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Olive: Lost in Inner Space: A Graphic Novel
A fantastical coming-of-age story involving love, loss, and found family, centered around a determined autistic heroine who refuses to make herself fit neatly into other peoples’ space
Wherever she is, Olive has never quite fit in, and living in a dorm room for the first time is no exception. To get away from the bullies, annoying teachers, and her parents, Olive escapes alone into her own vast world of vivid landscapes and fantastical inventions—until she gets an unexpected visit from a mysterious astronaut.
Could the astronaut in her inner world be the same astronaut who recently crash-landed on earth without a trace? Night by night, Olive watches his health fade and becomes more and more certain that she has to take action. When no one believes that she knows how to save him, she joins forces with her plucky new roommate to unpack the clues from her inner world and venture on a journey to real-life countries she’s never been to before—all to save an astronaut who, as far as she can recall, she’s never met.
Wherever she is, Olive has never quite fit in, and living in a dorm room for the first time is no exception. To get away from the bullies, annoying teachers, and her parents, Olive escapes alone into her own vast world of vivid landscapes and fantastical inventions—until she gets an unexpected visit from a mysterious astronaut.
Could the astronaut in her inner world be the same astronaut who recently crash-landed on earth without a trace? Night by night, Olive watches his health fade and becomes more and more certain that she has to take action. When no one believes that she knows how to save him, she joins forces with her plucky new roommate to unpack the clues from her inner world and venture on a journey to real-life countries she’s never been to before—all to save an astronaut who, as far as she can recall, she’s never met.
232 pages, Hardcover
Published May 19, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 50 reviews
July 30, 2026
I liked the premise of this YA graphic novel better than the execution. The fantastical elements and some of what happens towards the end require much suspension of disbelief, but I liked the illustrations and some of the story reveals.
July 26, 2026
I have never read anything like this before. At first I suspected maladaptive daydreaming, but quickly realized I was trying to fit the narrative into a small-minded box when this story is something otherworldly. Beautiful.
July 12, 2026
4.5 Excellent example of showing versus telling as well as nonlinear storytelling!
Didn’t realize Olive, the MC, is autistic til I read the GR summary.
Didn’t realize Olive, the MC, is autistic til I read the GR summary.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Trust the Duck
Véro Cazot and Lucy Mazel’s “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” turns a giant duck, a clipped-wing whale, a blue moon, and a missing astronaut into one of the year’s sharpest arguments for taking a private symbolic world seriously
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | April 4th, 2026
Most books that give a young person an elaborate private cosmos eventually hustle the reader toward a verdict. Either the inner world is metaphor, in which case some adult will decode it for us, or it is fantasy, in which case the plot will certify it with enough external proof to quiet the doubters. Véro Cazot and Lucy Mazel’s “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” refuses both bargains. It is not interested in asking whether Olive’s world is real in the flat, prosecutorial sense. It is interested in a harder question: what counts as evidence, who gets to present it, and which kinds of perception are dismissed before they are even heard. That shift matters. It turns a potentially familiar premise into a book about competing standards of proof – schoolroom proof, consulting-room proof, mission-report proof, dream-world proof – and about the quiet arrogance with which one kind of knowledge assumes it is the only kind in the room.
In the official world, Olive gets the usual machinery: school, a dorm room, classmates who mock what they cannot read, adults who rename control as support and impatience as care. Under the blue moon, things are stranger and, for Olive, more trustworthy. There is a pink saltwater lake ringed by twenty-eight stone blocks. There is a bubble-house she has enlarged over time with bridges, fountains, an observatory, a dreamarium. There is Noel, a giant duck who shrinks when frightened, and Rose, a winged cetacean whose clipped wings tell you this world has no interest in prettified whimsy. Olive names things precisely, classifies them, maintains them. The exactitude is not character garnish. It is how she keeps reality from dissolving into static.
Then her system starts returning someone else’s answers. Water freezes where it should not. Familiar spaces behave as if someone else has touched the controls. A wounded astronaut appears in the blue-moon world, calls her Ava, and insists he knows this place too. Meanwhile the public world is transfixed by the disappearance of Lenny Popincourt, a French astronaut whose capsule vanished after reentry. Olive, forever told to focus, turns out to be the only one looking in the right direction.
Charlie, her new roommate, arrives at exactly the wrong volume. She is chatter, motion, curiosity, bright interference, the sort of person who enters a room and accidentally rearranges the air. In lesser hands, Olive and Charlie would come shrink-wrapped as a tidy lesson in opposites. Here, Charlie is too nosy and Olive too exacting to behave. Charlie does not so much decode Olive as run alongside her holding the wrong map and asking the right questions. Their friendship gives the book its quickest comic energy, but more importantly, it keeps the story from sealing itself inside Olive’s head. It also sharpens one of the novel’s best tensions: can you believe someone without converting them into a project? Charlie comes closer than most, though not without a little flailing.
Once the clues stop looking like coincidence, the novel turns with gratifying speed. A black box surfaces in Olive’s inner lake. News footage from the moon and from the failed return mission starts rhyming with what she sees in private. Time zones, ultraviolet light, moon dust, seals, geography – all of it becomes part of the search logic. The seal in Lenny’s dream points toward the nerpa, the freshwater seal unique to Lake Baikal. The repeated number twenty-eight acquires grim force once Olive learns the circumstances of her birth. Her biological mother, Rose Osborne, died after a plane crash off Martinique on the day Olive was born. Lenny survived that same crash as a child. The astronaut is not a visitor from somebody else’s science fiction. He is a fellow survivor tied to Olive by catastrophe long before he vanishes into the cold.
Here the book stops being merely ingenious and starts proving itself. Even after revealing the buried family history, it refuses to reduce Olive’s blue-moon world to symptom. The moon, the lake, the freezing, Rose, the twenty-eight stones – all of it can now be read as memory’s architecture, yes, but the story does not stop there. Olive’s private system keeps producing leads. Lenny reaches it through sleep and moon-dust-induced hypersomnia. Charlie helps Olive turn its patterns into coordinates. The route to Baikal comes not from adult expertise but from the symbolic terrain adults keep trying to translate into error. That is the novel’s wager in its cleanest form. Olive’s symbols are not just expressive. They are evidentiary. The official world can only verify, belatedly and awkwardly, what her inner world has already found.
Cazot writes with a compression that respects the page. Captions do not explain what the panels already know. Olive’s language is crisp, literal, and precisely skewed. She defines, inventories, categorizes, corrects. Charlie ricochets through speech with improvisatory speed. Adults often speak in the administrative patois of focus, support, adjustment. Those differences do more than flavor the page. They decide who gets heard and who gets filed as noise. Olive is not incoherent. She is operating under a logic that schools, therapists, and even loving parents keep mistaking for a management problem. There is a real intelligence in how spare the script remains. Cazot understands that a graphic novel about interiority can ruin itself by overtranslating. The writing does not compete with the art. It disciplines itself.
If “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon made exactitude itself feel like weather, and “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness used impossible visitation to stage grief, “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” occupies a stranger middle ground. It lets taxonomic precision and dream logic coexist without forcing either to yield. That uneasy arrangement gives the script its steadiness. It is rarely lush. It prefers specificity to flourish and recurrence to rhetorical crescendo. A few scenes could stand to snag more sharply. The book’s restraint is one of its virtues, but it also keeps certain emotional notes from tearing the page the way they perhaps might have. Still, the alternative – pages of overexplained feeling, a therapist’s report in prestige drag – would have flattened the whole enterprise.
Mazel’s pages make the argument visible. The inner world is not drawn as vapor, whim, or decorative metaphor. It has weather, architecture, and plot force. School scenes and social friction arrive in denser rhythms, where speech crowds the page and pressure accumulates. Olive’s blue-moon world opens outward into fields of cold light and pink water, as if the air itself runs on a different pressure system. Later, when the story shifts toward Baikal, the frozen expanse does not simply echo Olive’s dream-space – it tests it. Ice, thaw, caves, helmets, eggs, domes: circles and containers recur until they begin to read as a visual grammar for care, enclosure, incubation, survival. Even the oddest images earn their keep. Rose is not simply memorable. She is grief, inheritance, injury, and companionship in one body. Noel, ridiculous and tender by turns, is not comic relief in a duck suit. He is another form of scale, another measure of fear and comfort.
The structure is smarter than its soft surfaces first suggest. It is built on delayed correspondence. Names, numbers, creatures, and weather states appear before the reader knows how heavily they will weigh. Twenty-eight. Rose. Ava. The ducks. The crash. Martinique. The seal. Baikal. Early whimsy hardens into evidence. On a reread, the method becomes plain: memory arrives here not through confession first, but through recurrence. The book teaches you how to read it by making you notice what returns. Not everything that repeats is safely symbolic, and not everything symbolic is safely private. The blue moon and Lake Baikal are not rival settings, one inward and one outward. They are two terrains answering to the same buried history.
That is the novel’s finest structural trick, and its deepest claim. “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” does not merely give an autistic heroine an adventure on her own terms, though it does that and does it well. It also lets her private symbolic life solve the plot. Olive is not here to ennoble the bystanders, educate the neurotypicals, or serve as the moral of someone else’s lesson plan. She gets irritation, narrowness, fear, hard-won bravery, and the right to be correct in ways the adults around her cannot imagine. Her symbolic life does not merely express distress or shelter her from it. It uncovers what the adults miss. In a culture that likes interior experience best once it has been translated into diagnosis, improvement, or uplift, that move shifts the book from empathy to epistemology. It asks not only that we feel for Olive, but that we trust her method.
The book’s central limitation grows from the same discipline that gives it shape. Several adult figures function more as instruments of skepticism than as fully inhabited people, which makes the institutional pressure less messy and compromised than it might have been. The therapist, the school authorities, even some of the parental responses sometimes arrive already bent toward the argument the book needs them to serve. Charlie is more vivid, and often delightfully so, but even she occasionally has to do a little too much – comic relief, translator, believer, co-investigator, emotional foil. There is also a mild middle lull, not because the novel loses its bearings, but because Olive’s cycles of resistance and return do not always deepen at the same rate. The restraint is not incidental. It is part of the method. But it smooths a few places that might have benefited from more abrasion, more conflict, more mess on the adult side of the ledger.
The ending refuses spectacle, and rightly so. When Lenny is finally found near Baikal, when the rescue narrative nearly erases Olive and Charlie before the ice has time to melt, when school and room assignments and ordinary humiliations resume, the novel denies Olive the consoling reward of official credit. That is one of its sharpest observations. Public stories like their heroes preformatted. The official record prefers certain witnesses and not others. Olive’s reward is not recognition. It is a changed relation to the worlds she inhabits. The closing movement toward Martinique matters for the same reason. It relocates origin from symbol to family record without dissolving the symbols that got her there. Rose is still Rose. The blue moon still hangs. This book was never interested in teaching Olive to outgrow the private system. It wanted her to stop treating it as an error that had to be corrected before life could begin.
I land at 89/100, or 4 stars – substantial admiration, pointed reservations, no false balance. What stays with me is not a single reveal but a doubleness: Baikal under ice, the blue moon over the pink lake, one buried history registering in two climates of proof. By the end, those landscapes no longer feel like rival claims on belief. They feel like the same truth, seen under different weather.
Véro Cazot and Lucy Mazel’s “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” turns a giant duck, a clipped-wing whale, a blue moon, and a missing astronaut into one of the year’s sharpest arguments for taking a private symbolic world seriously
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | April 4th, 2026
Most books that give a young person an elaborate private cosmos eventually hustle the reader toward a verdict. Either the inner world is metaphor, in which case some adult will decode it for us, or it is fantasy, in which case the plot will certify it with enough external proof to quiet the doubters. Véro Cazot and Lucy Mazel’s “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” refuses both bargains. It is not interested in asking whether Olive’s world is real in the flat, prosecutorial sense. It is interested in a harder question: what counts as evidence, who gets to present it, and which kinds of perception are dismissed before they are even heard. That shift matters. It turns a potentially familiar premise into a book about competing standards of proof – schoolroom proof, consulting-room proof, mission-report proof, dream-world proof – and about the quiet arrogance with which one kind of knowledge assumes it is the only kind in the room.
In the official world, Olive gets the usual machinery: school, a dorm room, classmates who mock what they cannot read, adults who rename control as support and impatience as care. Under the blue moon, things are stranger and, for Olive, more trustworthy. There is a pink saltwater lake ringed by twenty-eight stone blocks. There is a bubble-house she has enlarged over time with bridges, fountains, an observatory, a dreamarium. There is Noel, a giant duck who shrinks when frightened, and Rose, a winged cetacean whose clipped wings tell you this world has no interest in prettified whimsy. Olive names things precisely, classifies them, maintains them. The exactitude is not character garnish. It is how she keeps reality from dissolving into static.
Then her system starts returning someone else’s answers. Water freezes where it should not. Familiar spaces behave as if someone else has touched the controls. A wounded astronaut appears in the blue-moon world, calls her Ava, and insists he knows this place too. Meanwhile the public world is transfixed by the disappearance of Lenny Popincourt, a French astronaut whose capsule vanished after reentry. Olive, forever told to focus, turns out to be the only one looking in the right direction.
Charlie, her new roommate, arrives at exactly the wrong volume. She is chatter, motion, curiosity, bright interference, the sort of person who enters a room and accidentally rearranges the air. In lesser hands, Olive and Charlie would come shrink-wrapped as a tidy lesson in opposites. Here, Charlie is too nosy and Olive too exacting to behave. Charlie does not so much decode Olive as run alongside her holding the wrong map and asking the right questions. Their friendship gives the book its quickest comic energy, but more importantly, it keeps the story from sealing itself inside Olive’s head. It also sharpens one of the novel’s best tensions: can you believe someone without converting them into a project? Charlie comes closer than most, though not without a little flailing.
Once the clues stop looking like coincidence, the novel turns with gratifying speed. A black box surfaces in Olive’s inner lake. News footage from the moon and from the failed return mission starts rhyming with what she sees in private. Time zones, ultraviolet light, moon dust, seals, geography – all of it becomes part of the search logic. The seal in Lenny’s dream points toward the nerpa, the freshwater seal unique to Lake Baikal. The repeated number twenty-eight acquires grim force once Olive learns the circumstances of her birth. Her biological mother, Rose Osborne, died after a plane crash off Martinique on the day Olive was born. Lenny survived that same crash as a child. The astronaut is not a visitor from somebody else’s science fiction. He is a fellow survivor tied to Olive by catastrophe long before he vanishes into the cold.
Here the book stops being merely ingenious and starts proving itself. Even after revealing the buried family history, it refuses to reduce Olive’s blue-moon world to symptom. The moon, the lake, the freezing, Rose, the twenty-eight stones – all of it can now be read as memory’s architecture, yes, but the story does not stop there. Olive’s private system keeps producing leads. Lenny reaches it through sleep and moon-dust-induced hypersomnia. Charlie helps Olive turn its patterns into coordinates. The route to Baikal comes not from adult expertise but from the symbolic terrain adults keep trying to translate into error. That is the novel’s wager in its cleanest form. Olive’s symbols are not just expressive. They are evidentiary. The official world can only verify, belatedly and awkwardly, what her inner world has already found.
Cazot writes with a compression that respects the page. Captions do not explain what the panels already know. Olive’s language is crisp, literal, and precisely skewed. She defines, inventories, categorizes, corrects. Charlie ricochets through speech with improvisatory speed. Adults often speak in the administrative patois of focus, support, adjustment. Those differences do more than flavor the page. They decide who gets heard and who gets filed as noise. Olive is not incoherent. She is operating under a logic that schools, therapists, and even loving parents keep mistaking for a management problem. There is a real intelligence in how spare the script remains. Cazot understands that a graphic novel about interiority can ruin itself by overtranslating. The writing does not compete with the art. It disciplines itself.
If “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon made exactitude itself feel like weather, and “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness used impossible visitation to stage grief, “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” occupies a stranger middle ground. It lets taxonomic precision and dream logic coexist without forcing either to yield. That uneasy arrangement gives the script its steadiness. It is rarely lush. It prefers specificity to flourish and recurrence to rhetorical crescendo. A few scenes could stand to snag more sharply. The book’s restraint is one of its virtues, but it also keeps certain emotional notes from tearing the page the way they perhaps might have. Still, the alternative – pages of overexplained feeling, a therapist’s report in prestige drag – would have flattened the whole enterprise.
Mazel’s pages make the argument visible. The inner world is not drawn as vapor, whim, or decorative metaphor. It has weather, architecture, and plot force. School scenes and social friction arrive in denser rhythms, where speech crowds the page and pressure accumulates. Olive’s blue-moon world opens outward into fields of cold light and pink water, as if the air itself runs on a different pressure system. Later, when the story shifts toward Baikal, the frozen expanse does not simply echo Olive’s dream-space – it tests it. Ice, thaw, caves, helmets, eggs, domes: circles and containers recur until they begin to read as a visual grammar for care, enclosure, incubation, survival. Even the oddest images earn their keep. Rose is not simply memorable. She is grief, inheritance, injury, and companionship in one body. Noel, ridiculous and tender by turns, is not comic relief in a duck suit. He is another form of scale, another measure of fear and comfort.
The structure is smarter than its soft surfaces first suggest. It is built on delayed correspondence. Names, numbers, creatures, and weather states appear before the reader knows how heavily they will weigh. Twenty-eight. Rose. Ava. The ducks. The crash. Martinique. The seal. Baikal. Early whimsy hardens into evidence. On a reread, the method becomes plain: memory arrives here not through confession first, but through recurrence. The book teaches you how to read it by making you notice what returns. Not everything that repeats is safely symbolic, and not everything symbolic is safely private. The blue moon and Lake Baikal are not rival settings, one inward and one outward. They are two terrains answering to the same buried history.
That is the novel’s finest structural trick, and its deepest claim. “Olive: Lost in Inner Space” does not merely give an autistic heroine an adventure on her own terms, though it does that and does it well. It also lets her private symbolic life solve the plot. Olive is not here to ennoble the bystanders, educate the neurotypicals, or serve as the moral of someone else’s lesson plan. She gets irritation, narrowness, fear, hard-won bravery, and the right to be correct in ways the adults around her cannot imagine. Her symbolic life does not merely express distress or shelter her from it. It uncovers what the adults miss. In a culture that likes interior experience best once it has been translated into diagnosis, improvement, or uplift, that move shifts the book from empathy to epistemology. It asks not only that we feel for Olive, but that we trust her method.
The book’s central limitation grows from the same discipline that gives it shape. Several adult figures function more as instruments of skepticism than as fully inhabited people, which makes the institutional pressure less messy and compromised than it might have been. The therapist, the school authorities, even some of the parental responses sometimes arrive already bent toward the argument the book needs them to serve. Charlie is more vivid, and often delightfully so, but even she occasionally has to do a little too much – comic relief, translator, believer, co-investigator, emotional foil. There is also a mild middle lull, not because the novel loses its bearings, but because Olive’s cycles of resistance and return do not always deepen at the same rate. The restraint is not incidental. It is part of the method. But it smooths a few places that might have benefited from more abrasion, more conflict, more mess on the adult side of the ledger.
The ending refuses spectacle, and rightly so. When Lenny is finally found near Baikal, when the rescue narrative nearly erases Olive and Charlie before the ice has time to melt, when school and room assignments and ordinary humiliations resume, the novel denies Olive the consoling reward of official credit. That is one of its sharpest observations. Public stories like their heroes preformatted. The official record prefers certain witnesses and not others. Olive’s reward is not recognition. It is a changed relation to the worlds she inhabits. The closing movement toward Martinique matters for the same reason. It relocates origin from symbol to family record without dissolving the symbols that got her there. Rose is still Rose. The blue moon still hangs. This book was never interested in teaching Olive to outgrow the private system. It wanted her to stop treating it as an error that had to be corrected before life could begin.
I land at 89/100, or 4 stars – substantial admiration, pointed reservations, no false balance. What stays with me is not a single reveal but a doubleness: Baikal under ice, the blue moon over the pink lake, one buried history registering in two climates of proof. By the end, those landscapes no longer feel like rival claims on belief. They feel like the same truth, seen under different weather.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was a big fan of this French writer's mastectomy book "Betty Boob," and I'd read the first two installments of these adventures involving Olive, but the final two never seemed to get translated into English so I jumped on the chance to finish the series when I saw this omnibus.
The first book confused the heck out of me so here's my rough summary: It starts with two boys being turned over to a pregnant woman at an airport because the father is late for something and the boys need to get on a plane and the father trusts the woman because she's pregnant and getting on the same plane. The plane crashes.
Then after these few pages, we're suddenly in the mind of a female college student, although that's not clear. It turns out she's autistic and, to escape what's happening in the real world, she sometimes goes inside her mind where there's a giant yellow rubber duck and a beautiful giant jellyfish-like creature. The young woman has created a world with structures, dimension and odd non-human friends. We also see her in classes, in therapy and getting a new roommate in her dorm, something that disturbs her to no end.
One day, a man appears inside her inner world and he needs help. He's the boy from the plane crash, only now he's an adult and an astronaut who, in the real world, crashed on re-entry and no one knows where he is because ... author waves hands. And the young woman sets off to save him.
I think many readers might give up because it can be confusing. You've got to surrender yourself to Olive's mind. Once you understand the set up, there's a lot of humor, excitement and real emotion.
Sure, the story is unbelievable, the coincidences are over the top, and the ending a little too pat, but I really enjoyed the journey and the artwork.
This one appears to be marketed as YA and "coming of age." I don't buy those labels. It's not as adult as "Betty Boob," and Olive may be at the stage of life that she's becoming an adult but she's not "coming of age." She's not finding love or learning life lessons. This is pure plot. And it's good. And not a little weird.
Thanks to #netgalley for the advance copy!
The first book confused the heck out of me so here's my rough summary: It starts with two boys being turned over to a pregnant woman at an airport because the father is late for something and the boys need to get on a plane and the father trusts the woman because she's pregnant and getting on the same plane. The plane crashes.
Then after these few pages, we're suddenly in the mind of a female college student, although that's not clear. It turns out she's autistic and, to escape what's happening in the real world, she sometimes goes inside her mind where there's a giant yellow rubber duck and a beautiful giant jellyfish-like creature. The young woman has created a world with structures, dimension and odd non-human friends. We also see her in classes, in therapy and getting a new roommate in her dorm, something that disturbs her to no end.
One day, a man appears inside her inner world and he needs help. He's the boy from the plane crash, only now he's an adult and an astronaut who, in the real world, crashed on re-entry and no one knows where he is because ... author waves hands. And the young woman sets off to save him.
I think many readers might give up because it can be confusing. You've got to surrender yourself to Olive's mind. Once you understand the set up, there's a lot of humor, excitement and real emotion.
Sure, the story is unbelievable, the coincidences are over the top, and the ending a little too pat, but I really enjoyed the journey and the artwork.
This one appears to be marketed as YA and "coming of age." I don't buy those labels. It's not as adult as "Betty Boob," and Olive may be at the stage of life that she's becoming an adult but she's not "coming of age." She's not finding love or learning life lessons. This is pure plot. And it's good. And not a little weird.
Thanks to #netgalley for the advance copy!
July 14, 2026
I really liked the concept for Olive: Lost in Inner Space, but I'm not sure about the execution. There were parts of this story that really shined, and aspects of the story that didn't work as well to me.
Exploring the connection between Lenny and Olive and Olive's growing friendship with her roommate Charlie were easily the best parts of the story. The relationships between characters, including Olive's parents, were highlights. Learning about Lenny and Olive created a real "aha" moment that worked extremely well in the story and made me more invested in seeing how the story resolved.
Olive herself was a complicated and interesting character for sure, but she was occasionally hard to root for. I struggled with some of her actions, especially in the first part of the graphic novel, that came off as antisocial rather than autistic.
My main issue was the plot, and to a lesser degree, the pacing. Although the connection between Olive's inner mind and Lenny was fantastical, I was easily able to suspend disbelief and accept the unexplainable. However, the last part of the narrative that was more grounded in reality and took place in the real world, is where I was unable to buy into it anymore. I could not believe the Olive and Charlie were able to get where they needed to go, survive, and not be in a ton of legal trouble. This also took about the last third of the book, and I felt the narrative would have been stronger by continuing to connect in Olive's inner world rather than the "real world." Also,
I will say, the art was gorgeous throughout, especially the scenes inside Olive's inner world. The colors and design were consistently beautiful and made a clear separation between Olive's mind and the real world.
Although I enjoyed the art and the concept, I'm not sure I'd recommend this unless someone was very interested in autism representation in a graphic novel, which is not something I often come across.
Exploring the connection between Lenny and Olive and Olive's growing friendship with her roommate Charlie were easily the best parts of the story. The relationships between characters, including Olive's parents, were highlights. Learning about Lenny and Olive created a real "aha" moment that worked extremely well in the story and made me more invested in seeing how the story resolved.
Olive herself was a complicated and interesting character for sure, but she was occasionally hard to root for. I struggled with some of her actions, especially in the first part of the graphic novel, that came off as antisocial rather than autistic.
My main issue was the plot, and to a lesser degree, the pacing. Although the connection between Olive's inner mind and Lenny was fantastical, I was easily able to suspend disbelief and accept the unexplainable. However, the last part of the narrative that was more grounded in reality and took place in the real world, is where I was unable to buy into it anymore. I could not believe the Olive and Charlie were able to get where they needed to go, survive, and not be in a ton of legal trouble. This also took about the last third of the book, and I felt the narrative would have been stronger by continuing to connect in Olive's inner world rather than the "real world." Also,
I will say, the art was gorgeous throughout, especially the scenes inside Olive's inner world. The colors and design were consistently beautiful and made a clear separation between Olive's mind and the real world.
Although I enjoyed the art and the concept, I'm not sure I'd recommend this unless someone was very interested in autism representation in a graphic novel, which is not something I often come across.
July 16, 2026
A resourceful, socially awkward and autistic young woman's routine is disrupted when a frail astronaut, who is conveniently missing in real life, appears in her imaginary headspace world. With a touch of magical realism, Olive will embark on a journey about growing up, found family and the relationships which shape us. (Spoiler for the story's last third is mentioned in the latter half of the review.)
Firstly, the art is beautiful to look at, especially when it's not taking place in the normality of Oliver's life but in her headspace; the duality of those spaces (as well as life experiences) is well established.
I struggled with the beginning, likely due to not knowing which direction the story would take place (The intrusions in the headspace appeared too random in nature initially, and I am not fond of the trope that a huge portion of a story only exists in the imaginary), but thankfully the graphic novel is able to direct the pieces into working connections.
Furthermore, the story provides a wonderful autistic representation of an individual: Yes, Olive is autistic and faces challenges relating to it; no, the story does not depend on her being autistic in order to work or make sense.
To fulfill the aforementioned spoiler warning, for full transparency, the reader might feel surprised when the last third of the comic turns into, spoilers, an arctic adventure. Even more surprisingly, it makes it work by interweaving themes of endurance and handling new situations (even if dealing with arctic weather would likely not be difficult for only an autistic girl, but for a diversity of people).
I thought this story to be deeply moving. Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for an ARC for an honest review.
Firstly, the art is beautiful to look at, especially when it's not taking place in the normality of Oliver's life but in her headspace; the duality of those spaces (as well as life experiences) is well established.
I struggled with the beginning, likely due to not knowing which direction the story would take place (The intrusions in the headspace appeared too random in nature initially, and I am not fond of the trope that a huge portion of a story only exists in the imaginary), but thankfully the graphic novel is able to direct the pieces into working connections.
Furthermore, the story provides a wonderful autistic representation of an individual: Yes, Olive is autistic and faces challenges relating to it; no, the story does not depend on her being autistic in order to work or make sense.
To fulfill the aforementioned spoiler warning, for full transparency, the reader might feel surprised when the last third of the comic turns into, spoilers, an arctic adventure. Even more surprisingly, it makes it work by interweaving themes of endurance and handling new situations (even if dealing with arctic weather would likely not be difficult for only an autistic girl, but for a diversity of people).
I thought this story to be deeply moving. Thanks to NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for an ARC for an honest review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2025
To tell the truth, I'm not entirely certain what my final opinion is of Véro Cazot's Olive: Lost in Inner Space. The mystical nature of the story was interesting, for sure, but really took me out at points. Also, the entire thing with the plane at the beginning cutting off as it did felt awkward and didn't really answer the question of what happened well at all.
We're thrown pretty quickly into Olive's world, and it's not what I expected. The connection she has to the missing astronaut is also...not what I expected. In fact, it felt rather silly. Then it ties directly into this reveal related to the plane which, unfortunately, we see the majority of coming a mile away. The pacing isn't bad, but it's not good either. And I'm kind of left feeling like the story was just...okay. Out of the characters, the only ones I actually care about are the ones that were initially on the plane, and Olive and her roommate. But even then, I'm also pretty meh about them?
The biggest strong suit that this story has is the artwork. It's beautiful, really pulls you in and makes you want to see even more. But when the story just moves awkwardly from one beat to the next, the artwork isn't enough to save it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
We're thrown pretty quickly into Olive's world, and it's not what I expected. The connection she has to the missing astronaut is also...not what I expected. In fact, it felt rather silly. Then it ties directly into this reveal related to the plane which, unfortunately, we see the majority of coming a mile away. The pacing isn't bad, but it's not good either. And I'm kind of left feeling like the story was just...okay. Out of the characters, the only ones I actually care about are the ones that were initially on the plane, and Olive and her roommate. But even then, I'm also pretty meh about them?
The biggest strong suit that this story has is the artwork. It's beautiful, really pulls you in and makes you want to see even more. But when the story just moves awkwardly from one beat to the next, the artwork isn't enough to save it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The heart of this story is Olive, I found her to be very captivating. Cazot does a beautiful job portraying what it's like to navigate a world that isn't built for you. The book captures that specific hardship in a subtle way, how the world is challenging for any kid, but significantly more taxing when you’re on the autism spectrum.
The art plays a huge role in the storytelling. One of the most effective choices was the visual representation of Olive’s inner world. Seeing the "blue" float around her head as she retreats into her own space was a brilliant way to make her internal experience tangible for the reader.
The relationship between Olive and Charlie is the emotional anchor of the book. Charlie is a wonderfully sweet character, and watching their friendship blossom was really sweet.
While the story is charming, it does require a bit of suspension of disbelief. The plot takes a turn that feels a little like a stretch for a contemporary setting. The idea that a teenager could successfully navigate her way to the middle of Siberia for a rescue mission is a little far fetched, but it works because the book leans into magical realism. Since her dreams are what lead her to the astronaut in the first place, the improbable journey feels like a natural part of the story’s unique, imaginative atmosphere.
The art plays a huge role in the storytelling. One of the most effective choices was the visual representation of Olive’s inner world. Seeing the "blue" float around her head as she retreats into her own space was a brilliant way to make her internal experience tangible for the reader.
The relationship between Olive and Charlie is the emotional anchor of the book. Charlie is a wonderfully sweet character, and watching their friendship blossom was really sweet.
While the story is charming, it does require a bit of suspension of disbelief. The plot takes a turn that feels a little like a stretch for a contemporary setting. The idea that a teenager could successfully navigate her way to the middle of Siberia for a rescue mission is a little far fetched, but it works because the book leans into magical realism. Since her dreams are what lead her to the astronaut in the first place, the improbable journey feels like a natural part of the story’s unique, imaginative atmosphere.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Netgalley Arc review:
Olive is a fantastical story about a young woman named Olive who is autistic dealing with life at college. She spends a lot of her time in her 'Head World', with her giant rubber duck friend named Noel and a flying cetacean named Rose (drawn in the comic as a transparent whale).
She struggles with her everyday life as a student because she keeps daydreaming herself into her world.
We follow her story as she is on a path finding her voice and discovering who she really is and what strengths she possesses. Daring to try new things and opening up to people around her.
Things I love about the graphic novel:
The art was magnificent. I felt like I was in the world both the outside and inside world.
I liked how as the story progressed we see growth in Olive even when it is imperfect and full of fear she still does her best to move forward.
I appreciated that her roommate Charlie did not dismiss her as crazy and believed her from the start and was willing to help her out and push her on her adventure and be there for her even though it was difficult to understand Olive and her behavior at first.
Finding Olive's true identity and that her mom is actually her aunt and that Lenny met her mom as a child in the plane crash was such a heartbreaking but yet great way to tie the beginning of the story together with Olive's life.
Olive is a fantastical story about a young woman named Olive who is autistic dealing with life at college. She spends a lot of her time in her 'Head World', with her giant rubber duck friend named Noel and a flying cetacean named Rose (drawn in the comic as a transparent whale).
She struggles with her everyday life as a student because she keeps daydreaming herself into her world.
We follow her story as she is on a path finding her voice and discovering who she really is and what strengths she possesses. Daring to try new things and opening up to people around her.
Things I love about the graphic novel:
The art was magnificent. I felt like I was in the world both the outside and inside world.
I liked how as the story progressed we see growth in Olive even when it is imperfect and full of fear she still does her best to move forward.
I appreciated that her roommate Charlie did not dismiss her as crazy and believed her from the start and was willing to help her out and push her on her adventure and be there for her even though it was difficult to understand Olive and her behavior at first.
Finding Olive's true identity and that her mom is actually her aunt and that Lenny met her mom as a child in the plane crash was such a heartbreaking but yet great way to tie the beginning of the story together with Olive's life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC. This does not influence my opinion.
While this book left me with more questions than answers, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The art is beautiful and very fitting, the characters are interesting, as is the plot. Honestly, I was feeling very anxious for one of the side characters and Olive at times, but I was also rooting for her so much and so happy for her. So, this graphic novel definitely succeeded in making me emotional.
The only thing dampening my enjoyment of the book was how confusing it was at times, especially in the beginning.
I did really love Olive though and seeing her character develop while at the same time staying true to herself. It was nice to see an introverted character develop and the development not being “oh, they have friends now, they’re suddenly an extrovert”. I also loved that she found a friend understanding that she isn’t actually cold or uncaring, instead helping her move through the world while staying herself.
I found Olive very relatable as well. I don’t know if she’s autistic, but feel like she might be, so that was nice to see as well.
So, all in all, this was a great graphic novel that I recommend.
While this book left me with more questions than answers, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The art is beautiful and very fitting, the characters are interesting, as is the plot. Honestly, I was feeling very anxious for one of the side characters and Olive at times, but I was also rooting for her so much and so happy for her. So, this graphic novel definitely succeeded in making me emotional.
The only thing dampening my enjoyment of the book was how confusing it was at times, especially in the beginning.
I did really love Olive though and seeing her character develop while at the same time staying true to herself. It was nice to see an introverted character develop and the development not being “oh, they have friends now, they’re suddenly an extrovert”. I also loved that she found a friend understanding that she isn’t actually cold or uncaring, instead helping her move through the world while staying herself.
I found Olive very relatable as well. I don’t know if she’s autistic, but feel like she might be, so that was nice to see as well.
So, all in all, this was a great graphic novel that I recommend.
August 3, 2026
There is something so magical about what the creators of this story did, telling both the story of Olive finding people tbat accept her as she is while learning how to adapt AND the connection to and rescue of Lenny the lost astronaut. Past the end of Part One, I literally could not put the book down. Olive's inner world sustains her so completely, yet her need to find answers, her growing relationship with roommate Charlie who refuses to write her off, literally takes her across the threshold of that familiar place and brings her to so many new experiences.
The artwork is gorgeous, especially of Olive's inner world, I love the moon sheep and Rose, the flying cetacean that seems to be made of stars. But my favorite thing in the whole book is Olive, sitting on her bed, blissfully immersed in her inner world, wrapped in the blanket Charlie has gifted her for Christmas.
I cried SO HARD at the end of this book, and am still getting choked up thinking about it, I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys modern stories of magical realism, absolutely excellent autistic representation, and more emotional catharsis than you know what to do with.
The artwork is gorgeous, especially of Olive's inner world, I love the moon sheep and Rose, the flying cetacean that seems to be made of stars. But my favorite thing in the whole book is Olive, sitting on her bed, blissfully immersed in her inner world, wrapped in the blanket Charlie has gifted her for Christmas.
I cried SO HARD at the end of this book, and am still getting choked up thinking about it, I would definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys modern stories of magical realism, absolutely excellent autistic representation, and more emotional catharsis than you know what to do with.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I’m gonna be honest: I only picked this up because I saw that the protagonist is an autistic girl, and I’m always hungry for autistic representation. And it was fine. Just fine. It is a sort of magical realism story about an autistic teenager who much prefers to spend her time in her inner world, instead of interacting with the real world around her. The peace she enjoys in this world is disturbed when a strange man keeps showing up there, against her will. This bande dessinée chronicles her journey to solving this mystery.
And something about the way the story resolves gives me… weird feelings. I think the autism rep is quite nice and finely done, but the way the story gives autism a kind of magical air just feels off to me, sort of conflating it with a telepathy-adjacent superpower. I’m really struggling to explain it, but I think I would’ve much preferred this book if there hadn’t been any magical element involved and it had just been a contemporary coming-of-age story.
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Many thanks to Abrams ComicArts for the ARC
And something about the way the story resolves gives me… weird feelings. I think the autism rep is quite nice and finely done, but the way the story gives autism a kind of magical air just feels off to me, sort of conflating it with a telepathy-adjacent superpower. I’m really struggling to explain it, but I think I would’ve much preferred this book if there hadn’t been any magical element involved and it had just been a contemporary coming-of-age story.
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Many thanks to Abrams ComicArts for the ARC
November 19, 2025
This was such an interesting young adult graphic novel. I love that what made Olive different was the very gift needed to help save someone else.
Olive doesn’t quite fit in and often daydreams to escape her problems. She has created her own world where she feels safe and comfortable. One day, an astronaut appears out of nowhere, and Olive realizes he’s also missing in real life. Now, she’s the only one who can save him, but to do so she must push herself to take risks and face her fears.
Olive is such a lovable character. Despite what others say or do to her, she stays strong and remains true to herself. Her friendship with Charlie is incredibly sweet - she’s the best friend we all hope to have.
I found myself completely immersed in this story. Between the beautiful art and storytelling, I had difficulty putting this down. Seeing everything come together at the end made this a satisfying read.
Thank you to Abrams ComicArts and NetGalley for the advanced copy.
Olive doesn’t quite fit in and often daydreams to escape her problems. She has created her own world where she feels safe and comfortable. One day, an astronaut appears out of nowhere, and Olive realizes he’s also missing in real life. Now, she’s the only one who can save him, but to do so she must push herself to take risks and face her fears.
Olive is such a lovable character. Despite what others say or do to her, she stays strong and remains true to herself. Her friendship with Charlie is incredibly sweet - she’s the best friend we all hope to have.
I found myself completely immersed in this story. Between the beautiful art and storytelling, I had difficulty putting this down. Seeing everything come together at the end made this a satisfying read.
Thank you to Abrams ComicArts and NetGalley for the advanced copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
This was a cute and entertaining story that was semi fast paced. Olive is in her head a lot, but literally, which is a cool and interesting way to describe her mind that also featured such well done artwork. Her neurodivergence being a major plot point was something I haven't seen a lot and enjoyed. Olive also reluctantly gains a roommate and I loved seeing their friendship form throughout them solving a mystery together with Olive learning to trust Charlie. I enjoyed the focus on friendship rather than making them love interests, as I feel like typically this is where a love story would be thrown in. I really enjoyed the platonic friendship! The mystery aspect was honestly really cool and I liked how everything tied in with the first scene, as the plane scene seems so out of place at first.
Overall it was a really cute read with good themes! Fully enjoyed my time!
This was a cute and entertaining story that was semi fast paced. Olive is in her head a lot, but literally, which is a cool and interesting way to describe her mind that also featured such well done artwork. Her neurodivergence being a major plot point was something I haven't seen a lot and enjoyed. Olive also reluctantly gains a roommate and I loved seeing their friendship form throughout them solving a mystery together with Olive learning to trust Charlie. I enjoyed the focus on friendship rather than making them love interests, as I feel like typically this is where a love story would be thrown in. I really enjoyed the platonic friendship! The mystery aspect was honestly really cool and I liked how everything tied in with the first scene, as the plane scene seems so out of place at first.
Overall it was a really cute read with good themes! Fully enjoyed my time!
May 22, 2026
Olive is a mesmerizing and moving graphic novel that weaves together themes of love, loss, and found family through the eyes of its determined autistic heroine. Olive, who has never quite fit into the rigid expectations of the world around her, finds solace in her rich inner landscape, where she can be entirely herself. But when a mysterious astronaut crashes into her inner world Olive’s journey takes an unexpected turn.
Olive is more than just a coming-of-age tale—it’s a celebration of individuality, courage, and the power of believing in oneself, even when no one else does. It’s a story about embracing who you are, no matter how much you stand out, and finding the strength to fight for what you believe in.
I wasn't happy with every part of the plot but in summary it was really enjoyable to see autism represented in media.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and artist and the publisher for the ARC
Olive is more than just a coming-of-age tale—it’s a celebration of individuality, courage, and the power of believing in oneself, even when no one else does. It’s a story about embracing who you are, no matter how much you stand out, and finding the strength to fight for what you believe in.
I wasn't happy with every part of the plot but in summary it was really enjoyable to see autism represented in media.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and artist and the publisher for the ARC
May 24, 2026
This unique graphic novel was full of twists and turns. We are introduced to 17-year-old Olive who is autistic and had her own difficulties in school. She was teased by her peers for constantly retreating within herself. For Olive, she visits her imaginary safe haven she created for herself and that she shares with her friends, a large rubber duck, Noel, and the transparent whale Rose.
Then one day, an astronaut appears without being imagined by Olive. Is he the same astronaut who has gone missing after he and his other co-astronauts crash into the icy waters in Siberia? How can she find him using the psychic connection they share? With the help of her new roommate, Charlie, Olive sets out to find and rescue the astronaut.
I found this story to be unusual but intriguing, to say the least. The art was even beautifully done. Readers may enjoy this exceptional fantasy tale.
Then one day, an astronaut appears without being imagined by Olive. Is he the same astronaut who has gone missing after he and his other co-astronauts crash into the icy waters in Siberia? How can she find him using the psychic connection they share? With the help of her new roommate, Charlie, Olive sets out to find and rescue the astronaut.
I found this story to be unusual but intriguing, to say the least. The art was even beautifully done. Readers may enjoy this exceptional fantasy tale.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was drawn to this for very obvious reasons. 🫒
Olive: Lost in Inner Space is a lovely comic about a girl named Olive. Olive has Autism and she lives her life a little differently than some of her peers. This is a wonderful representation, showing how she lives her life, rather than simply explaining Autism like many on topic books tend to do, which was refreshing. Olive is bullied during much of the book for being different. But she ultimately uses her differences to do something amazing.
I saw myself in Olive, how she does things, her preferences, etc. And Charlie.. Omg don't get me started on Charlie. Everyone needs a person like Charlie in their corner.
The artwork in this was simply beautiful, as well.
Thank you NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for this ARC. Anything Olive is on brand for me.
⭐ 3.75
Olive: Lost in Inner Space is a lovely comic about a girl named Olive. Olive has Autism and she lives her life a little differently than some of her peers. This is a wonderful representation, showing how she lives her life, rather than simply explaining Autism like many on topic books tend to do, which was refreshing. Olive is bullied during much of the book for being different. But she ultimately uses her differences to do something amazing.
I saw myself in Olive, how she does things, her preferences, etc. And Charlie.. Omg don't get me started on Charlie. Everyone needs a person like Charlie in their corner.
The artwork in this was simply beautiful, as well.
Thank you NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for this ARC. Anything Olive is on brand for me.
⭐ 3.75
July 6, 2026
Impeccable artwork, fully realized characters, and a truly unique storyline that kept me flipping pages. I both love and am annoyed by Olive, which is, perhaps, how any number of her loved ones might feel, too. Charlie is a scene-stealer, providing such an entertaining foil to Olive's inward personality, and Olive's parents are genuinely moving in their care for and understanding of their daughter. On the subject of the storyworld, I'm putting this one firmly in "speculative", but I think one could argue for its inclusion in sci-fi due to the moon dust. (Which, now that I think about it, could be a weak point; the story could've been almost exactly the same without that minute, fantastical element.) I'm glad this one exists and would love to see another book starring this cast and (inner) world!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a visually striking graphic novel with expressive, atmospheric artwork by Lucy that really brings the dreamlike world to life.
The story leans into surrealism, which creates an intriguing mood but can also make the plot hard to follow at times.
Its tone and themes feel best suited to teens and young adults, especially those who enjoy slightly offbeat, introspective stories.
Autism is present in the premise but not directly explored on the page, which may disappoint readers hoping for a more explicit neurodivergent narrative.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience and would rate it four stars for its originality and strong visuals, even if the storytelling occasionally feels opaque.
The story leans into surrealism, which creates an intriguing mood but can also make the plot hard to follow at times.
Its tone and themes feel best suited to teens and young adults, especially those who enjoy slightly offbeat, introspective stories.
Autism is present in the premise but not directly explored on the page, which may disappoint readers hoping for a more explicit neurodivergent narrative.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience and would rate it four stars for its originality and strong visuals, even if the storytelling occasionally feels opaque.
June 28, 2026
4.5 stars
I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I think this book's main mystery/adventure can be interpreted in a myriad of ways, but whichever it is, it's besides the point. And the point is that this graphic novel is a beautiful story about being different and still finding your tribe.
It kept me entertained for hours between tasks and other things I was doing. And it all worked out splendidly - the gorgeous art and coloring with the characters and well-developed story. A mix of fantasy with a slice-of-life college life and a mystery blending in with an adventure.
I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams ComicArts for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I think this book's main mystery/adventure can be interpreted in a myriad of ways, but whichever it is, it's besides the point. And the point is that this graphic novel is a beautiful story about being different and still finding your tribe.
It kept me entertained for hours between tasks and other things I was doing. And it all worked out splendidly - the gorgeous art and coloring with the characters and well-developed story. A mix of fantasy with a slice-of-life college life and a mystery blending in with an adventure.
July 8, 2026
3.5 stars - My first thought with this graphic novel was that it’s gorgeous. The art is beautiful, and the layouts are easy to follow. Then it seemed to crash straight into the ridiculous, almost absurd. I genuinely had no idea where the story was going at first.
I was pleasantly surprised when it actually started coming together and everything began to make sense. It never completely let go of its absurdity or required suspension of disbelief, though. I’m still not entirely sure why she needed to make an entire life-size bread-seal covered in squid ink specifically.
It ended up being a very sweet, if sometimes weird and confusing, story about an autistic woman finding family and acceptance without changing who she is.
I was gifted an eARC of this book from the publisher.
I was pleasantly surprised when it actually started coming together and everything began to make sense. It never completely let go of its absurdity or required suspension of disbelief, though. I’m still not entirely sure why she needed to make an entire life-size bread-seal covered in squid ink specifically.
It ended up being a very sweet, if sometimes weird and confusing, story about an autistic woman finding family and acceptance without changing who she is.
I was gifted an eARC of this book from the publisher.
July 13, 2026
Olive is someone who exists in the real world and also in a separate inner world. She negotiates life in this way even though people judge and ostracise her. But what happens when the two worlds intersect and a missing astronaut suddenly disappears from the real world, only to appear in Olive’s world.
The story is centred on Olive who refuses to fit herself into life in the way that other people do. She navigates the world in a way that gives her life even if others judge her and by so doing discovers truths about herself. This is an excellent portrayal of a heroine who lives in her own way and by so doing manages to bring life to others.
Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review .
The story is centred on Olive who refuses to fit herself into life in the way that other people do. She navigates the world in a way that gives her life even if others judge her and by so doing discovers truths about herself. This is an excellent portrayal of a heroine who lives in her own way and by so doing manages to bring life to others.
Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review .
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This was absolutely not what I was expecting but I loved it!! I really loved seeing Olive and Charlie's friendship grow! I thought that Olive's "house" was a really interesting way of connecting Olive and Lenny, with the plane crash!
I would have liked to see a bit more at the end, like if Lenny could still go to Olive's house... But I really liked it!
The art didn't feel like anything special. It was nice, but it wasn't the standout in comparison with the plot. I did like that there was a visual cue for when Olive was in her house!
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
I would have liked to see a bit more at the end, like if Lenny could still go to Olive's house... But I really liked it!
The art didn't feel like anything special. It was nice, but it wasn't the standout in comparison with the plot. I did like that there was a visual cue for when Olive was in her house!
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Olive: Lost in Inner Space follows Olive, a neurodivergent girl who has never quite felt like she fits in. To escape the pressures of the outside world, she retreats into her own “inner space,” a vast internal world filled with vivid landscapes and fantastical inventions. One day, that world is interrupted by a mysterious astronaut.
I’m definitely a little jealous of Olive and her rich inner world, mine mostly consists of endless doom thinking. I really enjoyed the story, and the artwork is absolutely lovely. Both the story and the art made this a very pleasant read.
Olive: Lost in Inner Space follows Olive, a neurodivergent girl who has never quite felt like she fits in. To escape the pressures of the outside world, she retreats into her own “inner space,” a vast internal world filled with vivid landscapes and fantastical inventions. One day, that world is interrupted by a mysterious astronaut.
I’m definitely a little jealous of Olive and her rich inner world, mine mostly consists of endless doom thinking. I really enjoyed the story, and the artwork is absolutely lovely. Both the story and the art made this a very pleasant read.
May 19, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!
Got curios because of the description since I didn't have any autistic representation in books when I grew up. I don't think it would have made much difference if the character wasn't autistic tho? Or maybe less autistic people would have picked up this book?!
The start had me a bit confused, but it made sense later in the book, but yeah, I was wondering when it was gonna make sense. Took a while though. I did however read this in one sitting.
I'm not familiar with the authors previous work. However the illustrations were nice, my favorite page was on the way to the blue moon, with the reindeer(?).
Got curios because of the description since I didn't have any autistic representation in books when I grew up. I don't think it would have made much difference if the character wasn't autistic tho? Or maybe less autistic people would have picked up this book?!
The start had me a bit confused, but it made sense later in the book, but yeah, I was wondering when it was gonna make sense. Took a while though. I did however read this in one sitting.
I'm not familiar with the authors previous work. However the illustrations were nice, my favorite page was on the way to the blue moon, with the reindeer(?).
May 25, 2026
Olive is a young woman trying to get by in one world, when she really wants to exist in another. Capable of retreating to an inner world that is within her control, Olive's world is shaken when a stranger appears and begins to affect her sanctuary.
This multi-level story was compelling. There was the world happening around and to Olive, her past, the mystery of her inner world. I cared about these people and I wanted answers.
The art was stunning, adding to the magical qualities of the story.
I would recommend this to YA audiences without hesitation.
This multi-level story was compelling. There was the world happening around and to Olive, her past, the mystery of her inner world. I cared about these people and I wanted answers.
The art was stunning, adding to the magical qualities of the story.
I would recommend this to YA audiences without hesitation.
June 10, 2026
People think Olive is weird--lost in her own thoughts. But she finds it more comfortable to retreat to her inner world. When a strange man suddenly shows up in her private world, Olive doesn't understand what is going on. And it gets even stranger when she recognizes him. He is Lenny Popincourt, an astronaut who has been missing since his flight back from space crashed. No one knows where he is and he is dying. But Olive realizes she might be able to figure it out from clues in her other world. Getting someone to believe her is another matter all together. Really enjoyed this one.
November 26, 2025
This was so interesting! I loved Olive's inner world so much. The art was also done very well, and I greatly enjoyed seeing Olive learn and grow through the story. I found the connection between her and the astronaut to be so fascinating. Charlie was also a fun character, and I really liked her a lot. She brought Olive back into the real world and helped her out like a true friend.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to read!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC to read!
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