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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
I absolutely love the Descender series, and I really liked Volume 1 of Ascender too. It was bound to happen that I'd eventually come across a volume that wasn't as awesome as the rest, and this is it. The genre has taken a steep dive toward fantasy from scifi, which I'm not a huge fan of. This one also tried really hard to pluck at my heart strings, but it wasn't nearly as effective as it previously has been.
I still love the artwork and the world as well as the characters, though.
I still love the artwork and the world as well as the characters, though.
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This volume filled in some gaps in what's happened between Descender and Ascender. Some characters from the other series return. Idk, it just had the right balance of nostalgia, heartbreak, and interesting twists to make me want to read more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder
Una maravilla este cómic de CF, continuación de Descender, aunque se puede leer de manera separada. En esta oportunidad, muchos años después del último tomo de "Descender", tenemos a Mila, hija de Andie y Effie, en un mundo donde la magia ha cobrado su precio en sangre y las máquinas ya no existen. Adivinen quién aparece :) Muy entretenida y el dibujo de Nguyen, excelente como siempre.
More 3.5 stars, I suppose. But I haven’t quite made up my mind about this series.
There were a couple of flashbacks to fill in the gaps between [b: Descender|25546167|Descender, Vol. 1 Tin Stars|Jeff Lemire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435054237l/25546167._SY75_.jpg|45338966] and Ascender. That’s something I was hoping for, as I loved that series and its characters, and I need to know what happened to them in the ten years that lie between those two. At the same time Lemire has to do a lot of worldbuilding to explain this new fantasy-setting that has replaced the SciFi world of its predecessor. It doesn’t leave him with a lot of room to move the actual plot forward.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m enjoying this quite a bit. But a huge factor in that are the characters that I know from a different series and the occasional look back to that world. And the thing I’m still most excited about is for more of those characters to show up here, and to find out what has happened to them in the meantime. Of course this is part of the appeal, as this is the follow-up to Descender after all. But almost all of the new characters leave me rather cold. Except maybe for Mila. And the backstory for Mother, which we got here, was so confusing that Lemire lost me somewhere along the way. Add to that the glacier-like plot progression at this point, and it becomes a little hard to give this volume another 4-star-rating.
There are some developments, though, that had quite an impact on me. And Nguyen’s artwork is still something special.
Oh, and werewhales! So, yeah, 3.5 stars it is.
There were a couple of flashbacks to fill in the gaps between [b: Descender|25546167|Descender, Vol. 1 Tin Stars|Jeff Lemire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435054237l/25546167._SY75_.jpg|45338966] and Ascender. That’s something I was hoping for, as I loved that series and its characters, and I need to know what happened to them in the ten years that lie between those two. At the same time Lemire has to do a lot of worldbuilding to explain this new fantasy-setting that has replaced the SciFi world of its predecessor. It doesn’t leave him with a lot of room to move the actual plot forward.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m enjoying this quite a bit. But a huge factor in that are the characters that I know from a different series and the occasional look back to that world. And the thing I’m still most excited about is for more of those characters to show up here, and to find out what has happened to them in the meantime. Of course this is part of the appeal, as this is the follow-up to Descender after all. But almost all of the new characters leave me rather cold. Except maybe for Mila. And the backstory for Mother, which we got here, was so confusing that Lemire lost me somewhere along the way. Add to that the glacier-like plot progression at this point, and it becomes a little hard to give this volume another 4-star-rating.
There are some developments, though, that had quite an impact on me. And Nguyen’s artwork is still something special.
Oh, and werewhales! So, yeah, 3.5 stars it is.
adventurous
Nguyen's art is definitely carrying this series. Without that, I'd probably just move on.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh....killing off characters just to have them show up in the next volume is starting to make me lose interest in any stakes in this series.
