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thecozyarchivist's review against another edition
3.0
I was really into the weirdness of this story and world. Raining knives. Parents made out of machines by their children. But the ending left so much to be desired. I feel like with an extra 20 pages they could have at least wrapped up the story better.
bengriffin's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those things that manages to be completely weird, unique and baffling without ever trying to go out of its way to be that. I'm not going to pretend I fully understood what was going on but I have no doubt the internal logic of the world works and everything in it makes sense to the people in it and I love it for that. It's rare that something comes along and feels entirely fresh to me without being a bit of this with a splash of that, and the striking art and bleak, fascinating world it make it memorable and well worth a read.
larakaa's review against another edition
5.0
a weird book in the best way. expect the unexpected. I like it.
museoffire's review
4.0
This is one dark acid trip of a book ladies and gents and it may mark the first time I haven't had the foggiest idea what was going on and still managed to enjoy the hell out of myself. If you'd like to take a trip to a strange little city in England where children "make" their parents and you've got to get inside at "knife o' clock" unless you want to be murdered by falling cutlery and "deathdays" take the place of birthdays then I welcome you to the world of young Scarper Lee who's death day is only weeks away.
Scarper would just as soon spend his few remaining days alive with his mates at school, placating his mum (an anxious hair dryer) and working on his father (a very impressive steam powered copper giant who is kept chained in the shed for his own protection). Alas the new girl in town, prickly Vera Pike and Castro Smith, the weirdest kid in town, have plans for him. They might know a way to help him avoid his death day. Then his father goes missing and someone has killed off one his mother's household gods! Now they're fugitives on the run from the police. And sure the police might be geriatric old ladies in slow moving model T rejects but they'll pursue Scarper and his friends forever if they have to.
Don't worry I had no idea what was going on either. Just go with it.
This was positively off the wall but still wildly entertaining. Rob Davis drops you straight into the deep end of the pool with a cinder block tied to your foot but if you give yourself up to the clever, dark insanity of his narrative and the razor sharp, starkness of his angry, angular drawings you're in for a hell of a ride.
This a very text heavy graphic novel peopled with sarcastic, sad teens navigating through young adulthood at what feels like the end of the world. Davis' characters are angry and disaffected but still hopeful that there may be more to the world than the bleak reality they're living in. Its that sense of expectation that keeps this from descending completely into the doldrums.
Davis leaves his story hanging by a thread and I will be waiting on tenterhooks for the next installment of this fascinating, dark little treasure.
Scarper would just as soon spend his few remaining days alive with his mates at school, placating his mum (an anxious hair dryer) and working on his father (a very impressive steam powered copper giant who is kept chained in the shed for his own protection). Alas the new girl in town, prickly Vera Pike and Castro Smith, the weirdest kid in town, have plans for him. They might know a way to help him avoid his death day. Then his father goes missing and someone has killed off one his mother's household gods! Now they're fugitives on the run from the police. And sure the police might be geriatric old ladies in slow moving model T rejects but they'll pursue Scarper and his friends forever if they have to.
Don't worry I had no idea what was going on either. Just go with it.
This was positively off the wall but still wildly entertaining. Rob Davis drops you straight into the deep end of the pool with a cinder block tied to your foot but if you give yourself up to the clever, dark insanity of his narrative and the razor sharp, starkness of his angry, angular drawings you're in for a hell of a ride.
This a very text heavy graphic novel peopled with sarcastic, sad teens navigating through young adulthood at what feels like the end of the world. Davis' characters are angry and disaffected but still hopeful that there may be more to the world than the bleak reality they're living in. Its that sense of expectation that keeps this from descending completely into the doldrums.
Davis leaves his story hanging by a thread and I will be waiting on tenterhooks for the next installment of this fascinating, dark little treasure.
gregbutera's review
4.0
I grabbed this on a whim after flipping through and being caught immediately by the strangeness of the tale. Thoughtfully and artfully drawn imagery and a twisted take on society that felt like a drug trip. I liked it? I think? I'm glad we don't live in such a bleak, cyclical world with knife storms and slow moving police that pickle you until your established deathday, but was invested enough to read in basically one sitting, and ran to grab the sequel.
nezbots's review
3.0
What the what? This is so very weird. I kind of liked how it was just way way out there though. Kind of bananas. The ending was a little meh though. I wanted to know more!
iangilman's review
5.0
Turns out there's something compelling about people asking metaphysical questions of a world that bears little resemblance to our own.
battybookworm's review
3.0
This book was very odd. It started off really slow and I thought I was not going to get into it at any point but by the end there were actually a few spots that I thought were interesting and inventive. I might be curious enough to check out any further books in the series.
yetanotherbrian's review
4.0
Scarper Lee, the main character in Rob Davis' The Motherless Oven, is a bit like Holden Caulfield if he had read Kafka and lived in a world designed by Terry Gilliam. Vividly imaginative, this graphic novel is ultimately an exercise in futility, so your enjoyment of it probably hinges on how ok you are with unexplained or unresolved plot points.