Global - Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin - ★★★

AUTHORS: Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin

ILLUSTRATOR: Giovanni Rigano

GENRE: Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: April 11, 2023

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A teen graphic novel highlighting the impact of climate change on two opposite corners of the world. Alternating perspectives from one Canadian Inuit girl and one Bangladeshi/Indian boy. The former narrative is exaggerated; the latter is better but not perfect. Decent illustrations, though a bit too dark-tinged. The intent and the message are great, but the overall execution is just okay.

Plot Preview:

‘Here’. Bay of Bengal. Twelve-year-old orphan Sami lives with his grandfather. They fish for their living, but because of the flash floods, intense storms, and rising water levels, the catch is dwindling.

‘There’. Northern Canada. Fourteen-year-old Yuki has noticed the struggles of the bears to find food. She is sure that the bears wandering into town aren’t polars but a new species named ‘grolars’ (more on this below), and is determined to find evidence that can help protect the bear. But this task isn’t easy on the thinning ice inside the Arctic circle.

The story comes to us in the alternating perspectives of Sami and Yuki written in first person.

I picked up this graphic novel only because I have heard the name of this author’s Artemis Fowl series multiple times. While I didn’t hate this book, I also didn’t find it that compelling or believable. To be clear, the climate change content is 100% believable; the rest isn’t.

The intent and the message of the book are great. The title clearly refers to the fact that the damage done by climate change isn't local but global. Using children from two opposite points of the world is, in theory, a great idea to prove this point. The execution though leaves me with mixed feelings.

The usage of the terms ‘Here’ and ‘There’ for the locations is an intriguing writing choice, but also a bit confusing. Why is Sami’s story ‘Here’ and Yuki’s ‘There’, I didn’t understand, especially considering that the book is published “There” in North America. Then again, the ‘Here’ was geographically closer to India, so it did work out better for me. Sami’s story is set “in the Bay of Bengal”. Now… the Bay of Bengal is a gigantic water body, so Sami could have been from one of the tiny islands off the coast or from one of the states of Eastern India or even from Bangladesh. A tiny map reference towards the end of the story points to the bay part near Bangladesh, but I wish the story had clarified this directly.

It is nice to see the story coming from minority voices. Yuki and Sami know their region and its challenges very well. Their worry about the extreme environmental changes and the determination to do what it takes is palpable. However, the two didn’t endear themselves to me for the needless risks they seem to take repeatedly with no concern for safety. The two just didn’t seem to realise the difference between ‘brave’ and ‘foolhardy’. Yuki’s narrative is more annoying in this regard, as she seems to escape near-death situations too many times for it to be convincing. You need a whole load of suspension of disbelief while reading her POV.

Because of the lead pair’s regular misadventures, this plot feels more like a survival story than an environmental story. I wish the focus had been more on the environment itself, instead of all this forced exaggerated action. That’s what I had picked the book up for, after all.

The stories coming in their alternating first-person perspectives also create a mixed result. While it does suit the global impact hinted at in the title, it also leads to too many chapter cliffhangers. Especially in the second half, the constant hung endings get a bit annoying as both their perspectives leave us dangling and we need to keep the cliffhanger in mind till we return to that character’s narrative.

That said, through Yuki’s POV, I learnt of a new species called ‘grolar bear’, an unfortunate crossbreed of the polar bear and the grizzly bear that faces its own unique challenges. I feel sad for the poor creatures, stuck in a troublesome situation for no fault of theirs.

Of the other characters in the book, only two get proper extended roles and both of them leave a mark. Sami’s grandfather and Yuki’s dog Locky are fabulous and way more likeable that the lead pair.

The ending is somewhat abrupt. There is no link between the two children throughout the story as they are geographically distant as well as with no apparent access to technology (in Sami’s case). However, the very last panel forcibly establishes a connection between them. This is neither necessary nor convincing.

The most impactful part of the story is obviously the spotlight on the extent of the damage caused by climate change and human activity. Even though both Yuki and Sami live in relatively rural areas with no great industries or population, the environmental damage is just as massive. It is a shocking depiction of the truth, and hopefully, will cause naysayers to understand that ‘global warming’ doesn’t simply mean “slightly hotter temperatures”.

The illustrations are decent but not much to my liking. I am not a huge fan of dark tones in graphic novels, not just because they exacerbate the gloom in case of serious stories instead of letting the text do the talking, but also because the scenes sometimes blend into each other and the finer nuances of the art aren’t that visible.

The backmatter contains a special section about global warming, which explains as well as educates on steps to be taken. These are somewhat vague, but they are a good starting point.

Overall, I do like the purpose of this graphic novel and the message it is strongly advocating. I wish the stories, especially Yuki’s arc, had been more compelling and realistic.

Regardless, this is still a good book for teens to learn more about this environmental mess adults have created. It’s scary but it’s also true. The content ought to work well for ages 10-15.