Project Nought

Product Information

And the author REALLY doesn't pull her punches when it comes to putting these characters in Situations and defying her own status quo. And everything that happens makes you question everything that ALREADY happened while exposing the secrets of this world in the best possible way.

For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam , this debut graphic novel is a fast-paced time travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic. An exemplary teen graphic novel that will cross interests of sci-fi, queer romance, adventure, and anti–big tech readers, gorgeously accessible." — School Library Journal (starred review)Ren Mittal's last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating…he’s not! Project Nought by Chelsea Furedi is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s a cleverly crafted, queer sci-fi graphic novel full of twists and revelations. I was kindly sent an advanced copy from Harper360YA.

Tech conglomerate Chronotech sponsors a time-travel program to help students in 2122 learn what history was really like...from real-life subjects who’ve been transported into the future...and Ren is one of them. Ren, running away to meet his pen pal, falls over in 1996 and wakes up in 2122. Along with his host Mars, fellow time traveller Phoebe and ex-member of the time travel education programme Jira, Ren finds himself at the centre of a mission to uncover the truth. It seems like time travel might be too good to be true. The characters were so lovable and easy to root for. Ren was sort of shy and anxious. Mars was excitable and eager. Jia was withdrawn and jaded. Phoebe was friendly and fun. Phoebe was especially great and sort of hilarious sometimes. There were a couple other characters too with smaller parts. And they all had good hearts. I liked them all. And they share the same panel a lot because this is a love story. Multiple love stories in fact. Plus, the far future may have many things but what it doesn’t have is straight people (every dystopia needs utopian aspects).Ren and Mars are gay, Phoebe is bisexual, Jira is non-binary. Even the baddies are lesbians. It’s a wonderful contrast to hypermasculine superhero comics. My tweenage test reader found the storyline and especially the characters, “extremely relatable, other than the time travel bits.” Ren Mittal's last memory in the year 1996 is getting on a bus to visit his mystery pen pal Georgia. When he wakes up in 2122, he thinks he might be hallucinating...he's not! Furedi’s art is a joy to behold as well. She excels at use of color and constructs a lot of the tone and atmosphere through her color palettes. The character designs are really fun too and there is a nice emphasis on their fashion that nods to the looks of the 90s and how that might look in 100 years designing fashion based on those aesthetics. The frame work is great and conveys a lot of action and keeps the story moving. This is just a lovely book in general. There is sci-fi fun, friendship and romance abound in Project Nought. An interesting story with lots of surprises and heart, I adored this.

Characters: I adored all of the main characters, especially Mars, Jia and Tāne. I loved the casual representation and varying personalities of each character and all of them were a delight. Stunning character designs and expressive drawings made the characters pop and implicitly gave exposition to their personalities well (Jia and Mars' character designs are so cute, they were my favorites by far). While I found aspects of Ren and Mars' character development too fast, Jia and Phoebe were paced well. For fans of Kiss Number 8 and On a Sunbeam, this debut graphic novel is a fast-pacedtime travel adventure with a hint of romance that has garnered 1.5 million views as a Tapas webcomic. A solidly queer addition to the sci-fi canon that interrogates how the pursuit of science can sometimes overshadow a commitment to ethics.”— Publishers Weekly Project Nought is a middle-grade to young YA graphic novel. As an adult who has read more dystopian comic books than is healthy, I struggled to suspend my disbelief. A lot of what happens doesn’t make sense – and not in the conspiracy way. Plotlines are jettisoned or resolved too fast. The teenagers of 2122 are using the exact same slang as the teens of 2021. Furthermore, we got to see a great friend group, who were always ready to help and be there for each other. Another thing I really loved was the blossoming romance between Ren and Mars. Here I really liked seeing them getting to know each other, and slowly forming their bond.Ren Mittal is a teenager in 1996 New Zealand. He plans to run away from home when he suddenly appears in the year 2122 as a “subject” of a time travel program by a company called Chronotech. Chronotech intakes these subjects from different eras in the past so that students of the 2100s can learn their history and culture from them directly. When in the middle of an interview, Ren meets someone he last expects to see in 2122, which leads to the question: is Chronotech actually doing good, or is there something more nefarious going on? Project Nought is about a boy from the 1990s being brought to the future to participate in a time travel exchange program... Except is it really an exchange program when the kids from the past are just going to get their minds wiped at the end of the ordeal? Overall, I really liked the mysterious sci-fi story, the lovable characters, the cute romance and friendships, the beautiful art, and really just everything about this graphic novel!