capitalise on the narrative’s full potential. There are no men seen or mentioned anywhere in this universe, for example. As a result, everyone’s sexuality appears to be very fluid and open, which I thought was great. However, there are references to Earth, and a very well-handled non-binary character, which means they exist within a society that acknowledges the concept of multiple genders. How and why, then, have they come to exist entirely without men? This is a prime example of an interesting idea that is given no context; the lack of development leaving the reader with unnecessarily distracting questions. Given that the book is approaching 600 pages long, there was ample opportunity to explore these finer details and flesh out the world.
In terms of the visuals, there are, again, some very interesting ideas, and I loved the colour palette. I would describe the art style as a little ‘busy’, however. Coupled with a not particularly detailed finish, this left certain characters, objects and goings on somewhat difficult to decipher, particularly during action sequences. The text is also very small. This didn’t bother me, personally, but I can see a lot of people having to strain their eyes to be able to read it.
An altogether easy and enjoyable reading experience that was worth the time, if not as well executed as it could have been.
***
If you’d like to pick up a copy of On a Sunbeam, you can find it on Book Depository by clicking here. If you’ve already read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Callum McLaughlin 
So glad that you mentioned the color palette— it really is striking. And the cover itself is gorgeous. Interesting point about gender. I’m not sure I would have noticed, but it sounds like it would have been a solid line to have explored with such ample space … then again, I usually love when sci-fi actually tackles gender.
Yes, I loved the use of colour, and I’d be open to trying more of Walden’s work. She introduced ideas with so much potential that I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed when it wasn’t capitalised on, but I liked a lot of what she was setting out to do.
Ooooh this sounds so interesting! I’m trying to get more into graphic novels, and this looks amazing
It’s definitely a solid place to start if you’re looking to try more graphic novels, as it’s an easy, fun read with some interesting ideas.
There are two things I find unforgivable in a graphic novel or comic book: 1) using more text that is necessary (basically, they should have written a short story or novel with intermittent images instead of a graphic novel or comic book). This is usually why you get tiny font: too much text. And 2), when the illustrator makes it unclear as to which direction your eyes are meant to go. Every artist who have had any training, from painters to comic book illustrators, have learned about how to move the eye across an image.
Too much text crammed into a small space can be very irritating, but that’s not the case in this instance. The physical size of the font is just very small, and I’m surprised an editor or formatter didn’t pick up on it.
Strange. In comics and graphic novels, there should be a letterer, someone whose only job is to make the letters fit and look right on the page in a specific font.
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