I wasn't sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised.
I liked the parallel stories of Teresa in early 2000s Berlin, and the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb, one that can't sleep, one sleeping forever. The raw emotions, the suspense, even for something we know already, and then the moments that are not shown take another dimension as well. It had a bittersweet, coming of age feeling, and I liked the art style.

Thank you Europe Comics and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I feel like this graphic novel was meant to have a deeper meaning that just flew right over my head. You learn practically nothing about Teresa, except that she's an archeologist with severe insomnia. Rueben, you find out that he is an Italian like Teresa and is living like a bohemian. I did find the flips between Teresa's present and the other archeologist team in the 1920s to be interesting, but it took me reading the synopsis to realize the perspective switch was supposed to be what Teresa reading in her book. There are a lot of short sex scenes in this graphic novel. I won't lie, I did sigh and think to myself "Here we go again with the French obsession with sex and shoving it in all of their comics". I think they were meant to show that Teresa's and Reubens's relationship is mostly physical in the beginning, but it felt like it was tossed in just to add drama. I will also say that the random German and Spanish being thrown in, with no translation on the bottom of the page, was very aggravating. It wasn't one-off words or phrases either, it was full-blown sentences. I don't like reaching for my translator and painfully typing it all in by hand, so I mostly ignored the non-English parts. I know a handful of words in German and Spanish, so I got part of what was being said. But it really threw me out of the story every time it happened and I sat there trying to remember what a word meant in German. I get it, they're in Germany, but a small translation note would do wonders for story flow. The cheeky "I know you don't understand a word" at the end was a really irritating poke in the eye of the reader. I would also point out that the font used for the 1920s portion was hard to read. I understand it's meant to evoke handwritten notes, but I shouldn't have to squint to understand what was written. For all my complaints, the art style of this novel I loved. It's this beautiful style that makes it feel more like a painting. I will admit, the expressions are sort of dull, and very limited. I swear to God, Teresea only makes faces that are equivalent to the 0_0 emoji, but the rest of the art makes up for it.

SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING!!

Okay, I won't lie, I completely forgot the story is set in 2001. Asides from the plot synopsis of the novel, the story itself doesn't mention that it's set in the year 2001 at all. So imagine my shock when I flipped the page to see a full-page illustration OF THE TWIN TOWERS BURNING and another full-page illustration OF THE SECOND PLANE HITTING THE SECOND TOWER. I had to put my phone down because I started laughing hysterically in shock. It was so out of the blue! It felt completely random compared to the rest of the story! Who just throws that in?! The characters only react for a page or two AND THEN THE BOOK JUST ENDS with some speech about "The past and present are more connected than we realize". WHAT?!!! I'm sorry, but I'm still reeling over that. I had to go back and reread the plot synopsis to understand why the HELL there was a scene with 9/11 of all things! Can we stop using 9/11 for shock and dramatic tension? Please? ( )