Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

*Spoilers*

Synopsis:

Meet the Wrenchies.

They’re strong, powerful, and if you cross them, things will quickly go very badly for you. Only one thing scares them—growing up. Because in the world of the Wrenchies, it’s only kids who are safe… anyone who survives to be an adult lives in constant fear of the Shadowsmen. All the teenagers who come into contact with them turn into twisted, nightmarish monsters whose minds are lost forever.

When Hollis, an unhappy and alienated boy, stumbles across a totem that gives him access to the parallel world of the Wrenchies, he finally finds a place where he belongs. But he soon discovers that the feverish, post-apocalyptic world of the Wrenchies isn’t staying put… it’s bleeding into Hollis’s normal, real life. Things are getting very scary, very fast.

Farel Dalrymple brings all his significant literary and artistic powers to bear in his magnum opus—a sprawling, intense science fiction tale that has at its heart the uncertainty and loneliness of growing up.

Review:

Never would I have imagined that I would be extremely delighted with this graphic novel after reading it. The Wrenchies is a novel that at first impression is raw and realistic in the matter that the reader reminiscences what it felt like to grow up; go from one stage in life to another where we had to fend for ourselves and learn from our mistakes.

This happens to Sherwood and Orson as they go into a cave and their lives are changed completely after encountering and barely surviving their first fight with a Shadowsmen. Sherwood spends his life searching for his brother, he then is taken into space, later trained to be a spy, and constantly unsure of his own reality. As much as they miss their mother, they can no longer see her again. And, then, the same happens to Hollis after getting the amulet and going through the vortex into the Wrenchies world. He, too, is taken from the safety of his home.

There are so many aspects to this novel that it makes the story intriguing and that is what keeps the reader going on, trying to get to the end to figure out what happens to Sherwood, the Wrenchies, Hollis, and everyone else involved. Sherwood has this great sense of brotherhood towards Orson that keeps him going even though moments where he can’t control his drug abuse. Hollis becomes better at being a ‘superhero’ as he becomes part of the Wrenchies. He sometimes questions if he’s an evil person, what his actions will lead him to, and constantly talks with God as a form of narrating the story.

The books illustration is another aspect that we can’t leave unnoticed. Although the world of the Wrenchies is apocalyptic and in total disaster, the author has a unique way of describing it with its detailed sceneries and backgrounds in watercolor perfection. The underground secret bases were one of my favorites to look thoroughly, they were all different on their own. As time passes, we also see the Wrenchies age and go through different phases shown on their physical features. In addition, at the bottom corner of the pages there’s a story going on its own.

All in all, The Wrenchies is exactly the version of what Peter Pan would be if the story would take place in our modern day: the fear of growing up, drugs, and violence. The Wrenchies is a novel I recommend you read, but it is not for all for its violence and drug content, so beware of that, at the same time you should read it with no expectations in mind, you’ll just love it at the end.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*