Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
This book was a disappointment. The idea of combining prose and comic book panels is a really good one, and it worked well here. This was my favourite part of the book. Everything else was sadly lacking. There was barely enough characterisation of many of the characters to tell them apart. It was too long and winding, I think the book would be much improved by cutting about a third of it, like the many side plots that go nowhere. And while reading I the strong feeling that the authors were using the historical setting to cram in as much racist rhetoric as they could get away with. Some passages are horrifying. Other stretches of the book are okay, but I can't look past that.
Really 3.5. Whiz-bang start, solid finish, more middle than was necessary. Also confused by some of the choices made as to what was depicted in graphic form and what in prose. I think the story would've been better served as heavily-illustrated prose or full graphic novel. Fun, but lagged.
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. On its face, it's completely in my wheelhouse: Globetrotting adventure, mysterious supernatural phenomena, well-thought-out aesthetics. But ultimately, my third star is just for the latter, because the story didn't deliver on its promise.
Indeed, this book gets major style points for its faux-worn pages, mannered prose style reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century authors like, say, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the quite often beautifully illustrated graphic novel segments. But it was those things that kept me interested more than what happened to the characters, because despite this book being a bit of a doorstopper at 750+ pages, it never conveyed exactly why anyone was doing anything they were doing until far too late, and at that point, the stakes weren't high enough for the payoff to be worth it. It was a whole lot of worldbuilding, which I loved, but can only go so far without being in the service of an engaging story or characters. And the style itself, while appealing to me, may not be to readers looking for a more modern, straightforward mode of storytelling.
At the end, we are promised a Volume 2, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see one. Despite Kevin Costner and company apparently having a master plan for a whole multimedia "Explorers Guild" platform, with books, movies, TV shows, and whatnot, after reading Volume 1, it's not surprising why this book didn't exactly set the world on fire.
Indeed, this book gets major style points for its faux-worn pages, mannered prose style reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century authors like, say, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the quite often beautifully illustrated graphic novel segments. But it was those things that kept me interested more than what happened to the characters, because despite this book being a bit of a doorstopper at 750+ pages, it never conveyed exactly why anyone was doing anything they were doing until far too late, and at that point, the stakes weren't high enough for the payoff to be worth it. It was a whole lot of worldbuilding, which I loved, but can only go so far without being in the service of an engaging story or characters. And the style itself, while appealing to me, may not be to readers looking for a more modern, straightforward mode of storytelling.
At the end, we are promised a Volume 2, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see one. Despite Kevin Costner and company apparently having a master plan for a whole multimedia "Explorers Guild" platform, with books, movies, TV shows, and whatnot, after reading Volume 1, it's not surprising why this book didn't exactly set the world on fire.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a very slow read and I almost quit a few times. There are random tangents that don’t seem to add much to the story and parts felt like filler.
Too heavy to fit in our moving van, and too long to finish before the move. Intriguing but after 75 pages I wasn't dragged in enough to sacrifice other books to keep this one.
This was a really cool idea. I liked the idea of graphic novel/novel combo. BUT it was WAY WAY too long. The story did not need to be an epic. And because of the length, the switch from illustrations to words became confusing and unnecessary. I wanted this to work, but I would not recommend it.
Fun read! The art was fantastic and the story intriguing. The pacing could have been better. Definitely would recommend for fans of Tintin.
An incredible labor of love. It's not a pastiche of adventure stories, it's the genuine article. Like H. R. Haggard and similar. The writing is tremendous, it does lose some momentum around page 500 but saves some of its best moments for the last 3rd. I wish there would be more volumes, but I can't imagine such a work (which took 4 years and many, many co-authors and artists) succeeding well enough to warrant another. Nor can I quite imagine it on the screen without significant changes. But I'm hoping against hope for either.
The ending of a book is one of the most important aspects to me, and this one was rather unsatisfactory.
Long for the sake of being long, but enjoyable every step of the way. (Except for some of the early journal entries from Arthur Ogden).