What If We Were 2 Review – Nat, Marie, and Madness
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Nathalie and Marie are childhood best friends who don’t believe in Santa but write him letters anyway, just in case he turns out to be real and stops sending them gifts. And because they believe in endless possibilities, their favorite game is called “what if we were,” where they simply imagine themselves in hypothetical scenarios and let their imagination run wild.
I didn’t think “What if We Were” by Axelle Lenoir would get a book two, but I am glad it did! The sequel is just as colorful, vibrant, vivid, magical, and joyous as the original. In fact, while the first one didn’t have any plot per se, except for the protagonists constantly imagining themselves in fun alternate universes, in “What If We Were” Book 2, a significant portion of the comic is dedicated to Nathalie and Marie finding themselves trapped in a not-so-nice fairy tale, where Nathalie is taken prisoner by an ugly ogre-like creature who wants to marry her, and Marie teams up with Jane Doe (Marie’s girlfriend) to rescue her.
Axelle Lenoir also throws in some really cute flashbacks of the girls growing up, including how they met for the first time as tiny kids. From playing princesses, robbing banks, and riding tigers, Nathalie and Marie create a limitless number of worlds for themselves. And while these games help the teen protagonist to happily escape their more mundane realities, in a surprising turn of events, towards the second half of the book, the girls discuss some serious, real-world emotions too.
Only 88 pages long, there’s so much happening in “What If We Were” that it feels longer. At the same time, it’s also a visual spectacle. I am a total fan of Axelle Lenoir’s expressive artwork by now, and I love how she keeps playing with her style throughout the book. Except for an abrupt ending, this book is a total joyride, and if you liked the first one, you’ll definitely like the sequel too.
Rating: 4 on 5. “What If We Were” Book 2 is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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