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crackityjones 's review for:
Saga, Vol. 6
by Brian K. Vaughan
I feel like I should start this review with a disclaimer: I don't do well with series. For one, my memory is just awful so if I don't read them right in a row I have a hard time remembering what is happening or why I should care. I also just lose interest over time, possibly related to that memory issue, but also I think because series tend to meander. There's nothing wrong with side plots and secondary characters and philosophical musings, but I think series tend more than single volumes to get caught up and sunk by too many details.
This is an issue, I think, that Saga is facing. I've felt for the last two volumes like there were too many irrelevant side plots and characters; at the same time, these books manage to feel more like an outline than like actual stories. They're hitting all of the plot points - girl is kidnapped, family goes on rescue mission, family finds girl - but it doesn't feel earned. In general, this volume kind of felt like filler - like he's just trying to quickly close out previous storylines to move onto something new and exciting. I might have an easier time with that were I reading the issues as they came out, rather than waiting for the collections. It was rough to wait so long for this, and to ultimately feel like nothing really happened. (A strange feeling for sure, since a lot happened re: Hazel reuniting with her parents. But that reunion came so fast that I didn't feel like I should care that it happened. Then again, I absolutely teared up when Marko and Hazel were reunited. Vaughan is a great writer and Staples is a great artist - they knew how to make that scene hit. But I still don't feel like it was earned, and I kind of resent the emotional payoff without any real build-up.)
I don't know quite how to explain my problems here. Like, do I just think that these stories should be longer? Maybe. Maybe this book shouldn't have opened with a time jump that skipped Hazel and her grandmother's experience in the detainment camp, Alana and Marko getting back together, and the kid Robot whose name I've already forgotten growing up. And - I get the sense that this is going to be the story of Hazel's entire life. That's a LOT of ground to cover, and BKV can't include everything. I get it! I just find myself questioning what he's including and what he's leaving out. Was the reporter side plot really necessary to this story? Did we need to see Marko's pseudo-adultery friend again? And I generally like the Will, but his presence here felt so unnecessary!
This volume also made me question the world building here, some. I see what BKV's doing, drawing these parallels between homophobia or transphobia and inter-species relationships, but I don't necessarily like it. This volume really brought it to the forefront, which means that it also brought to the forefront the fact that BKV has imagined an entire UNIVERSE of different species which all apparently follow completely human, heteronormative relationship patterns. Like - every species is divided into males and females, every species expects males and females to shack up together but most of the universe has gotten over its inherent homophobia - great? That's all you got, man? I know that authors have been using sci-fi to talk about human rights issues for decades, and to do that you have to, to some extent, force human social expectations on alien societies. At the same time, I feel like it would be more progressive to just straight up write societies where gender and sexuality aren't a binary. I mean, you've got an entire universe to work with!
Anyway, I don't know. I still enjoyed reading this. His dialogue is great, her art is a pleasure. I'm just a little disappointed that it's not as solid as the first few books in the series. I also know that I tend to feel this way about series in general (like, I'm pretty sure the middle of Y: The Last Man lagged for me too) so I'm going to stick it out. Here's hoping the next one has a little more going on.
This is an issue, I think, that Saga is facing. I've felt for the last two volumes like there were too many irrelevant side plots and characters; at the same time, these books manage to feel more like an outline than like actual stories. They're hitting all of the plot points - girl is kidnapped, family goes on rescue mission, family finds girl - but it doesn't feel earned. In general, this volume kind of felt like filler - like he's just trying to quickly close out previous storylines to move onto something new and exciting. I might have an easier time with that were I reading the issues as they came out, rather than waiting for the collections. It was rough to wait so long for this, and to ultimately feel like nothing really happened. (A strange feeling for sure, since a lot happened re: Hazel reuniting with her parents. But that reunion came so fast that I didn't feel like I should care that it happened. Then again, I absolutely teared up when Marko and Hazel were reunited. Vaughan is a great writer and Staples is a great artist - they knew how to make that scene hit. But I still don't feel like it was earned, and I kind of resent the emotional payoff without any real build-up.)
I don't know quite how to explain my problems here. Like, do I just think that these stories should be longer? Maybe. Maybe this book shouldn't have opened with a time jump that skipped Hazel and her grandmother's experience in the detainment camp, Alana and Marko getting back together, and the kid Robot whose name I've already forgotten growing up. And - I get the sense that this is going to be the story of Hazel's entire life. That's a LOT of ground to cover, and BKV can't include everything. I get it! I just find myself questioning what he's including and what he's leaving out. Was the reporter side plot really necessary to this story? Did we need to see Marko's pseudo-adultery friend again? And I generally like the Will, but his presence here felt so unnecessary!
This volume also made me question the world building here, some. I see what BKV's doing, drawing these parallels between homophobia or transphobia and inter-species relationships, but I don't necessarily like it. This volume really brought it to the forefront, which means that it also brought to the forefront the fact that BKV has imagined an entire UNIVERSE of different species which all apparently follow completely human, heteronormative relationship patterns. Like - every species is divided into males and females, every species expects males and females to shack up together but most of the universe has gotten over its inherent homophobia - great? That's all you got, man? I know that authors have been using sci-fi to talk about human rights issues for decades, and to do that you have to, to some extent, force human social expectations on alien societies. At the same time, I feel like it would be more progressive to just straight up write societies where gender and sexuality aren't a binary. I mean, you've got an entire universe to work with!
Anyway, I don't know. I still enjoyed reading this. His dialogue is great, her art is a pleasure. I'm just a little disappointed that it's not as solid as the first few books in the series. I also know that I tend to feel this way about series in general (like, I'm pretty sure the middle of Y: The Last Man lagged for me too) so I'm going to stick it out. Here's hoping the next one has a little more going on.