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wintrovia's review against another edition
3.0
I was drawn to this graphic novel because the premise is very interesting: the true story of four lions that escaped Baghdad zoo during the Iraq war. Sadly the story doesn't live up to its potential and the allegorical elements feel particularly heavy handed. The artwork is very good though and I enjoyed reading it but just not as much as I'd hoped I would.
mariugonza's review against another edition
2.0
This book was strange. In one hand it was a quick read, but on the other... it wasn’t it chief. The narrative is sloppy, and the animals are too humanized (another reviewer makes an amazing point on that), the characters are bland and stereotypical (naive kid, cranky old lady, dreamy mom, random guy they know), and the story itself isn’t that all accurate: why are there turtles in the Tiger? How does the turtle know the river is called that? Why could the zoo birds fly?
I don’t know, it didn’t pass the vibe check my dude
I don’t know, it didn’t pass the vibe check my dude
lizards925's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
ballista_2003's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
Wtf did I just read. Illustrations were really good but I think I am scarred for life.
xeyra1's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful art and sad but expected ending but there's really not much story to tell?
carriaoke's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
immoralrite's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Animal death, Blood, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Cursing, and Sexual assault
linda_don's review against another edition
1.0
Bad. I picked this up from the library because I recognized Brian Vaughan's name from the "Saga" series. After finishing "Pride of Baghdad", it was hard to believe that the same writer was involved in both comics.
Is it an embarrassingly simplistic metaphorical approach to the Iraq conflict? Yes. But I'm going to pass on that criticism and go straight to mocking the fact that a male writer took a story about lions and found it necessary to include the following: 1) a lion-on-lion gang rape that served no plot purpose whatsoever, but instead was just superfluous character exposition to demonstrate that an old lionesses' years spent living in the wild before capture were still full of strife and pain 2) misogynistic language from a bear --that's right, bears are misogynistic menaces -- referring to lionesses as "bitches" with "studs."
I want to stress again that this is all in a world of talking animals. In a world of talking animals, leaving out rape or misogyny apparently just would have been way too unrealistic. No doubt the entire story would have fallen apart without their inclusion!
Vaughan got to pick and choose whichever biological and societal realities suited his fancy in this story, and this was his choice?
Is it an embarrassingly simplistic metaphorical approach to the Iraq conflict? Yes. But I'm going to pass on that criticism and go straight to mocking the fact that a male writer took a story about lions and found it necessary to include the following: 1) a lion-on-lion gang rape that served no plot purpose whatsoever, but instead was just superfluous character exposition to demonstrate that an old lionesses' years spent living in the wild before capture were still full of strife and pain 2) misogynistic language from a bear --that's right, bears are misogynistic menaces -- referring to lionesses as "bitches" with "studs."
I want to stress again that this is all in a world of talking animals. In a world of talking animals, leaving out rape or misogyny apparently just would have been way too unrealistic. No doubt the entire story would have fallen apart without their inclusion!
Vaughan got to pick and choose whichever biological and societal realities suited his fancy in this story, and this was his choice?