An exemplary teen graphic novel that will cross interests of sci-fi, queer romance, adventure, and anti–big tech readers, gorgeously accessible." — School Library Journal (starred review) Thank you to Harper360YA for sending me an ARC of this graphic novel in exchange of an honest review. This was set in a future society that was queernormative and accepting, and there was lots of queer rep. Multiple characters were nonbinary. There was a m/m romance in the story. There were more characters of different sexualities.

Ren and Mars are gay, Phoebe is bisexual, Jira is non-binary. Even the baddies are lesbians. It’s a wonderful contrast to hypermasculine superhero comics. My tweenage test reader found the storyline and especially the characters, “extremely relatable, other than the time travel bits.”

Overall, I really liked the mysterious sci-fi story, the lovable characters, the cute romance and friendships, the beautiful art, and really just everything about this graphic novel! Characters: I adored all of the main characters, especially Mars, Jia and Tāne. I loved the casual representation and varying personalities of each character and all of them were a delight. Stunning character designs and expressive drawings made the characters pop and implicitly gave exposition to their personalities well (Jia and Mars' character designs are so cute, they were my favorites by far). While I found aspects of Ren and Mars' character development too fast, Jia and Phoebe were paced well. A solidly queer addition to the sci-fi canon that interrogates how the pursuit of science can sometimes overshadow a commitment to ethics.” — Publishers Weekly Now to get into something I’m more neutral about, the characters. I don’t hate them, but I also don’t love them. I think Phoebe, Jia, and Tané were my favorites to see. Ren was alright, nothing special. I liked the little message at the end with him but eh, not an amazing MC imo. As for Mars, while I found him to get better later on, I think there should’ve been more consequences for him just…straight up not believing Jia. I wish they had stayed a bit mad at him still, or that he at least had not been fully forgiven. Something like “You’re my friend and I still love you, but just know that you trusting a company over me for 2 years stings.” Overall just didn’t feel like any of these characters got the full time to shine. They were likeable enough and drove the story forward, but I wouldn’t say I’m super attached to any of them.

And the author REALLY doesn't pull her punches when it comes to putting these characters in Situations and defying her own status quo. And everything that happens makes you question everything that ALREADY happened while exposing the secrets of this world in the best possible way. I bought this book since I thought a graphic novel would help me get out of my reading slump, which I think it may do that now. For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic. Ren, running away to meet his pen pal, falls over in 1996 and wakes up in 2122. Along with his host Mars, fellow time traveller Phoebe and ex-member of the time travel education programme Jira, Ren finds himself at the centre of a mission to uncover the truth. It seems like time travel might be too good to be true. But this doesn’t make Project Nought a bad graphic novel. It makes me not the right reader. I borrowed a friend’s tween as a test reader because I felt I couldn’t truly do Project Nought justice without someone who thought 1996 was the distant past. They loved the novel. The multiple character views aren’t just artistically impressive but helped them follow the complex plot, which they said was fast-paced and exciting. They also liked seeing themself, and Aotearoa, in well-produced graphic novel.

Thank you to the author, El and Harper Insider, and Harper 360YA, for sending me a proof in exchange for an honest review! Ren Mittal is a teenager in 1996 New Zealand. He plans to run away from home when he suddenly appears in the year 2122 as a “subject” of a time travel program by a company called Chronotech. Chronotech intakes these subjects from different eras in the past so that students of the 2100s can learn their history and culture from them directly. When in the middle of an interview, Ren meets someone he last expects to see in 2122, which leads to the question: is Chronotech actually doing good, or is there something more nefarious going on?

The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life. Ren sort of falls for his time travel program partner Mars, a really sweet guy who idolizes Chronotech. Mars has funky-colored hair, is enthusiastic about everything, and stans the head of Chronotech, Eliza Yu. There’s a little bit of kissing that goes on in the story, but it isn’t fully fleshed out why Ren is interested in Mars. It seems like they could be just friends who bond over laser video games and candy, but suddenly they’re into each other? It’s hard to swoon when you don’t see the push and pull between the characters getting to know each other and crush on each other. There is sci-fi fun, friendship and romance abound in Project Nought. An interesting story with lots of surprises and heart, I adored this. The characters were so lovable and easy to root for. Ren was sort of shy and anxious. Mars was excitable and eager. Jia was withdrawn and jaded. Phoebe was friendly and fun. Phoebe was especially great and sort of hilarious sometimes. There were a couple other characters too with smaller parts. And they all had good hearts. I liked them all. In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world.The first thing you need to know about Project Nought is that the characters are all queer and diverse. I will never get tired of stories like this, where queer people are able to thrive in a queer-normative world. Where everything just fits. Project Nought is set 100 years in the future, and I hope we are headed towards a similar society. The world-building was incredible. The art felt futuristic, and I think the author did a great job making everything look as realistic as possible. I would love to take a step out of this timeline and jump into a new one, but based on everything that happened in Project Nought, I’m not sure if I really do.

Ren Mittal’s last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating… he’s not! Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like…from real-life subjects who’ve been transported into the future…and Ren is one of them.” Project Nought is about a boy from the 1990s being brought to the future to participate in a time travel exchange program... Except is it really an exchange program when the kids from the past are just going to get their minds wiped at the end of the ordeal? Yet the only one who seems concerned by this is one of our leads, Ren, while the other past kids decided, "Hehehe no consequences for anything we do here 😈," which is actually an equally valid response from their perspective. Except what about the girl from the past who was tragically injured two years ago? The one that everyone was told was brought home safe and sound but whose student host insists that she died before their very eyes? Clearly, there's some dishonesty going on here, and it's not all fun and games and no consequences. read it all in one sitting over the course of like 4? 5? hours (ignoring the three other books without pictures that i’m ostensibly reading right now) needed this so bad … like it hit! i needed to see a cute gay couple get together and have an adventure and it delivered. more than delivered. a lot of queer and trans characters which always heals me a little and was especially nice rn because i’ve been pissed off at cis people treating me badly this week. it got darker than i expected which wasn’t a bad thing at all like it was really good and i teared up multiple times (although never quite enough to let tears fall). i got the fluttering feeling in my chest that i am literally always chasing from stories and in life so that made me feel like a person again. i also laughed out loud a couple times which is impressive i don’t often laugh from books!! and beautiful beautiful art like it transmitted the action so well. facial expressions felt very real and during the emotional scenes they were honestly kind of brutal in a good way. loved the plot twist too 😼 i’m excited for the next book (there’s gotta be one … )

Need Help?

The story was great. Mysterious and dangerous and interesting and twisty. I was confused about some things in the beginning, but it made sense eventually, so just hang in there. It was fairly calm for most of the book, the characters spending time together, doing things with the time travel project, trying to uncover secrets and whatnot, but it got a little more action-filled near the end. There were some heavier things, but they weren’t overly dwelled on, so the mood never got dark. A solidly queer addition to the sci-fi canon that interrogates how the pursuit of science can sometimes overshadow a commitment to ethics.”— Publishers Weekly