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htoo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A lot of book reviewers I follow recommended this comic and rated it highly. While I was blown away by the art, I can’t say the same for the story. I appreciate the topics that creators set out to explore at its relates to war and trauma but the plot was not plotting. I felt like I was dumped in the middle of the story with minimal clues to help me figure out what’s going on. The world building and cause of the conflict could be explained better. The dialogue could be better at times. Overall it was still a nice read (thanks to the art) but I probably won’t be picking on the next volume.
valbaranqt3_14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.75
swaye's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh, I was really expecting to love this. What a colossal disappointment. In addition to the extreme violence and dark, twisted elements, which I hated, the story just wasn't that good imho. The art and Kippa were the only things that brought this up to a 2 star read for me.
Merged review:
Ugh, I was really expecting to love this. What a colossal disappointment. In addition to the extreme violence and dark, twisted elements, which I hated, the story just wasn't that good imho. The art and Kippa were the only things that brought this up to a 2 star read for me.
Merged review:
Ugh, I was really expecting to love this. What a colossal disappointment. In addition to the extreme violence and dark, twisted elements, which I hated, the story just wasn't that good imho. The art and Kippa were the only things that brought this up to a 2 star read for me.
emeraldgarnet's review against another edition
3.0
Worth a read for the stunning artwork rather than the satisfactory plot.
mitskacir's review against another edition
4.0
The art in this is amazing. Full color, amazing detail, and easy to follow the action. The story is quite complicated and you're thrown into the middle of the world without much exposition. By the end, I think I figured it out (except for the mysteries that are left for the subsequent volumes), but I'd like to read it again so that I can better understand the action at the beginning. So far some of the themes are a bit "been there, seen that", but there is enough unique world building and magic to hold my attention. I hope that in the next volumes the themes become more nuanced as we learn more of the backstory. Would not recommend to the squeamish - there is graphic detail on nearly every page.
Merged review:
The art in this is amazing. Full color, amazing detail, and easy to follow the action. The story is quite complicated and you're thrown into the middle of the world without much exposition. By the end, I think I figured it out (except for the mysteries that are left for the subsequent volumes), but I'd like to read it again so that I can better understand the action at the beginning. So far some of the themes are a bit "been there, seen that", but there is enough unique world building and magic to hold my attention. I hope that in the next volumes the themes become more nuanced as we learn more of the backstory. Would not recommend to the squeamish - there is graphic detail on nearly every page.
Merged review:
The art in this is amazing. Full color, amazing detail, and easy to follow the action. The story is quite complicated and you're thrown into the middle of the world without much exposition. By the end, I think I figured it out (except for the mysteries that are left for the subsequent volumes), but I'd like to read it again so that I can better understand the action at the beginning. So far some of the themes are a bit "been there, seen that", but there is enough unique world building and magic to hold my attention. I hope that in the next volumes the themes become more nuanced as we learn more of the backstory. Would not recommend to the squeamish - there is graphic detail on nearly every page.
nerwen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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
4.25
el_ma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
osborne2read's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
njdarkish's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very different experience than what I usually get from comics. For one, the art was much, much better than one typically sees, and it stayed consistently good throughout. The world was much more unique and fresh than a lot of comics or fantasy fiction in general that I come across. It was also nice to be treated as an intelligent reader who doesn't need their hand held-- the world is vivid and alive and doesn't slow down to explain itself to you. The main characters were interesting, particularly the heroine whose darkness literally cannot be held at bay.
I did question the cat characters, however. They seemed too light and silly in many ways to fit in with the otherwise grimdark world. They felt more like the obligatory small animal sidekicks you so often see in mediocre anime series rather than something that was organic to the world. I just felt like the writer or artist just has a thing for cats, not that their inclusion was actually right for the story.
Merged review:
This was a very different experience than what I usually get from comics. For one, the art was much, much better than one typically sees, and it stayed consistently good throughout. The world was much more unique and fresh than a lot of comics or fantasy fiction in general that I come across. It was also nice to be treated as an intelligent reader who doesn't need their hand held-- the world is vivid and alive and doesn't slow down to explain itself to you. The main characters were interesting, particularly the heroine whose darkness literally cannot be held at bay.
I did question the cat characters, however. They seemed too light and silly in many ways to fit in with the otherwise grimdark world. They felt more like the obligatory small animal sidekicks you so often see in mediocre anime series rather than something that was organic to the world. I just felt like the writer or artist just has a thing for cats, not that their inclusion was actually right for the story.
I did question the cat characters, however. They seemed too light and silly in many ways to fit in with the otherwise grimdark world. They felt more like the obligatory small animal sidekicks you so often see in mediocre anime series rather than something that was organic to the world. I just felt like the writer or artist just has a thing for cats, not that their inclusion was actually right for the story.
Merged review:
This was a very different experience than what I usually get from comics. For one, the art was much, much better than one typically sees, and it stayed consistently good throughout. The world was much more unique and fresh than a lot of comics or fantasy fiction in general that I come across. It was also nice to be treated as an intelligent reader who doesn't need their hand held-- the world is vivid and alive and doesn't slow down to explain itself to you. The main characters were interesting, particularly the heroine whose darkness literally cannot be held at bay.
I did question the cat characters, however. They seemed too light and silly in many ways to fit in with the otherwise grimdark world. They felt more like the obligatory small animal sidekicks you so often see in mediocre anime series rather than something that was organic to the world. I just felt like the writer or artist just has a thing for cats, not that their inclusion was actually right for the story.
vikrmm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.25
Pretty recondite read from what I expected. But it was very enjoyable overall. Bought just this volume to give it a shot and now I definitely plan to continue the series in the future. I definitely see it improving it on a reread. Incredible art from Sana Takeda. Stylistically, some of the best I’ve seen in comics lately. Writing felt very iffy and childish at points but it feels very characteristic in hindsight. It’s a fantasy world with rich, deep history, a lot of which is yet to be uncovered and even understood so I’m excited to jump back into this for the future