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Reviews tagging 'Death'
We Only Find Them When They're Dead, Book Two: The Stealer by Al Ewing
1 review
billyjepma's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
I expected to read this volume, be reminded why so much of the first volume didn't work for me, and then dismiss it. That didn't happen, though, because Ewing did what every writer should do when they need to win over an audience: stage a heist.
Volume 2 of We Only Find Them When They're Dead keeps some of the baggage of its predecessor—overly dense worldbuilding, an art style that borders on incoherent—but it improves in almost every other facet. We focus on an almost entirely new cast of characters, which is good because they have some personality to differentiate themselves. The lore Ewing is playing with is pretty messy, but the political and religious machinations he delves into here are compelling. I'm such a sucker for the double-and-triple-crosses that the abundance of schemes and secret motivations really worked for me.
I'm still mixed on Simone Di Meo's art, as unique as it is. Any moments of action are just about impossible to follow, and the compositions sometimes feel obtuse for obtuse's sake. Granted, I like the overall design a lot and thought the architecture and general aesthetic of this volume were inarguably cool. There's some great energy in Di Meo's artwork, to be sure, but it sometimes felt like I had to wrestle with it to understand what was going on.
I wouldn't say I'm entirely on board with the series yet, especially with how this ends, but I'm going to stick around for Volume 3, which I certainly wasn't to be the case going in. If this volume is anything to go by, the series is far vaster than the Firefly-vibes of the first led me to believe. The world that Ewing and Di Meo have created is weird and dizzying, and despite the inconsistent executions, I'm too curious to wall away before knowing what they're driving toward.
Volume 2 of We Only Find Them When They're Dead keeps some of the baggage of its predecessor—overly dense worldbuilding, an art style that borders on incoherent—but it improves in almost every other facet. We focus on an almost entirely new cast of characters, which is good because they have some personality to differentiate themselves. The lore Ewing is playing with is pretty messy, but the political and religious machinations he delves into here are compelling. I'm such a sucker for the double-and-triple-crosses that the abundance of schemes and secret motivations really worked for me.
I'm still mixed on Simone Di Meo's art, as unique as it is. Any moments of action are just about impossible to follow, and the compositions sometimes feel obtuse for obtuse's sake. Granted, I like the overall design a lot and thought the architecture and general aesthetic of this volume were inarguably cool. There's some great energy in Di Meo's artwork, to be sure, but it sometimes felt like I had to wrestle with it to understand what was going on.
I wouldn't say I'm entirely on board with the series yet, especially with how this ends, but I'm going to stick around for Volume 3, which I certainly wasn't to be the case going in. If this volume is anything to go by, the series is far vaster than the Firefly-vibes of the first led me to believe. The world that Ewing and Di Meo have created is weird and dizzying, and despite the inconsistent executions, I'm too curious to wall away before knowing what they're driving toward.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Cancer and Torture
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