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roach's review against another edition
3.5
At the end of every day, I watched as the horizon devoured the sun in slow, steady bites and shed its blood across the azure blue sky.
I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.
While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.
Graphic: Rape, Animal death, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty
spooderman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and War
Moderate: Sexual content, Deportation, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Confinement and Cursing
leonineliterature's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Rape, War, Animal death, Violence, Blood, and Animal cruelty
saintyeehaw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing and Confinement
jmbz38's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Rape
rnbhargava's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
The characters are lions so the moderate triggers are in the context of lion behavior but I don’t know if anyone even wants to avoid that in context of animal behavior.