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booksspiceandeverythingnice's review
5.0
Anno Domini 1000 is a brutal (extremely so) yet beautiful story of the eternal fight between kindness and violence. A thrilling and heartbreaking story of preseverance in the face of injustice, and the fading connection between humans and nature.
||✨Disclaimer✨||
I've received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
||✨Disclaimer✨||
I've received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
kellysavagebooks's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It’s 1000 AD and Brunehilde is a wolf-charmer. As she travels from village to village, she hears talk that the End Times are coming, and then children start disappearing. When these children are found brutally, grotesquely murdered, the people turn on the wolves and the woods, but Brune is positive a human is to blame.
This graphic novel is violent, disturbing, and, well, graphic. It’s certainly not a good time, but I’m extremely impressed with it. Though the art isn’t really to my taste, it is beautifully done, and you get a sense of the roughness of the time period it’s set in. There are explorations of systems of oppression, religious trauma and extremism, mob mentality, patriarchy, and exploitation of the poor. It’s about finding compassion in the midst of all these things, and it’s about caretaking the earth we sprang from. It pulls no punches, either in the gory art or in its discussions.
Brunehilde herself is a fascinating character. Shunned her whole life for being a wolf-charmer, she still manages to be so understanding and full of goodwill for the people around her. She is happy to help whoever will allow her to, and she does all she can to understand the motivations of and have compassion for even the most despicable, deplorable people. She is strong-willed and self-sufficient and a boundary-setter.
This story is like nothing I’ve ever read, and if you have the stomach for it, I recommend it.
ARC provided by Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Body horror, Gore, War, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Colonisation, Murder, and Torture
tesslw's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
TW; religious trauma, graphic religious imagery and indoctrination, graphic injury, death / murder of a child, animal death / injury, ritual sacrifice, execution,
Set in Europe in the year 1000, Anno Domini (or, as it translates, ‘The Year of our Lord’) follows the nomadic Brunhilde (and her trusty companion, Wolfy). She is a healer and wolf-charmer, traversing the wilderness before becoming caught in a frenzy of famine, death, and of mysterious, brutal child murders. Determined to solve the mystery and appease the lost souls of the children, Brunhilde sets out on a mission - at her own peril.
Please be warned that this graphic novel is precisely that - GRAPHIC. There is truly nothing left to the imagination here; despite the title Anno Domini (‘The Year of Our Lord’), this comic truly caught me off guard with the strength and intensity of the violence in the name of religion throughout. If you are coming into this with any semblance of religious trauma please tread lightly - this is PACKED full of ecclesiastical, pious litany concerning eschatology, cleansing and redemption - spread by zealots of the so-called-apocalypse which they claim is fast approaching. This is an unsettling and potentially upsetting read, but I found myself gripped by it. There were moments when the plot felt it was jumping around a little, which could potentially have used a little refining but ultimately the story and the message was conveyed as intended.
I thought this was a really interesting way to remind us of the violent history not only of religious fanaticism, but of power, poverty and injustice throughout lands - the drastically unjust distribution of wealth between monarchs and peasants, the fight for respect in oppressive systems of societal hierarchies, and even dwells lightly on human nature when it comes to altruism vs self preservation.
I must also add that I was honestly blown away by some of the art throughout this - despite the gore, often the imagery is staggering, arresting and powerful - the horsemen of the apocalypse were a consistent highlight.
Set in Europe in the year 1000, Anno Domini (or, as it translates, ‘The Year of our Lord’) follows the nomadic Brunhilde (and her trusty companion, Wolfy). She is a healer and wolf-charmer, traversing the wilderness before becoming caught in a frenzy of famine, death, and of mysterious, brutal child murders. Determined to solve the mystery and appease the lost souls of the children, Brunhilde sets out on a mission - at her own peril.
Please be warned that this graphic novel is precisely that - GRAPHIC. There is truly nothing left to the imagination here; despite the title Anno Domini (‘The Year of Our Lord’), this comic truly caught me off guard with the strength and intensity of the violence in the name of religion throughout. If you are coming into this with any semblance of religious trauma please tread lightly - this is PACKED full of ecclesiastical, pious litany concerning eschatology, cleansing and redemption - spread by zealots of the so-called-apocalypse which they claim is fast approaching. This is an unsettling and potentially upsetting read, but I found myself gripped by it. There were moments when the plot felt it was jumping around a little, which could potentially have used a little refining but ultimately the story and the message was conveyed as intended.
I thought this was a really interesting way to remind us of the violent history not only of religious fanaticism, but of power, poverty and injustice throughout lands - the drastically unjust distribution of wealth between monarchs and peasants, the fight for respect in oppressive systems of societal hierarchies, and even dwells lightly on human nature when it comes to altruism vs self preservation.
I must also add that I was honestly blown away by some of the art throughout this - despite the gore, often the imagery is staggering, arresting and powerful - the horsemen of the apocalypse were a consistent highlight.
inkdrinkers's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Brunehilde is a wolf-charmer, a woman raised to be a healer, traveling through the country with only her wolf-dog companion by her side. While traversing the south of France, she stumbles upon a series of villages pillaged by famine, deforestation, and driven mad - all while children are being found beaten and maimed in the woods.
This was such an interesting graphic novel! I picked this up because of it's cover, and I'm a huge fan of any stories that attempt to explore real-life historical issues, like the rise of Catholicism/religion and how it impacted Paganism. I waffled back and forth on my review for this, but ultimately it's a solid 3.5 stars for it's accurate, but gory portrayal of the violence of man.
I had a hard time sinking into this story, it's very dense and very heavy from the beginning. I enjoyed Brunehilde's character, and the eventual plot as it was revealed, but it felt like it could have been pared down a bit in the beginning, as it does take a very long time to get to the meat of the story. I really liked the twist included - but again, it felt strange to suddenly have it thrust into the story so late and not very well explained (via text or image).
I'm not sure I'd pick up another novel by the author, though the note by the author at the end did make me reflect on the graphic novel in a different light. Overall, this felt like a story that struggled to get to it's point, and by the time it did, it had lost my focus and enjoyment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Comics for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.
Content warnings: death (animal, child, general), gore, war, violence, religious bigotry, slavery
This was such an interesting graphic novel! I picked this up because of it's cover, and I'm a huge fan of any stories that attempt to explore real-life historical issues, like the rise of Catholicism/religion and how it impacted Paganism. I waffled back and forth on my review for this, but ultimately it's a solid 3.5 stars for it's accurate, but gory portrayal of the violence of man.
I had a hard time sinking into this story, it's very dense and very heavy from the beginning. I enjoyed Brunehilde's character, and the eventual plot as it was revealed, but it felt like it could have been pared down a bit in the beginning, as it does take a very long time to get to the meat of the story. I really liked the twist included - but again, it felt strange to suddenly have it thrust into the story so late and not very well explained (via text or image).
I'm not sure I'd pick up another novel by the author, though the note by the author at the end did make me reflect on the graphic novel in a different light. Overall, this felt like a story that struggled to get to it's point, and by the time it did, it had lost my focus and enjoyment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Comics for providing me a copy of this book for an honest review.
Content warnings: death (animal, child, general), gore, war, violence, religious bigotry, slavery
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, War, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Slavery
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