What do you think?
Rate this book
The Golden Twine
To most, Suri is just an orphan in a traveling caravan. But Suri is determined to prove she has the mettle of a monster tamer. When she unknowingly takes something valuable from a caitsith -- a cat monster -- she will have to quickly harness her powers ... if she even has them!
112 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
7 people are currently reading
1169 people want to read
About the author
Jo Rioux
25 books128 followersJo Rioux was born and raised in Ottawa. After high school she pursued her artistic schooling at Sheridan College. Now back in the lush suburbs of her home town, she works, reads and plays video
games from home.
games from home.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
July 31, 2014
This book is SO under the radar.
And undeservedly so.
It's got monster, cats, legends, a plucky hero, adorable dogs, and a creepy robot dude. The illustrations are totally effective and accessible, and I finished it wanting MORE. MORE about this world, MORE about these characters, MORE about the monsters, MORE MORE MORE!
I'm heartbroken that the second book hasn't come out yet.
I'm wondering if it was marketed inappropriately. My library currently shelves it in Young Adult (teen), but this will totally be nommed on by the Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet and Giants Beware set. It could also be that cover. At first glance, it doesn't communicate the movement of the story, and looks more nichey than it is. And it might be the color work. For a tale this vibrant, the color choices are surprisingly monochromatic and muted.
It's a shame, really. I want this to break out. I NEED this to break out. Cuz I really want Rioux to tell MORE OF THIS STORY!
And undeservedly so.
It's got monster, cats, legends, a plucky hero, adorable dogs, and a creepy robot dude. The illustrations are totally effective and accessible, and I finished it wanting MORE. MORE about this world, MORE about these characters, MORE about the monsters, MORE MORE MORE!
I'm heartbroken that the second book hasn't come out yet.
I'm wondering if it was marketed inappropriately. My library currently shelves it in Young Adult (teen), but this will totally be nommed on by the Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet and Giants Beware set. It could also be that cover. At first glance, it doesn't communicate the movement of the story, and looks more nichey than it is. And it might be the color work. For a tale this vibrant, the color choices are surprisingly monochromatic and muted.
It's a shame, really. I want this to break out. I NEED this to break out. Cuz I really want Rioux to tell MORE OF THIS STORY!
March 17, 2021
Short and fast paced, this story centers on Mouse, an orphan who hangs on to the edges of a traveling circus, who revels in fairy tales and wants to be a monster-tamer. She gets caught up in her very own fable, tangling with a shape-shifter, an imp and monster with a tender heart. Clearly the set up of the beginning of a longer tale.
June 15, 2015
I really liked this! The art style is really nice, and the story is really cute mixed with some adventure aspects. I just wish it was longer, but nevertheless I really enjoyed it!
December 7, 2012
Originally posted on my blog.
"The Golden Twine" is the first graphic novel for children of the Cat's Cradle series. It follows the story of Suri, an orphan girl travelling with a caravan, who thinks she's a monster tamer and is very determined to prove that to everybody. Trouble arrives when she accidentally steals something very valuable from a caitsith - a monster who can take human form.
This series has huge potential as the story, although not fully original, has a very unique way of combining the elements it uses in an amazing form. The whole book is surrounded by the mystey factor, and it makes you really curious about how the story is developping.
The artwork is definitely the book's cornerstone, with its beautifully combined colours and pretty character design. The monsters are drawn in a unique style, having a very eerie appearence without being too scary (the series is aimed at children, after all.) I particularly liked how Suri was drawn, with her gypsy-like attire.
I had a little trouble following the story, as I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley, and the text from a third of the pages's dialogue bubbles was not visible, and therefore couldn't be read. I believe I would have enjoyed the book more were it not for this technical problem.
I recommend this graphic novel to fans of graphic novels and mysteryous stories, both children and adults, as long as their soul is still a child's one.
____________________________________
„The Golden Twine” e primul roman grafic din seria pentru copii „Cat's Cradle”. Urmăreşte povestea lui Suri, o orfană ce călătoreşte cu o caravană, care crede că e îmblânzitoare de monştri şi e foarte hotărâtă să le dovedeastă asta tuturor. Problemele apar când ea fură din greşeală ceva foarte valoros de la un caitsith – un monstru ce poate lua formă umană.
Seria are mare potenţial, întrucât povestea, deşi nu complet original, are un mod unic de a combina elementele pe care le foloseşte într-o formă uimitoare. Întreaga carte e învăluită de mister, şi te face foarte curios în legătură cu felul în care se va desfăşura acţiunea.
Grafica e cu siguranţă punctual forte al cărţii, cu culorile îmbinate în mod plăcut şi cu designul frumos al personajelor. Monştri sunt desenaţi într-un stil unic, având o înfăţişare sinistră, fără a fi însă prea înfricoşători (seria este pentru copii, până la urmă.) Mi-a plăcut în mod special cum e desenată Suri, cu straiele ei ca de nomadă.
Am avut ceva probleme în a urmări povestea pentru că am primit o copie digital a cărţii de pe Net Galley, iar textul din bulele de dialog din o treime din paginile cărţii nu se putea citi. Cred că mi-ar fi plăcut mai mult cartea dacă nu aş fi avut această problem tehnică.
Recomand această carte tuturor fanilor romanelor grafice şi al poveştilor misterioase, atât copii, cât şi adulţi, atâta timp cât încă au suflet de copil.
Bilingual review: ENG / RO
"The Golden Twine" is the first graphic novel for children of the Cat's Cradle series. It follows the story of Suri, an orphan girl travelling with a caravan, who thinks she's a monster tamer and is very determined to prove that to everybody. Trouble arrives when she accidentally steals something very valuable from a caitsith - a monster who can take human form.
This series has huge potential as the story, although not fully original, has a very unique way of combining the elements it uses in an amazing form. The whole book is surrounded by the mystey factor, and it makes you really curious about how the story is developping.
The artwork is definitely the book's cornerstone, with its beautifully combined colours and pretty character design. The monsters are drawn in a unique style, having a very eerie appearence without being too scary (the series is aimed at children, after all.) I particularly liked how Suri was drawn, with her gypsy-like attire.
I had a little trouble following the story, as I received a digital copy of this book from Net Galley, and the text from a third of the pages's dialogue bubbles was not visible, and therefore couldn't be read. I believe I would have enjoyed the book more were it not for this technical problem.
I recommend this graphic novel to fans of graphic novels and mysteryous stories, both children and adults, as long as their soul is still a child's one.
____________________________________
„The Golden Twine” e primul roman grafic din seria pentru copii „Cat's Cradle”. Urmăreşte povestea lui Suri, o orfană ce călătoreşte cu o caravană, care crede că e îmblânzitoare de monştri şi e foarte hotărâtă să le dovedeastă asta tuturor. Problemele apar când ea fură din greşeală ceva foarte valoros de la un caitsith – un monstru ce poate lua formă umană.
Seria are mare potenţial, întrucât povestea, deşi nu complet original, are un mod unic de a combina elementele pe care le foloseşte într-o formă uimitoare. Întreaga carte e învăluită de mister, şi te face foarte curios în legătură cu felul în care se va desfăşura acţiunea.
Grafica e cu siguranţă punctual forte al cărţii, cu culorile îmbinate în mod plăcut şi cu designul frumos al personajelor. Monştri sunt desenaţi într-un stil unic, având o înfăţişare sinistră, fără a fi însă prea înfricoşători (seria este pentru copii, până la urmă.) Mi-a plăcut în mod special cum e desenată Suri, cu straiele ei ca de nomadă.
Am avut ceva probleme în a urmări povestea pentru că am primit o copie digital a cărţii de pe Net Galley, iar textul din bulele de dialog din o treime din paginile cărţii nu se putea citi. Cred că mi-ar fi plăcut mai mult cartea dacă nu aş fi avut această problem tehnică.
Recomand această carte tuturor fanilor romanelor grafice şi al poveştilor misterioase, atât copii, cât şi adulţi, atâta timp cât încă au suflet de copil.
July 3, 2013
This book was a nice contrast to Amulet and Dragonspell in that it is a comic that throws us into a new world without an outsider access character (unlike Amulet) and yet stuck to its guns in not providing us with lots of exposition explaining the setting (unlike Dragonspell. That's a less fair comparison, as Paul's work is a novel, not a comic, but as I just finished reading it less than a day ago it still seems apt). A street urchin orphan girl named Suri has been raised by sympathetic carnies who tolerate her presence, and she's developed a dream of becoming a monster tamer and one day going over the Monster's Cradle (the one pass through the mountains that separate the land of monsters from the land of men). But in the meantime, she has to continue scraping by to survive each day.
The setting is an interesting one, for all that it sounds like Pokémon. It really doesn't read like Pokémon at all, and feels like a much deeper, better realized world. The world has a bit of a steampunk feel (though that may be largely my imagination, based on one of the character's disguises). Monsters in this book are like fae: they can be anything, of any shape or size, and we find that some are even crafted like Frankenstein's monster. Monster tamers are somewhat enigmatic; we see some tamers, but we don't really see any tamed monsters, so it's not clear whether the tamers hunt and kill the monsters, or whether they are enslaved after capture. Certainly Suri doesn't plan to do either: becoming a Monster Tamer, for her, is about personal resolve and fame. It's a fun setting, and the artwork is well realized. The book sets up some interesting situations and relationships, and I finished the book wanting more.
The setting is an interesting one, for all that it sounds like Pokémon. It really doesn't read like Pokémon at all, and feels like a much deeper, better realized world. The world has a bit of a steampunk feel (though that may be largely my imagination, based on one of the character's disguises). Monsters in this book are like fae: they can be anything, of any shape or size, and we find that some are even crafted like Frankenstein's monster. Monster tamers are somewhat enigmatic; we see some tamers, but we don't really see any tamed monsters, so it's not clear whether the tamers hunt and kill the monsters, or whether they are enslaved after capture. Certainly Suri doesn't plan to do either: becoming a Monster Tamer, for her, is about personal resolve and fame. It's a fun setting, and the artwork is well realized. The book sets up some interesting situations and relationships, and I finished the book wanting more.
December 10, 2012
The illustration (drawings?) are rich and colourful and so is the little gypsy girl who was born in the valley of monsters and brought to the caravan of merchants by a dragon (or that's how she tells her tale anyway). Suri is a Hunter who fears no monsters, only no one takes her seriously because she's so young. But then she finds a ball of Golden Twine and suddenly the monsters are very interested in her. The Twine keeps them looking human and they need that to fool the Hunters who would kill them.
This is a pretty short tale, a prequel to a longer one I think. This is how Suri's adventures began. I think children will love the adventurous and resourceful heroine and the new friends she makes in this story.
DISCLAIMER: netgalley ARC.
This is a pretty short tale, a prequel to a longer one I think. This is how Suri's adventures began. I think children will love the adventurous and resourceful heroine and the new friends she makes in this story.
DISCLAIMER: netgalley ARC.
August 27, 2017
Girl in a traveling circus wants to be a monster hunter, shows evidence of being good at the job, if only accidentally. I enjoyed the fantasy world, the caitsith, the scrappy young heroine and the monsters. Should be a fun series. As soon as I finished it, Natasha read it and also enjoyed it.
Library copy.
Library copy.
November 15, 2018
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some decent mystical elements, I liked the circus, but left questioning some of the backstory elements that weren’t explained
Some decent mystical elements, I liked the circus, but left questioning some of the backstory elements that weren’t explained
June 7, 2020
Vibrant art, monsters and cats. I need volume 2 now please.
Read
December 4, 2024I'm not sure how I missed this, but this definitely looks like a good graphic novel series with bright illustrations and an interesting plot.
March 9, 2023
Funnn pero muy corto:(
July 17, 2015
Okay, note to this author: Don't fucking name your piece of shit comic after a Kurt Vonnegut novel.
Art was cool, but seriously artists shouldn't write their own shit, or at least have someone edit it and rip it apart, so they have a tiny gem of a story they can work around.
I'm kinda sick of this stupid trope in comics where the author has to repeatedly remind us that,"HEY, WOMEN AREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THIS BUT I WROTE SOMETHING WHERE THEY DO, AREN'T I KEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL."
Can someone please write something where it isn't unusual for a woman to be kickass and no one brings attention to the fact she's a female acting, *gasp*, like a male would?
Art was cool, but seriously artists shouldn't write their own shit, or at least have someone edit it and rip it apart, so they have a tiny gem of a story they can work around.
I'm kinda sick of this stupid trope in comics where the author has to repeatedly remind us that,"HEY, WOMEN AREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THIS BUT I WROTE SOMETHING WHERE THEY DO, AREN'T I KEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL."
Can someone please write something where it isn't unusual for a woman to be kickass and no one brings attention to the fact she's a female acting, *gasp*, like a male would?
January 24, 2015
Suri wants to be a monster tamer, but her efforts to make her dreams come true get her truly tangled in an adventure she wasn't expecting. I liked the ideas in this story, but I felt like there was too much explaining (of the world, the characters, etc.) and not enough doing. That left the book with a strange mood for a graphic novel. This book seemed more like the first chapter in a very long story, rather than a first book in a series. That said, I will read any subsequent installments when Rioux publishes them; this has the potential to be good.
March 4, 2016
I liked this book. There were these weird cat people and a little girl. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it ended way too suddenly!
December 30, 2025
Good art as well as cute and well done story.
Gotta love Byron.
Gotta love Byron.
August 28, 2021
A lot happened in such a small book! I will say that the ball of twine confused me. First they are going for the twine around her neck, then the ball that pops up out of seemingly nowhere, then the broken twine from around her neck that she leaves behind again, and it seems like they are going after her for the ball again. She never carries any bags.....where exactly is this ball of twine getting stored at that Suri doesn't realize she has it??? That somehow got back on her person after being in a bag that appeared out of nowhere after she fell into the "sack" that the Caitsaths trapped her in??? I will look for Book 2. It has a lot of potential but a lot of holes too....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2024
Suri has been traveling with a carnival for as long as she can remember, doing odd jobs and trying to create an act for herself until she can become a monster hunter. She's thrilled when she tames her first monster with barely any effort, but things get dicey when the caravan's leader finds her and tries to oust her once and for all. The only thing worse might be if real monsters start showing up with a vendetta against Suri.
I'm mostly disappointed that this book is so short, but fortunately, I have book 2 on my shelf already. Suri is a delightful character with a lot of spirit, and while the story stops in the middle, it's quite action-packed and full of fun surprises.
I'm mostly disappointed that this book is so short, but fortunately, I have book 2 on my shelf already. Suri is a delightful character with a lot of spirit, and while the story stops in the middle, it's quite action-packed and full of fun surprises.
February 2, 2017
I really liked this tome as an introductory story, it settles the idea of the kind of world we are observing in a very realistic way. The protagonist is interesting, with a well defined character, and attracts you to her story from the very beginning.
As a stand-alone chapter it is to a certain extent a linear story, but it holds great promise for the chapters to come.
As a stand-alone chapter it is to a certain extent a linear story, but it holds great promise for the chapters to come.
September 22, 2020
I loved the world that Rioux created. It didn't feel forced which I find in some recent graphic novels I've read. I love the monsters, the dog, the imp, and the layers of world building. I hope to see many more in this series in our public library (although, this was added in 2012 and there haven't been any more Rioux adds since then :( ).
September 16, 2022
i read the newly illustrated and re-published version of this that just came out.
Jo Rioux illustrated one of my all-time favourite graphic novels, “The Daughters of Ys” so i was so excited that she had a new one that I hadn’t heard of!
This graphic novel was amazing! i love Jo Rioux’s illustration style so much! The story and world was so cool and fun and I loved all the characters.
Jo Rioux illustrated one of my all-time favourite graphic novels, “The Daughters of Ys” so i was so excited that she had a new one that I hadn’t heard of!
This graphic novel was amazing! i love Jo Rioux’s illustration style so much! The story and world was so cool and fun and I loved all the characters.
September 12, 2018
Interesting story and cool magic stuff... It's a bit infantile and predictable at some points: the story structure is too familiar for real surprises. I enjoyed the art and the layout. The dialogues are well done... I will be reading the next number.
February 9, 2021
I think this would be a good read alike for fans of Amulet. Like what others said, I feel like the plot started a bit slow, and this books ends just as the action begins. But a great atmostphere and world.
September 21, 2022
- a super cute MG graphic novel about an aspiring monster catcher!
- I loved the found family in this one, especially at the end.
- this one is pretty short, so it may make sense to make sure you have the sequel if you want to read it
- I loved the found family in this one, especially at the end.
- this one is pretty short, so it may make sense to make sure you have the sequel if you want to read it
December 31, 2022
A cute book about a girl who knows a lot about monsters, travels with a group of people and somehow gets caught up in a whirlwind of trouble that her monster obsession helps her out of. A fun graphic novel.
August 10, 2017
this was good!
December 7, 2018
I really enjoyed this and wish there were more volumes!
March 17, 2019
*wonderful*
April 26, 2019
AMAZING
July 17, 2020
It's good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2021
Monster hunter girl is a storyteller. Traveling fair. Giants over the mountains. Beautiful art. Looking forward to the next one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews