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3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
This book is intimidating even to start, considering it sits at nearly 800 pages, a mash between a graphic novel (like the Tintin series) and a classic lost world book like King Solomon’s Mines or The Lost World. Some pages will be written in proper prose, while others deviate into a comic book. Just for the incredible design of this book (the pages meant to look old, the artwork, the detailed descriptions), I could easily recommend it. The humor is hilarious and, while the plot and pacing is not without its faults, if you like the Lost World genre, I highly recommend this book.
Full review on my blog:
https://madamewriterblog.com/2019/01/05/book-review-a-passage-to-shambhala-the-explorers-guild-1-by-jon-baird-and-kevin-costner/
Full review on my blog:
https://madamewriterblog.com/2019/01/05/book-review-a-passage-to-shambhala-the-explorers-guild-1-by-jon-baird-and-kevin-costner/
I picked this up at the bookstore because this looked like a great classic adventure tale (and the cover art is beautiful). When I started reading, some of the rapid shifts in the backstory were a bit confusing a jarring, and that's not a great way to open a book. It also took a while before I was clear on who was who and who the narrator was talking about at the time and so on. Still I kept at it, and it didn't take me long to adjust to the switches between prose and graphic novel, and the transitions became less confusing as it progressed.
It's one of those books that I started and felt ambivalent toward, but then quietly drew me in until toward the end I was much more engaged than I was at the beginning. I attribute this to a slow setting of the stage. The authors definitely tried to keep the voice of this narrator aloof, all-knowing, but invested and the language felt like it was trying to be kind of old-timey. Personally I felt that the tone was a bit overdone and sometimes the language itself was confusing, and I prefer a clear writing style to an atmospheric one if I have to choose.
I was worried toward the end that the plot wouldn't resolve since it's only volume 1, but thankfully it does, although I can easily see how this will become a series.
I think if you have time and are interested, it's worth a go, but I wouldn't prioritize it very highly especially if you're scrapped for time.
It's one of those books that I started and felt ambivalent toward, but then quietly drew me in until toward the end I was much more engaged than I was at the beginning. I attribute this to a slow setting of the stage. The authors definitely tried to keep the voice of this narrator aloof, all-knowing, but invested and the language felt like it was trying to be kind of old-timey. Personally I felt that the tone was a bit overdone and sometimes the language itself was confusing, and I prefer a clear writing style to an atmospheric one if I have to choose.
I was worried toward the end that the plot wouldn't resolve since it's only volume 1, but thankfully it does, although I can easily see how this will become a series.
I think if you have time and are interested, it's worth a go, but I wouldn't prioritize it very highly especially if you're scrapped for time.
I finished this a while ago and am just now getting off my butt to review it. It falls into the category of "illuminated" novels, so there is writing but also illustrations, mainly in the form of sort of graphic novel/comic representations of events. It takes place more or less during WWI, and follows a rag-tag band of adventurers around the world. It was really atmospheric and the phrase "flying octopodes" appeared in it so yeah, I guess you could say it was my jam. It claims to be the first in a series so I am definitely interested in the others, if/when they are released.
The concept was intriguing, with a mix of graphic novel and writing. I just felt that NOTHING happened in the first 300 pages to justify finishing the story. Moving on to other things.
Full disclosure, I did not finish the book. Am I counting it towards my Goodreads Challenge? Yes I am. I managed to get through about 400 pages of this 770 page book. I count that as having read the equivalent of a regular book.
If you read the description of the plot, you’ll be told that the book is about a secret group of adventurers travelling around the world. Honestly? I’m not entirely certain what it was about. I picked it up again for the first time in a while the other day and while I kind of remembered where I was in the story-line, I just couldn’t get back into it.
I think the book suffers from too much of a good idea. It’s broken up into part novel, part graphic novel. I loved the idea. It’s why I picked up the book in the first place. Unfortunately in this case I was unable to find anything redeeming about the fusion of these two genres together. Honestly, I think it may have distracted from the story for me. I keep losing track of the plot and who was speaking to who.
I’ve had a bad string of books lately and I rarely just give up on them. I just couldn’t see myself slogging through the last 300 pages when I didn’t really care about what was going on. Perhaps you’ll have better luck?
If you read the description of the plot, you’ll be told that the book is about a secret group of adventurers travelling around the world. Honestly? I’m not entirely certain what it was about. I picked it up again for the first time in a while the other day and while I kind of remembered where I was in the story-line, I just couldn’t get back into it.
I think the book suffers from too much of a good idea. It’s broken up into part novel, part graphic novel. I loved the idea. It’s why I picked up the book in the first place. Unfortunately in this case I was unable to find anything redeeming about the fusion of these two genres together. Honestly, I think it may have distracted from the story for me. I keep losing track of the plot and who was speaking to who.
I’ve had a bad string of books lately and I rarely just give up on them. I just couldn’t see myself slogging through the last 300 pages when I didn’t really care about what was going on. Perhaps you’ll have better luck?
I'm going to try this again when I'm not so stressed out. It looks really good, but the library is only giving me a two week check out allowance.
It's part novel, part graphic novel. Kind of cool.
It's part novel, part graphic novel. Kind of cool.
I am so disappointed that I didn't get more into this, I gave up at 100ish pages. I loved the writing style, and I really really loved the whole way it was done with comics interspersed, but I just could not get invested in the story. Just at all. Such a shame!
I am a total sucker for the well-done faux-antiquity of this book - the Victorian looking cover, the aged looking pages, the beautiful details of font, the graphic flourishes between chapters, and the period-looking illustrations. I thought the book was so beautiful that it really carried me through the 700 and some pages. The story had a certain cool bravado, like Indiana Jones or The Mummy, but I found it fairly difficult to follow the intricacies of the plot. I think because of the switching back and forth between text and graphic novel formats, I was continually losing track of what name went with what physical appearance, and it's also a 700 page book that holds out on what's really going on until very close to the end. A bit of a conservative world view, which I suppose is authentic to the period. Lots of violence and derring do, not many women and the one female who figures significantly is pretty stereotyped, but none of the men are really fully fleshed characters either. It's all about the ambience, here. I sort of loved it, but for superficial reasons.
Interesting format. Haven't read many graphic novels, but enjoyed them being put together.
Like the grander mystery.
Hope there's actually a volume two.
Great character development.
Who is the big bad?
Like the grander mystery.
Hope there's actually a volume two.
Great character development.
Who is the big bad?