Scan barcode
geekwayne's review
4.0
'Elves Vol. 1' by Jean-Luc Istin and Nicolas Jarry with art by Kyko Duarte and Gianluca Maconi features two stories featuring elves. I can't tell if they are in the same world, but they have a similar feel.
The first story "The Crystal of the Blue Elves" features a blue elf and her human friend as they seek to discover who slaughtered a city full of blue elves. This leads them into contact with a group of men who hate Elves and are looking for an excuse to start a war.
The second story, "The Honor of the Sylvan Elves" is about a young human woman who seeks help from the wood elves against an army of orcs and goblins. She is mistrusted by most of the wood elves, but finds an ally amongst them. It may be too late though.
Both stories are detailed an interesting. Both have decent art. In both stories, there are side stories are flashbacks and in the first, this was a bit confusing, but I still really enjoyed these fantasy stories about elves and the humans that they live uneasy lives with.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Insight Editions and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel
The first story "The Crystal of the Blue Elves" features a blue elf and her human friend as they seek to discover who slaughtered a city full of blue elves. This leads them into contact with a group of men who hate Elves and are looking for an excuse to start a war.
The second story, "The Honor of the Sylvan Elves" is about a young human woman who seeks help from the wood elves against an army of orcs and goblins. She is mistrusted by most of the wood elves, but finds an ally amongst them. It may be too late though.
Both stories are detailed an interesting. Both have decent art. In both stories, there are side stories are flashbacks and in the first, this was a bit confusing, but I still really enjoyed these fantasy stories about elves and the humans that they live uneasy lives with.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Insight Editions and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel
lintkaurea's review against another edition
4.0
Buen dibujo, buen guion, edición cuidada... ¿qué más se puede pedir?
em_jay's review
3.0
What can I say? I love Elves and graphic novels, so why not?!? This was originally was a 2013 French publication and will soon be published in the United States in May of this year. The artwork is fantastic, emotions, violence, it all translates through the art. Although is was difficult to pick up the "tribes" and worlds in the beginning, it was much more familiar towards the end. I almost gave this graphic novel 4 stars, but didn't because of how the story began. It felt as if I was dropped right into the middle of a plot. This novel is split in two sections each with their own story happening in the same world, both ending with "cliffhangers." Characters consisting of various elves, druids, men, orcs, dwarfs and goblins are present - so those familiar with LOTR will feel familiar. There have been several more issues published following the first French edition. What can I say? I'm hooked!
michaeljohnhalseartistry's review
3.0
“Go not the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Let’s be clear, there is one author, and only one author, who does elves right. And that author is Tolkien. I could be a little biased, because Tolkien introduced me to elves (aside from Santa’s little helpers), but in all my years delving into fantasy books and series and authors, I’ve never come across the grace, intelligence, depth, and history that Tolkien crafted for elves. I’ve always been mystified by Tolkien’s elves, and their still some of my favourite characters - Galadriel (who I strongly identify with), Thranduil (from the movies, I was always interested in him before the Hobbit movies came out, and say what you will about the films, but Lee Pace brought an exceptional performance and depth to the character), Thingol, Maedhros and Fingon (who were TOTALLY lovers, you can’t convince me otherwise). Okay, now I’m all caught up in Tolkien. The point of all that, is to say that I love Eeves. Even my World of Warcraft main is a Blood Elf (go Horde). So naturally, when I came across this graphic novel volume in Chapters, I had to own it.
Elves is an ongoing fantasy comic series by Jean-Luc Istin, a French comic artist and writer who primarily writes heroic fantasy. It was only recently translated from French to English, and there is a hell of a lot of content for us Anglophones to catch up on. This first volume is made up of the first two stories in this mythos. The first story, The Crystal of the Blue Elves, tell’s an epic tale of betrayal and corrupting power as one young elf is called to undergo a dangerous test in order to secure an ancient artifact. The second story, The Honour of Sylvan Elves, sees a race of xenophobic elves rejoin their ancient human allies in defending the city of Eysine against Ork mercenaries. I don’t know too much about Istin’s work, and I’m not sure if these two stories take place on the same world or even in the same universe, but I imagine that continuity will be touched on in later volumes.
Despite my love for elves, I’ve had very mixed feelings about this series. Where it excels is in it’s artwork. I still cannot get over the artwork in these volumes. I’ve never seen a comic with such detailed beauty before. Each panel feels like it received an insane about of love and attention, and it really helps to build this fantasy world visually. I caught myself starring at the images, completely lost in the details and the world, having forgotten to continue reading. The artwork is the definite strength in this graphic novel… but it alone is not strong enough to compensate for the stories.
I understand that in comics and graphic novels some of the meat of the story has to be sacrificed. You only have so many pages to tell the story, and want to fill it rich illustrations. After-all, a picture is worth a thousand words, am I right? Well… The older I get, the less I believe that. Sure, an image can convey a lot of meaning, but mostly, an image is static. It’s telling you the story of that particular moment with only slight hints as to the past and future therein. Something written, like a novel or a story, is constantly moving forward, constantly giving you more information and carrying you somewhere. But when your driving force is images that take up a lot more space than words, you can’t add as much weight to your story. And that’s the unfortunate part of Elves. The stories are very rushed, and the characters are incredibly underdeveloped. The world that Istin has created is so beautifully illustrated, but lacks the literary weight to make you care.
That being said, I am definitely planning to continue on with this series. There are currently two more volumes out in English, and I can’t wait to dive into them, if for no other reason than for the visual feast Istin has laid out for his readers. I’m learning, that with comics and graphic novels, that I can’t approach them with the same state of mind that I do a novel. I need to suspend some of my expectations for a weighty, well-developed narrative, and instead enjoy the medium as something separate from written literature. Thats a mind set I need going forward with medium… I just wish everyone else had the artistic talents of Istin and his team.
-----
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, MY OWN NOVELS, AND PHOTOGRAPHY, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE:
michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
-J.R.R. Tolkien
Let’s be clear, there is one author, and only one author, who does elves right. And that author is Tolkien. I could be a little biased, because Tolkien introduced me to elves (aside from Santa’s little helpers), but in all my years delving into fantasy books and series and authors, I’ve never come across the grace, intelligence, depth, and history that Tolkien crafted for elves. I’ve always been mystified by Tolkien’s elves, and their still some of my favourite characters - Galadriel (who I strongly identify with), Thranduil (from the movies, I was always interested in him before the Hobbit movies came out, and say what you will about the films, but Lee Pace brought an exceptional performance and depth to the character), Thingol, Maedhros and Fingon (who were TOTALLY lovers, you can’t convince me otherwise). Okay, now I’m all caught up in Tolkien. The point of all that, is to say that I love Eeves. Even my World of Warcraft main is a Blood Elf (go Horde). So naturally, when I came across this graphic novel volume in Chapters, I had to own it.
Elves is an ongoing fantasy comic series by Jean-Luc Istin, a French comic artist and writer who primarily writes heroic fantasy. It was only recently translated from French to English, and there is a hell of a lot of content for us Anglophones to catch up on. This first volume is made up of the first two stories in this mythos. The first story, The Crystal of the Blue Elves, tell’s an epic tale of betrayal and corrupting power as one young elf is called to undergo a dangerous test in order to secure an ancient artifact. The second story, The Honour of Sylvan Elves, sees a race of xenophobic elves rejoin their ancient human allies in defending the city of Eysine against Ork mercenaries. I don’t know too much about Istin’s work, and I’m not sure if these two stories take place on the same world or even in the same universe, but I imagine that continuity will be touched on in later volumes.
Despite my love for elves, I’ve had very mixed feelings about this series. Where it excels is in it’s artwork. I still cannot get over the artwork in these volumes. I’ve never seen a comic with such detailed beauty before. Each panel feels like it received an insane about of love and attention, and it really helps to build this fantasy world visually. I caught myself starring at the images, completely lost in the details and the world, having forgotten to continue reading. The artwork is the definite strength in this graphic novel… but it alone is not strong enough to compensate for the stories.
I understand that in comics and graphic novels some of the meat of the story has to be sacrificed. You only have so many pages to tell the story, and want to fill it rich illustrations. After-all, a picture is worth a thousand words, am I right? Well… The older I get, the less I believe that. Sure, an image can convey a lot of meaning, but mostly, an image is static. It’s telling you the story of that particular moment with only slight hints as to the past and future therein. Something written, like a novel or a story, is constantly moving forward, constantly giving you more information and carrying you somewhere. But when your driving force is images that take up a lot more space than words, you can’t add as much weight to your story. And that’s the unfortunate part of Elves. The stories are very rushed, and the characters are incredibly underdeveloped. The world that Istin has created is so beautifully illustrated, but lacks the literary weight to make you care.
That being said, I am definitely planning to continue on with this series. There are currently two more volumes out in English, and I can’t wait to dive into them, if for no other reason than for the visual feast Istin has laid out for his readers. I’m learning, that with comics and graphic novels, that I can’t approach them with the same state of mind that I do a novel. I need to suspend some of my expectations for a weighty, well-developed narrative, and instead enjoy the medium as something separate from written literature. Thats a mind set I need going forward with medium… I just wish everyone else had the artistic talents of Istin and his team.
-----
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, MY OWN NOVELS, AND PHOTOGRAPHY, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE:
michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
shayshkers's review
4.0
I picked this up secondhand at my local comic shop mostly because I liked the artwork. But really, this is a classic high fantasy where the story is beautifully written. The story is great, the art is great, the only real qualm I have is that the dialogue is something left to be desired and the pace at the beginning during the Great Info Dump is a little slow. A solid read and I'll be on the lookout for more.
jasminjo's review
3.0
Rating: 3,5/5
Wow, this were a roller coaster ride of emotions reading this graphic novel. At first were I really intrigued by it. I loved the story, the beautiful artwork and it had ELVES in it, hence the title. But then the story got a little confusing and it jumped all around. It made it harder for me to continue it and i even had to lay it down for a couple of days. I then finally finished the first part and made it to the second part. This part of the graphic novel was much easier to read and you feel more for the characters. I even started crying something happened near the end. It's one of the reasons i pushed the rating up a little.
The artwork in this graphic novel was really beautiful. But sometimes it was a little too much and i felt that there were too much in the picture.
More in-depth review is on my blog: https://jasminjoreads.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/elves-vol-1-review/
**Free copy provided by Netgalley in return for an honest review**
Wow, this were a roller coaster ride of emotions reading this graphic novel. At first were I really intrigued by it. I loved the story, the beautiful artwork and it had ELVES in it, hence the title. But then the story got a little confusing and it jumped all around. It made it harder for me to continue it and i even had to lay it down for a couple of days. I then finally finished the first part and made it to the second part. This part of the graphic novel was much easier to read and you feel more for the characters. I even started crying something happened near the end. It's one of the reasons i pushed the rating up a little.
The artwork in this graphic novel was really beautiful. But sometimes it was a little too much and i felt that there were too much in the picture.
More in-depth review is on my blog: https://jasminjoreads.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/elves-vol-1-review/
**Free copy provided by Netgalley in return for an honest review**
soavezefiretto's review
3.0
I expected the gore, but not the uplifting stories. The first was almost like a detective story, the second more like an ancient legend. Quite lovely. I'd defintely read more. Oh, and of course I ship Turin and Lanawyn now, so I hope there are more volumes.