by Florent Ruppert (Author), Jérôme Mulot (Author), M. B. Valente (Translator)
This first book in a two-volume graphic novel series is set in a near-dystopian present, where mysterious creatures called "whols" coexist with humans since their sudden appearance a few years earlier. At first, they aroused curiosity and wonder, then their seemingly harmless presence became commonplace. Nineteen-year-old Orsay leads an uneventful life in the French countryside, until the day he gains extraordinary powers in his hands after an atypically aggressive encounter with a whol. On a trip to Paris in search of a cure, he meets and falls for Basma, a passionate activist for whols' rights. But Orsay isn't convinced that whols should be granted the same status as humans. Especially once Melek, another human with similar powers, embarks on a murderous rampage to avenge those she sees as her kin.