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From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

The works of Franz Kafka might seem a poor fit for young readers, but Clement’s debut graphic novel makes a good case that this age group could find great relevance, at least, in those things we’ve come to call “Kafkaesque.” It’s the uncommon child who doesn’t occasionally see the world filled with the sinister martinets of a vast, indecipherable power, whether that power is family, school, society, or even fate itself. So, as our young protagonist, K, makes his way through several vignettes—punished at school for an infraction he didn’t commit, hauled away by police for trying to follow proper directions, foiled in his effort to procure a holiday fish for his mother—readers will find it uncomfortably easy to connect, though many specific references to Kafka's stories will surely be lost on them. Tone is crucial here, and Clement manages to adroitly balance funny ha ha and funny strange, both in situations and visuals. His Richard Sala–like depictions of bustling late-nineteenth-century Prague, the isolation of huge, empty rooms, and the ever-uneasy face of K himself touch the amusing, the human, and the uncanny all at once. Definitely not for everyone, but a truly unique effort that will become a deeply resonant touchstone for anyone who recognizes in it the occasional strangeness of their world.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Odd mishaps and hostile grown-ups plague a lonely child in this set of surreal episodes. Channeling the spirit of Franz Kafka in the plot and the gothic sensibility of Edward Gorey in the art, Clement alternately strands tiny schoolboy K in large, sparsely furnished rooms or sends him ricocheting through crowds of forbidding adults in finely drawn belle epoque urban settings. After skipping a breakfast of grayish porridge and sardines “swimming in oil,” then being left for eons in an empty waiting room at school by harsh Frau Headmistress Z, K meets a friendly talking bug. Another day, when he’s home alone, a flock of crows bursts in to wreck the apartment. His miseries continue as he finds himself abandoned on a class outing, accused of theft and chased by crowds of passersby—including dogs and cats—after venturing to the market, and unjustly blamed for waking up all his neighbors after he locks himself out on a snowy night. Despite the calamities, shouting adults, and lonely moments, it’s not all existential gloom—K does get a free afternoon, for instance, thanks to the bug that frightens Herr Principal Y into evacuating school. Still, there’s little relief in the general run of dismal events. Readers may have difficulty seeing K as anything but a powerless victim, despite hints of at least a lively sense of curiosity and a modicum of resilience. The cast appears white. A series opener with niche appeal. (Graphic fantasy. 9-12) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.