Graphic Novel Review - 'Salt Magic' by Hope Larson (Writer), Rebecca Mock (Artist)

Another recent witchy fantasy graphic novel, and again I don't get it.

'Salt Magic', in my opinion, is a boring, confusing, poorly thought out, poorly paced, and poorly structured mess. Weirdness and surrealism should not equal something this befuddling and awkward. There's no fantasy element to it at all until over 50 pages in; up to then it's just a dull historical fiction book starring an annoying little brat for a protagonist and her growing older siblings. Said protagonist (I really can't be bothered to remember her name, or any of the characters' names) keeps making mad, sudden decisions, and jumping to conclusions, and trusting people, including witches who very clearly want to either kill her, drain her life, or eat her, or all of the above!

The ending is a random and out of nowhere slight to the protag and the book as a whole, as well. Like, WTF?

Lots of random huhs?, whats? and whys? keep happening in 'Salt Magic'. It's hard to keep count. WTF? could apply to the rest of it.

It is also yet another woman scorned story, where the female villain is evil because men broke her heart.

The artwork doesn't appeal to me, either.

Oh. Is it supposed to be a retelling of 'The Snow Queen', set in Oklahoma and the Southern US deserts in the 19th-to-early 20th century? It's so vague, but I might just be reaching.

In conclusion, I unfortunately don't care for this one. It's sad because I have great admiration and respect for Hope Larson.

Oh well, can't win them all.

Final Score: 1/5