Bone Broth: A Graphic Novel

by Alex Taylor

In this coming-of-age queer thriller, the young transmasculine Ash begins his transition into adult life by landing his first job at a ramen-noodle shop in London, prepping the bone broth. But as the financial landscape shifts under Ash’s feet, and after months of bonding with a series of challenging co-workers, everything suddenly stops dead. Literally. At a drunken staff party, Ash’s bullying boss turns up dead, and everyone’s been taking selfies with the corpse. Good thing Ash has already spent a year on the job…

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Queer, Fiction, Comics, Adult, Graphic Novels Comics

208 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

This is Alex^Taylor, where ^=space. (default profile)

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ash is a trans man who starts working at a hole-in-the-wall ramen restaurant underneath a London railway arch. All he wants is to “pay for hormones, pay rent, [and] make enough to take a cutie on a date.” Bug’s Bones is run by an irascible elderly proprietor but staffed by a young multicultural bunch: Sock, Blue, Honey and Creamy. They quickly show Ash the ropes and within a month he’s turning out perfect bowls. He’s creeped out by the restaurant’s trademark bone broth, though, with its reminders of creatures turning into food. At the end of a drunken staff party, they find Bug lying dead and have to figure out what to do about it.

This storyline is in purple, whereas the alternating sequences of flashbacks are in a fleshy pinkish-red. As the two finally meet and meld, we see Ash trying to imitate the masculinity he sees on display while he waits for the surface to match what’s inside. I didn’t love the drawing style – though the full-page tableaux are a lot better than the high-school-sketchbook small panes – so that was an issue for me throughout, but this was an interesting, ghoulish take on the transmasc experience. Taylor won a First Graphic Novel Award.

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

DELICIOUS FOOD. QUEER STORIES. HORROR! (All the greatest elements in one beautiful book)

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not realize this was a Fucked Up story going in. Totally thought I was getting something like The Ramen Girl but queer. And. I mean. Sorta. Lol. If The Ramen Girl had Cronenberg guest direct some sequences.

None of that is a criticism. I was hella into it.

I did have some pacing issues and trickiness with the dialogue bubble design that made understanding the proper sequence of speech tricky multiple times. But I love the story, art style, and characters!

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bruh this was wild plot made NO sense (why didn't they just call the cops??) I found the art style hard to parse, the panels being so small AND monotone in color scheme just made things impossible to decipher. I felt like I couldn't work out any characters facial expressions which made following any non textual cues impossible. What is creepy evil Ash? What is his purpose? He seems to be taunting the main character but to what end I cant seem to work out. Ending is abrupt and nonsensical. There were some cute cozy moments before things got irrational where I enjoyed it little more which is the only reason this isnt getting 1 star. On principle I really don't like leaving bad reviews for graphic novels because I really respect the amount of artistry that goes into them but this one takes the cake.

[Renegade Librarian Extraordinaire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just really confusing. The storyline(s) was really hard to follow and the sketchy, all-over-the-place artwork didn't help clarify things. I thought the weird horror concept of hiding a death by turning the body into food...which is then served to customers was interesting. Very Junji Ito. But the execution of it just didn't work for me.

DNF

[Larakaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uneasy read for me, but really well done.

[Fiore]

DNF @ page 67, felt kind of disjointed and sometime the art worked for the emotional beats but made it hard to follow for other parts.

[Elaine White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this wasn't anything near what I expected. I didn't enjoy the confusing blend of flashbacks and present time. It took me a while to realise that one story timeline was in one colour, the other in a different colour. But even then, everything was so pastel and messy that the whole story began to feel confused and chaotic. The concept of the bones in the broth was an interesting creep factor until their boss died and suddenly they all make the irrational decision to put him into the broth...that's where I tapped out. No thanks. I didn't have a problem with the horror/thriller concept, but I felt like Ash was a wishy washy character who had zero stable personality. He seemed to morph into whoever he was with, then become a blank slate with every person he met. I also didn't love the illogical choices people made, the attempt to be creepy without actually pulling it off. In the blurb, it actually says that when Bug dies that Ash has been on the job for A YEAR! When did that happen? This is part of the problem - there were so many small, inter-plot stories that had NOTHING to do with the current plot or even the plot progression or history, that everything got jumbled into a mess. There was zero concept of timeline, which left me floundering with nowhere to go but DNF.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very charming and spooky comic of a trans man getting his life back on track by holding onto his new ramen chef job. But it all takes a dark turn after the big work party. I really liked how it went back and forth in the timeline with different colour schemes for past and present. It made what was happening in the present so much more of a gut punch when you see how cosy everything was. The art style is absolutely beautiful and packed with so much detail. I know when I read this again I will be able to pick out loads of details I inevitably missed first time round. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rabbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeously drawn! I adore the use of different color palettes to set both mood and the passage of time, and all the little visual details that make the back area of the city and the ramen shop come to life. The story was surprisingly intense and the main character's transness was handled really well, with stuff about his identity and dysphoria deftly woven in without it feeling forced. I'm a sucker for good food too and this made me so hungry!

My only gripe is that the dialogue is a little hard to follow at points as the bubble order doesn't always follow a simple left-to-right, top-to-bottom pattern. Not a big deal though and kinda feeds into the chaotic atmosphere at the climax.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A queer coming of age thriller graphic novel set in a ramen shop.
This was a lot darker than I was expecting. It started off really light and wholesome and got very dark, very quickly. The ending picked up again but I didn't fully understand what the ending meant.

They couldn't have imagined it all. Was there some strange power in the broth? Did bug know what they'd done? Why did they even do it? They all jumped on the idea very quickly.

The illustrations really make the story, they're so beautifully done. I love how changes in colour denote the changes in time.
I would be interested in reading more by this author.

[Mana]

dnf @ s. 22

piirrostyyli on kiva, mutta jotenki toi halju väritys teki sen että silmä ei keskittynyt sivulla mihinkään. kirja on myös tosi pitkä, ja tuntui että per sivu oli kauheesti luettavaa/tutkittavaa mikä tuntui jotenkin raskaalta, ehkä just ton värivalinnan vuoksi. mielellään olisin lukenut mutta ainakaan tällä hetkellä ei pystynyt :D

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little coming of age story/thriller. Not an enormous amount of plot considering its length, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the ending. But Taylor's loose, expressive art is appealing and I'll be interested to see how it develops.

[Alec Telemakhos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Illustrations are beautiful even in moments where the plot turns dark.

The Storytime-line seems a bit chaotic with the past and present mixibg up, so i was very glad it was devided with color changes.

[Caitlin Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely art style and a surprisingly twisty storyline for the page count. I love the way this book represents the trans experience, it felt very real, informing but not encompassing the central plot of the story.

[Robert O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the art just a touch hard to understand at times and I don't really feel the motivations in some of the characters' actions, but it was definitely a wild story. I liked the alternating time-line pattern and it REALLY made me want Ramen.

[Jane Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Spooky and beautiful, couldn't put it down!

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was delightfully weird!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars This got really creepy in a way I didn't expect and physically made my stomach drop. I finished the book confused and mildly disturbed.

[Karina Geddes · Rating 4 out of 5]

dark, cute and and full of really good bone drawings. I gushed about it to my illustration students

[Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved the art super cute and I loved the switch up were it became darker but I felt that something was missing

[Joseph Weidlein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous book that I think I need to reread to fully understand

[Mattia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn't find it plausible that the restaurant workers would turn their dead boss into soup instead of calling an ambulance.

[bookmaggot · Rating 5 out of 5]

yummy ghoulish goodness

[Emily Pencil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m afraid of bone broth.

[Kinzie Soulek · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book at first, then the crew made one of the dumbest decisions ever regarding Bug and everything went off the rails. I thought it went very downhill in a very fast manner.

[Benedict · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel I stumbled upon when looking for LGBTQ books, Bone Broth follows trans man Ash in their new job at a London ramen shop. The story flits between their first days and weeks at the shop learning the trade and meeting the staff, and between the aftermath of a staff party a year into their employment when their boss is found dead.

The characters and art in this are great, the bustling nature of the place really comes across well and the horror got very unnerving. I guess my main problem was the jumping timeline making it unclear what was happening when... and then with the decisions made upon finding the dead body. I do not understand the logic behind the staff actions. Like, if there was motivations other than a knee-jerk shock reaction, it wasn't made clear enough. The whole thing is unsettling, as horror should be, but I was left feeling quite unsatisfied with the outcome.