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A review by crookedtreehouse
Ninjak, Volume 3: Operation: Deadside by Matt Kindt
2.0
I don't envy any writer trying to pull a story out of the absolute muck that Shadowman's narrative has become.
I'm certainly sad that Kindt's consistently interesting Valiant Universe titles run has this misstep along its path. There's potential intrigue in tossing Ninjak, a suave British ninja assassin who works with the Valiant Universe's Avengers, [b:Unity, Volume 1: To Kill a King|20313289|Unity, Volume 1 To Kill a King|Matt Kindt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392028211l/20313289._SY75_.jpg|28147960], into a magical storyline featuring the much misused Shadowman (I'm not linking, you shouldn't be encouraged to read a Shadowman book) and the poorly named Punk Mambo. Unfortunately, more of this story is focused on the Shadowman mythos than Ninjak's interaction with it. So the story plods confusingly through a hellish landscape that no writer has yet made frightening, intimidating, visually striking, or thematically interesting. Every tiny inconvenience is immediately overcome in the main storyline as they try and ... free Shadowman ?.. rescue the previous team sent into Deadside ?.. learn more about the dimension ?... Nothing in this book is clear. Nothing made me want to learn more about any of the characters, or the world they inhabit.
This is a thoroughly skippable portion of the Valiant Universe.
I'm certainly sad that Kindt's consistently interesting Valiant Universe titles run has this misstep along its path. There's potential intrigue in tossing Ninjak, a suave British ninja assassin who works with the Valiant Universe's Avengers, [b:Unity, Volume 1: To Kill a King|20313289|Unity, Volume 1 To Kill a King|Matt Kindt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392028211l/20313289._SY75_.jpg|28147960], into a magical storyline featuring the much misused Shadowman (I'm not linking, you shouldn't be encouraged to read a Shadowman book) and the poorly named Punk Mambo. Unfortunately, more of this story is focused on the Shadowman mythos than Ninjak's interaction with it. So the story plods confusingly through a hellish landscape that no writer has yet made frightening, intimidating, visually striking, or thematically interesting. Every tiny inconvenience is immediately overcome in the main storyline as they try and ... free Shadowman ?.. rescue the previous team sent into Deadside ?.. learn more about the dimension ?... Nothing in this book is clear. Nothing made me want to learn more about any of the characters, or the world they inhabit.
This is a thoroughly skippable portion of the Valiant Universe.