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842 reviews for:
The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom
Griffin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy
4.54 AVERAGE
842 reviews for:
The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom
Griffin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy
4.54 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Four stars for Kravitz alone 🌟💖
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Crystal Kingdom is book #4 in the continuing series of graphic novels based on the The Adventure Zone—a D&D real-play podcast where brothers Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy play Dungeons & Dragons with their dad Clint.
Here There Be Gerblins (2018), Murder on the Rockport Limited! (2019), & Petals to the Metal (2020) were all 5-star adaptations of the first ~26 hours of improvised role-playing, while Crystal Kingdom tackles the next ~12 hours of the Balance arc.
It's been several years since I finished listening to the TAZ Balance story (of which Crystal is part 4 of 8), so it's hard for me to remember what story elements had to be cut to squeeze everything into 240 pages of graphic novel. But the major plot points all seem to be here—buying some little-used items from Garfield at Fantasy Costco; a Philosopher's Stone going wild & turning a floating lab into an ever-increasing transmuted crystal; Hodge Podge the Buddy Bot; No. 3113, pronounced Noelle; Upsy the slimy, creepy elevator; "Pan" lying; Magnus taking a bunch of robot (and other) arms; Kravitz coming to take several characters back to the Astral Plane.
It's always great spending time with Taako (Justin), Magnus (Travis), & Merle (Clint) as they continue hunting for cursed magical artifacts. It's also nice to get some more foreshadowing into future revelations & the introduction of Kravitz (and how he interacts with the Tres Horny Boys.
Illustrator, Carey Pietsch's artwork & character design is nearly flawless. My only real complaint in this fourth installment was the overabundance of crystals. The crystal golem often blended into the crystal background and I found it hard to keep all the locations straight or figure out how our heroes were interacting with the world around them. Lots of gorgeous artwork—a little hard to follow.
Here There Be Gerblins (2018), Murder on the Rockport Limited! (2019), & Petals to the Metal (2020) were all 5-star adaptations of the first ~26 hours of improvised role-playing, while Crystal Kingdom tackles the next ~12 hours of the Balance arc.
It's been several years since I finished listening to the TAZ Balance story (of which Crystal is part 4 of 8), so it's hard for me to remember what story elements had to be cut to squeeze everything into 240 pages of graphic novel. But the major plot points all seem to be here—
It's always great spending time with Taako (Justin), Magnus (Travis), & Merle (Clint) as they continue hunting for cursed magical artifacts. It's also nice to get some more foreshadowing into future revelations & the introduction of Kravitz (and how he interacts with the Tres Horny Boys.
Illustrator, Carey Pietsch's artwork & character design is nearly flawless. My only real complaint in this fourth installment was the overabundance of crystals. The crystal golem often blended into the crystal background and I found it hard to keep all the locations straight or figure out how our heroes were interacting with the world around them. Lots of gorgeous artwork—a little hard to follow.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent
Moderate: Violence
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
this is just another amazing graphic novel by these wonderful people and i loved every minute of it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated