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wardenred's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- 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
4.0
You know those movies where a serial killer locks people in a room with a trap that’s about go grind them into pâté? This is that meets Narnia, right?
This was kind of an acquired taste for me. At the beginning, I kind of really liked the idea but found it hard to vibe with the execution. Everything was super rushed—less actual storytelling, more “wink wink, nudge nudge, you’re certainly familiar with premises and tropes like this, so here are some broad strokes to get you going.“ The main cast went through three different designs each in a matter of pages (teenagers in the flashback, forty-somethings in the present, heroes in the fantasy world). It was honestly pretty confusing.
I’m glad I stuck with it past this initial jumble though, because once I got better oriented, the story sucked me right in. The grimdark setting built in-universe on teenage power fantasies and bits and pieces of zeitgeist feels more videogame than tabletop, and the character development remains sparse, but there are a lot of small clever things here that I enjoyed. Such as Ash’s genre-savviness and the increasingly hard choices the party had to make. Also, the art style here is really striking and creates a dark, oppressive atmosphere that perfectly matches the story. All in all, I’m quite likely to pick up more volumes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Addiction
regans's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and War
maybephasing's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Bullying, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
cheye13's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The execution lives up to the premise. Beautifully drawn and evocative, it hits all the right story beats at a great pace. I wanted the next volume instantly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: War and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
moderate eye horrorthevampiremars's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I enjoyed this even more than I thought I would. Hans’s painterly art style is gorgeous and Gillen’s worldbuilding is fantastic. The meta aspects of the story are handled really well. The classes (Dictator, Neo, Godbinder, Grief Knight, Fool) are all really interesting, both mechanically and in terms of what they tell us about the characters.
Ash was already my favourite character, but “This is the point where, if this was a different kind of story, I’d come out with a simple answer” made me love her. It’s great to see a character who is definitely queer but whose queerness isn’t taxonomically categorised. I suspect her identity will be pinpointed later on, but I appreciate the angst-free ambiguity she exists in at this moment. You love to see it.
I do have a few complaints but they’re relatively minor and nitpicky. I felt this volume was a little too exposition-heavy, for example – a lot was explained via Ash’s narration rather than being shown and demonstrated. I needed more time to get to know the characters before the action started, and some characters (eg: Matt) were underused and sidelined.
But still, the things I like greatly outweigh any criticisms I may have. I will definitely be checking out the rest of the Die series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, and Death of parent