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jaymo007's review
4.0
I started reading this several times but just wasn’t getting sucked in the way I typically am with Snyder and the art didn’t grab me. Honestly, I mostly decided to finish it to help hit my reading goal for 2020. But I’m definitely intrigued and ready for the other books. And once the art becomes more atmospheric, the water color texture and the colors are really beautiful.
wbfreema's review
3.0
an interesting little romp. excited to know what the secret is. lame that everyone now cliffhangers their single issues so you'll buy the next one. we see your gimmick's guys. beautifully illustrated, but the logorrhea isn't particularly exciting. shit's too wordy, yo. so a 3 it gets.
fisk42's review against another edition
4.0
At this point I will read anything put out by Snyder or Lemire (even if I'm not the best at keeping up with their current projects). So when I heard the two were teaming up for a standalone graphic novel I knew I had to read this.
What they've come up with is a pretty unique thing. A.D. pushes the boundary for what comics books can do. Half written in prose-like fashion and half written in regular comic fashion with Lemire's sparse art style gives this a completely unique feeling. A.D. also has a structure which is challenging and rewarding.
Overall this was a fantastic book with a very emotional story. I've come to expect that from Lemire but since Synder did most, if not all, of the writing I was a little surprised. I think the thread I liked most in A.D. was the meditation on memory and who we are without our memory. Personally I have a pretty terrible long term memory and often have trouble remembering various important events. I don't entirely like the conclusion that A.D. arrives at in regards to memory, but it is a great end-cap on a good journey.
What they've come up with is a pretty unique thing. A.D. pushes the boundary for what comics books can do. Half written in prose-like fashion and half written in regular comic fashion with Lemire's sparse art style gives this a completely unique feeling. A.D. also has a structure which is challenging and rewarding.
Overall this was a fantastic book with a very emotional story. I've come to expect that from Lemire but since Synder did most, if not all, of the writing I was a little surprised. I think the thread I liked most in A.D. was the meditation on memory and who we are without our memory. Personally I have a pretty terrible long term memory and often have trouble remembering various important events. I don't entirely like the conclusion that A.D. arrives at in regards to memory, but it is a great end-cap on a good journey.
vigneswara_prabhu's review against another edition
Rating 3 out of 5 | Grade: B; Poignant, thought inducing, Depressing
Sometime in the distant future, a bunch of billionaires discover the cure for death, or rather aging. Using the genetic material drawn from Claire, an orphan with the Neotenic Complex Syndrome, and engineering it to produce a booster serum which can stave off aging, if administered every few years.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world had gone to shit, with regressing societal conditions, environmental disasters and of course, the threat of nuclear war.
Errant, an old eccentric billionaire, gathers a small clique of individuals whom he considers useful, and takes them to a safe haven, a retreat constructed on the mountain peak, over 12000 feet high.
Over time, the commune would swell up to 4000 people, all being administered booster shots for immortality through the water and shots. Plants, livestock, cities, their own little niche of civilization safe from the chaos of the world, which at this point had gone to complete catastrophe.
A barrier of unnatural psychedelic lighting clouds now separates the immortal utopia from the surface world. Whether or not it was a result of the freak weather following the nuclear winter, or something put in place to deny entry to any adventurous survivors remains to be seen.
So, in this glass city of Kandor, humans live, live and live. Centuries pass, cycles come and go, until living just becomes a chore, it becomes merely existing. The human mind, with its limiting capacity, can only retain a few hundred years' worth of memories.
In time old memories, that before the collapse of the world, of them living normal moral lives are erased. Centuries pass like there were merely a season, and all the collective memories collapse into a congealed indecipherable mess.
You could meet someone for the ‘first time’, without realizing that a lifetime ago, he/she was your significant other, or closest friend. When time stopped to have meaning for human life, so did life itself.
Sometime in the distant future, a bunch of billionaires discover the cure for death, or rather aging. Using the genetic material drawn from Claire, an orphan with the Neotenic Complex Syndrome, and engineering it to produce a booster serum which can stave off aging, if administered every few years.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world had gone to shit, with regressing societal conditions, environmental disasters and of course, the threat of nuclear war.
Errant, an old eccentric billionaire, gathers a small clique of individuals whom he considers useful, and takes them to a safe haven, a retreat constructed on the mountain peak, over 12000 feet high.
Over time, the commune would swell up to 4000 people, all being administered booster shots for immortality through the water and shots. Plants, livestock, cities, their own little niche of civilization safe from the chaos of the world, which at this point had gone to complete catastrophe.
A barrier of unnatural psychedelic lighting clouds now separates the immortal utopia from the surface world. Whether or not it was a result of the freak weather following the nuclear winter, or something put in place to deny entry to any adventurous survivors remains to be seen.
So, in this glass city of Kandor, humans live, live and live. Centuries pass, cycles come and go, until living just becomes a chore, it becomes merely existing. The human mind, with its limiting capacity, can only retain a few hundred years' worth of memories.
In time old memories, that before the collapse of the world, of them living normal moral lives are erased. Centuries pass like there were merely a season, and all the collective memories collapse into a congealed indecipherable mess.
You could meet someone for the ‘first time’, without realizing that a lifetime ago, he/she was your significant other, or closest friend. When time stopped to have meaning for human life, so did life itself.
shadowhelm's review
4.0
Really interesting book. Part prose part comic book format. It honestly feels like a story that could be told tangentially with something from Jeff VanderMeer "Annihilation" universe. I hope they explore the possible link between The Cure and The Dyning in later books. It seems like the two things must be connected in some way. I am not sure Jeff Lemire's art really gives the story everything it needs but I am admittedly not much of a fan of his art anyway. Snyder's story, however, leaves me wanting to know more and that is usually the sign of a good book. Definitely going to read the next installment.
squirrelz's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I wish this was longer, I didn't want it to be over
alwroteabook's review against another edition
3.5
I remember reading this, but it's been so long I can't remember any more than I liked it. Didn't love it, but it was good.
kandicez's review against another edition
4.0
I waffled between three and four stars. I genuinely love [a:Jeff Lemire|543719|Jeff Lemire|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1568921362p2/543719.jpg]'s illustrations. I would recognize his work even if his name did not appear. And [a:Scott Snyder|70026|Scott Snyder|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1337783422p2/70026.jpg] has a very, very distinctive literary voice. My waffling was because I didn't feel the two quite gelled. I would give each component five stars alone, but together they somehow felt... less than they were taken alone.
This was heavy. Not that anyone would expect light and airy from either contributor, but man! This read as a dream, which is of course, exactly how it's meant to read. What is memory, other than a dream lived over and over in our mind?
The world has found a "cure" for aging and one of the people who helped to find this cure is having second thoughts. Hell, maybe even hundredth thoughts. In that way, this was reminiscent of [b:Shutter Island|21686|Shutter Island|Dennis Lehane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329269081l/21686._SY75_.jpg|1234227] by [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg]. The events we witness turn out to be only the most recent cycle. Very moving when this is revealed.
Over the last ten years or so it has become very, very clear to me that I would not want to live forever. I don't even know that I want to reach old age. People around me, people I love, have aged less than gracefully. They have aged and deteriorated in long, drawn out and very painful ways. I don't want that. I don't want the people who love me to watch me go through what I have seen. There is a heavy burden involved with caring for a loved one in illness. Not a cold, flu, virus, but an illness that ends in death. Especially when death is the only possible outcome. Snyder, in these pages, finds a way around this, but... and it's a big BUT, it doesn't give life anymore meaning. It doesn't add joy. It doesn't prolong happiness. Is life really life without meaning, joy and love? Not to me.
Now to the actual content. Snyder must have done a ton of research. He mentions diseases I had never heard of and that sounded made up. Imagine my surprise when I looked them up and they were real! Diseases like Neotenic Complex Syndrome and Fibro dysplasia Ossificans Progressive and Epidermolysis bullosa. He mentions CRSPRS and gene splicing, but mentions them in a way that makes sense, even to me, someone who knows nothing about them. You can bet I looked it all up. Phenomenal writing!
Another subject is a "new color." That doesn't seem impressive when I look at what I just typed, but trust me, it is. Snyder explains the color, and of course color can't be explained or described without using other colors as reference, but I was so intrigued! Because of the kind of story this is, the theft of said color is commissioned. Seriously! The theft of a color. And in Snyder's nimble words I bought the concept. And now I am back to waffling... because Lemire depicts this "new color" so perfectly without, of course, actually using a new color.
This was an enigma for me.
This was heavy. Not that anyone would expect light and airy from either contributor, but man! This read as a dream, which is of course, exactly how it's meant to read. What is memory, other than a dream lived over and over in our mind?
The world has found a "cure" for aging and one of the people who helped to find this cure is having second thoughts. Hell, maybe even hundredth thoughts. In that way, this was reminiscent of [b:Shutter Island|21686|Shutter Island|Dennis Lehane|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329269081l/21686._SY75_.jpg|1234227] by [a:Dennis Lehane|10289|Dennis Lehane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1227580381p2/10289.jpg]. The events we witness turn out to be only the most recent cycle. Very moving when this is revealed.
Over the last ten years or so it has become very, very clear to me that I would not want to live forever. I don't even know that I want to reach old age. People around me, people I love, have aged less than gracefully. They have aged and deteriorated in long, drawn out and very painful ways. I don't want that. I don't want the people who love me to watch me go through what I have seen. There is a heavy burden involved with caring for a loved one in illness. Not a cold, flu, virus, but an illness that ends in death. Especially when death is the only possible outcome. Snyder, in these pages, finds a way around this, but... and it's a big BUT, it doesn't give life anymore meaning. It doesn't add joy. It doesn't prolong happiness. Is life really life without meaning, joy and love? Not to me.
Now to the actual content. Snyder must have done a ton of research. He mentions diseases I had never heard of and that sounded made up. Imagine my surprise when I looked them up and they were real! Diseases like Neotenic Complex Syndrome and Fibro dysplasia Ossificans Progressive and Epidermolysis bullosa. He mentions CRSPRS and gene splicing, but mentions them in a way that makes sense, even to me, someone who knows nothing about them. You can bet I looked it all up. Phenomenal writing!
Another subject is a "new color." That doesn't seem impressive when I look at what I just typed, but trust me, it is. Snyder explains the color, and of course color can't be explained or described without using other colors as reference, but I was so intrigued! Because of the kind of story this is, the theft of said color is commissioned. Seriously! The theft of a color. And in Snyder's nimble words I bought the concept. And now I am back to waffling... because Lemire depicts this "new color" so perfectly without, of course, actually using a new color.
This was an enigma for me.
gold_star_reader's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0