It’s good. A combination of confronting death and serious decision-making coupled with hard street life (y’know, snitches get stitches type of stuff). Our main character Will is consumed with revenge after his brother is shot and killed, and some ghosts of his past try to seriously reason with him. I’m starting to get a soft spot for books written in verse. I liked the watercolor artwork and thought it worked as well. Still, if this were not in graphic novel form, I would not have read this. There’s some merit to adding illustrations to heavier stories because it invites new readers.

This is no slight on the Long Way Down, but I’m exhausted with these types of stories. I would never discredit the harsh realities some of us face, but there needs to be more variety/escapism. I’m tired of these struggle life stories. Can you say draining?