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frasersimons'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
4.5
jujuthefrog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
seriouslybookedup's review against another edition
5.0
In a podcast interview about Little Bird, writer Darcy Van Poelgeest says a pretty provocative statement: "The institution of religion, the church, has always been used as a weapon." And it's one of the pillars that make up the story and universe of Little Bird.
For the patient, careful reader, there's lots to uncover here and I found multiple re-readings to be incredible rewarding and helped crystalize the story. As a regular reader of graphic novels, I think they're generally easier and faster to consume than a standard novel and that probably contributed to my initial frustrations when I picked up this volume. I want to fully understand everything right away and I was mostly baffled. It starts off feeling like it could be an accessible dystopian story but it quickly deviates. We can identify some similar parallels to our world like an oppressive, religiously zealous regime fighting for control over a neighboring nation. But then we get panels of completely abstract elements with no parallels like the science and technology systems which just look like bubbles and bizarre floating shapes.
There's no hand-holding here. For example, in the beginning pages we get a brief glimpse (it's literally a short horizontal panel) of the citizens of The United Nations of America and we see they're sickly. Covered in abrasions and many are hairless. We see other panels of the city that are completely barren of trees or any greenery, buildings are shrouded in a cloudy smog and it's colorless and lifeless. The panels are a bit innocuous and it's easy to skim over but we can clearly see, the city is not thriving under the leadership of the Bishop or the New Vatican.
In fact, artist for the book Ian Bertram, said in another interview, "...their hope is in the construction of the new Vatican: every block of the buildings carefully arranged, one on top of the other. A depiction of strength and wealth, but one that is rigid and unable to adapt. The elites trying to find that perfect balance. Inequality and class disparity versus pious platitudes and fear of the other... united under one belief system and destined to rot."
Compare that to one of the last panels in the graphic novel where
Same with the nature of the Resurrection Gene.
I wish more readers would give this a second chance and spend more time with it. It's admittedly weird and disorienting but I promise there's a method to the madness here and it's worth spending time with.
I felt so compelled to justify my 5-start review that I've copied a forum response I wrote on GoodReads in reaction to some questions a reader had about plot points near the end. Hopefully it's help to those who have finished the volume and may have similar questions:
What we learn at the end is that Axe (who has the Resurrection Gene and passed it down to Tantoo) made a horrible decision to destroy his own child in an attempt to keep her from being experimented on (to extract the Resurrection Gene) by the New Vatican. It's important to remember, those that have the Resurrection Gene can survive *almost* anything. They can still be permanently killed through an all-consuming fire. That's why Axe attempted to burn his house down with baby Tantoo inside and that's why Bishop also uses it to permanently kill Tantoo (when he makes Gabriel do it), Axe and who he thought was Little Bird (but it was actually Gabriel).
At the end, Bishop nearly kills Little Bird with fire and we see several panels of her recovery from the brink of permanent death (she's traveling from the spirit world and through the forest).
When she emerges, time has passed (her burned down village is taken over with greenery) and although it's not clear how or when she finds out Bishop is still alive, she sets to work on a plan. When Bishop arrives, we learn he successfully used the Resurrection Gene for himself and he returns to finish Little Bird off for good. We can assume the Bishop is now permanently dead in the end because Little Bird blew the whole place up, fittingly at her home village that was burned to the ground and where her journey started.
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Gun violence and Suicide
lanternheart's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
As I reread, my first thing I wish could have improved this book is simply better pacing — it runs quite quickly for how deeply Van Polgeest clearly cares about its characters, and for all we can see what the Axe is meant to be for Little Bird, his death feels all too soon, all too brutal, to be as meaningful as it might be. A reread did make the tangled family web at the heart of the story clearer, which I will say I did appreciate. Gabriel's gambit and sacrifice come to the fore of the ending, even if his murder of his and Little Bird's own mother cannot be washed from his hands (or psyche). The villainous Father is a truly dark man, and easy to have as a villain — we never sympathize with him, we never see anything other than sheer desperation and violence, sheer desire to cloak every desire in the smoke of a brutal theology.
I came away, though, wanting more explanation as I did the first time, more space to breathe and absorb the world Van Poelgeest so clearly thought out — what happened to make this world like this? Why is genetic modification so despised? What about people whose modification was not quite so superheroic as the Axe or Little Bird? Who are the Elders, and what connection lives within Little Bird and the land that she so deeply wants to protect? These questions aren't all necessary to be answered, only that I wish they were to help us see the stakes better, to understand what spurs a story of such escalating violence, such deep hatred and war.
There is a grim hope at the end of this book, but it is one that comes at a high cost for Little Bird — that of having lost over this book her mother and grandfather, and forced to rebuild her life in ash. That the theocratic dictator is dead offers only slim hope, since we have no promise of what the United Nations of America will do in response with this change, some rebels having pulled down a massive stone cross while it seems a new bishop has risen. I read this book quickly once more, but I do wish it explored its world, even a dark one, more deeply.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Minor: Medical content
afictitiousfox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
amberlyswords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think the plot was well flash out but I think the comic be better if it was shorter. I have mix feelings about both cover and art style.
I didn't really like the character and I think the comic focused on plot too much.
litoulouse's review against another edition
3.0
kyannarichard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.75
saltylane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
The story was hard to follow. I am sure the writer had the intention of creating a big web of mystery that would eventually be unraveled, and things would be linked together. I kind of lost interest in what mystery there would be because I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on in most of the scenes.
The pace was extremely fast, and the way the artwork was drawn didn’t really help. I found myself jumping back a page or two to try to figure out what happened in the scene before that made sense for the following scenes.
Unfortunately I couldn’t really get into it that well. I kind of just wish they had taken at least a little bit of time to just sit with a characters instead of action, action action. I really didn’t get attached any of the characters because most of them just weren’t really likable, and when you start to get used to them and like them a little bit, they die.
I had high hopes because the cover looks cool, but I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Child abuse and Child death