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readingrobin 's review for:

Crumbs by Danie Stirling
2.5
emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

While this graphic novel has stellar emotional storytelling, it came off as a bit meh to me. I know people who would absolutely adore this story and relate to the characters, but I'm wondering if I read it at a time where I wasn't in the mood for a more romantic plot. I do appreciate the wonderful balancing of Ray and Laurie's journeys, with her struggling with her internship and what she wants to do in life and him striving to become a musician, yet always prioritizing others' needs before his own, needing to always be the "fixer" in a situation. The highs and lows of their relationship are meaningful, yet I never really felt moved by it.

The worldbuilding takes a backseat to the romance and I think it sort of suffers as a result. I never got a good sense of what the Council did. I guess deal with magical goings on? Helping people? Just doing magic stuff? It was all a little unclear. But this is one of those stories where the backdrop is only meant to be just that and nothing more, which is fine, but not really my thing.

Also, some of the panels are incredibly blurry, at least in the print edition I got. I'm not sure if this is simply an issue of enlarging webcomic panels to full blown pages, but it became a little distracting. It's a shame because the art could be really beautiful at times.