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159 reviews for:
The Hunger and The Dusk, Vol. 1
Michele SassyK, G. Willow Wilson, Christian Wildgoose
4.18 AVERAGE
159 reviews for:
The Hunger and The Dusk, Vol. 1
Michele SassyK, G. Willow Wilson, Christian Wildgoose
4.18 AVERAGE
Such great high fantasy. I cannot wait until I can grab the second volume!
adventurous
mysterious
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:
No
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
<i>The Hunger and the Dusk</i> follows two warring peoples bound together by a tenuous alliance against a common enemy. While this opening volume may not be the most ground breaking fantasy concept ever imagined, it’s still a fresh iteration of a classic idea. The real reason you need to pick this comic up is that the art is beyond fantastic: from the dynamic movement to the bold, juicy colors, this is fantasy art at its best.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In a fantasy world that seems on the decline, where conflict between orcs and humans is worsened since orcs are running out of fertile grazing lands and humans are encroaching on their pastures, the arrival of a common enemy forces the two sides to form an alliance. To seal the deal, powerful orc leader Faran Stoneback sends his beloved cousin Tara - a skilled healer - to accompany the warrior-band of respected past adversary Callum Battlechild. Both groups must contend with long-ingrained prejudices against each other if they're going to succeed.
Pros:
-an interesting world with a fresh imagining of how orc society works, complete with their own system of aristocracy
-the tension between humans and orcs has realistic reasons and manifests in realistic ways (like the bard noticing that he'll have to write new songs because all of them contain unpleasant lines about orcs)
-good complexity to the main characters and their relationships to each other: for instance, beyond basic interspecies tensions, there's the class division of Callum being an illiterate bastard and Tara an aristocrat, albeit with some family disgrace
-nice that the human and orc sides are not monoliths, either - there are multiple factions among the orcs, some of which oppose the alliance
-I liked how the political marriage was shown!
-no apparent widespread sexism: we see both human and orc women as respected warriors, and orc women in positions of political and religious power as a matter-of-fact thing
Cons:
-a bit of sameface-syndrome sometimes: Tara and Callum have the same nose, and orc women all seem to have the same full lips while orc men all have thin ones (I've heard snide comments about how 'fantasy is when Black people are orcs' - looks like that only applies to orc women here)
-it's hard at this point to get a fix on the enemy: are they bestial or intelligent? Most of the ones we see behave in a mad-dog kind of way and have a bipedal shape but a largely quadrupedal gait (and if you're quadripeds, why on earth would you wear anything skirt-like??) so is that their normal state or is this a disease...? Or are they like 90s-movie-version Morlocks, with one intelligent leader over a hive of lesser drones...? Maybe that will be clarified in later volumes.
-since Callum's small band is the only group of humans we encounter (except for in the brief intro), we don't get as good a view of the human side of things as we do of the orcs, so it's hard to see how the alliance is supposed to be effective is only this one tiny band seems to be involved; again, hopefully this will change in later volumes
Pros outweigh the cons in this case, and I am very interested to see how the story continues!
Content concerns: scenes of bloody warfare and violent deaths; brief nudity and glimpses of (fade-to-black) sex scenes; mention of rape and one attempted SA (both portrayed as bad things, not titillating); interspecies tension may be remisniscent of racial tensions, if you'd rather read something completely devoid of that
Pros:
-an interesting world with a fresh imagining of how orc society works, complete with their own system of aristocracy
-the tension between humans and orcs has realistic reasons and manifests in realistic ways (like the bard noticing that he'll have to write new songs because all of them contain unpleasant lines about orcs)
-good complexity to the main characters and their relationships to each other: for instance, beyond basic interspecies tensions, there's the class division of Callum being an illiterate bastard and Tara an aristocrat, albeit with some family disgrace
-nice that the human and orc sides are not monoliths, either - there are multiple factions among the orcs, some of which oppose the alliance
-I liked how the political marriage was shown!
-no apparent widespread sexism: we see both human and orc women as respected warriors, and orc women in positions of political and religious power as a matter-of-fact thing
Cons:
-a bit of sameface-syndrome sometimes: Tara and Callum have the same nose, and orc women all seem to have the same full lips while orc men all have thin ones (I've heard snide comments about how 'fantasy is when Black people are orcs' - looks like that only applies to orc women here)
-it's hard at this point to get a fix on the enemy: are they bestial or intelligent? Most of the ones we see behave in a mad-dog kind of way and have a bipedal shape but a largely quadrupedal gait (and if you're quadripeds, why on earth would you wear anything skirt-like??) so is that their normal state or is this a disease...? Or are they like 90s-movie-version Morlocks, with one intelligent leader over a hive of lesser drones...? Maybe that will be clarified in later volumes.
-since Callum's small band is the only group of humans we encounter (except for in the brief intro), we don't get as good a view of the human side of things as we do of the orcs, so it's hard to see how the alliance is supposed to be effective is only this one tiny band seems to be involved; again, hopefully this will change in later volumes
Pros outweigh the cons in this case, and I am very interested to see how the story continues!
Content concerns: scenes of bloody warfare and violent deaths; brief nudity and glimpses of (fade-to-black) sex scenes; mention of rape and one attempted SA (both portrayed as bad things, not titillating); interspecies tension may be remisniscent of racial tensions, if you'd rather read something completely devoid of that
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
3.5/5
Well-drawn and the moment-to-moment writing is pretty good, but it's honestly a tad too generic and predictable to be an easy recommendation. There was a lot more the story could've done. Still, it's an enjoyable read with good action. Hoping the next book is more interesting.
Well-drawn and the moment-to-moment writing is pretty good, but it's honestly a tad too generic and predictable to be an easy recommendation. There was a lot more the story could've done. Still, it's an enjoyable read with good action. Hoping the next book is more interesting.