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A review by wolfgiselle
The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen
3.0
I was excited to get a really cheap copy of this because I remember looking at it in interest once when browsing the aisles of Barnes and Noble
Now that I've read the first volume, I'm not sure I'm going to read any more of it.
That's not a statement on its quality. This is not a bad book. The artwork is amazing. It was one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place. The colors are bright and vibrant – the character designs creative and distinctive. If I was judging this book on the artwork's appeal alone, it would have earned a full five stars from me, hands down.
Instead, it's the plot and the characters that I had a hard time with. And when I say, 'hard time,' I mean there are too many characters and things going on at a time with little explanation in between to ease understanding.
They kinda drop you right into this story. It seems to be based on mythology and different Gods – which is right up my alley usually. I'm unsure how accurate the information on the Gods is in this story or how much artistic license is used. I'm not educated enough on the subject that I'm qualified to say. It doesn't go into too much depth in the first volume, anyway. I've never seen Lucifer depicted as a God instead of a Fallen Angel or Demon, though. That was new. Guess there's a first time for everything.
Lucifer was, hands down, my favorite character in this. I love pretty much any representation of Lucifer in Literature, and this comic wasn't an exception. By the halfway point of this book — when I was starting to get confused and bored — I was only continuing to read because I wanted to see what happened to Lucifer. They, in particular, also had my favorite character design. That white suit was to die for. Where can I get one?
Anyway, these so-called Gods were apparently once humans that suddenly woke up and learned they were a reincarnated God one day? And this apparently happens every 90 years. These Gods only live for two years after this revelation (mostly in the spotlight) before they die and then have to wait another 90 years to be reborn. As I said, it was a fascinating premise.
The main character was a bit of a blank slate for me. I guess this could change in later books, seeing how this one ended, but for now she was just kinda... meh. We were clearly meant to learn more about the world through her, but - as I've said previously- this book mostly failed me in its lack of explanation. I like exposition and having a clear idea of what is happening and who the characters are deep down. There were too many characters to keep up with. I can only remember the name of two of them off the top of my head. If you enjoy being thrown right into the action without much explanation, have at it. I'm sure you'll enjoy this.
This might have worked better as a novel, sad as it would have been to have to give up the artwork. If I do end up reading more of this, it will be to see if Lucifer makes any further appearances. If they had been the main character, that also would have insured my further readership. I'm a character oriented reader and can forgive almost anything in a story if I like the characters enough. That usually involves me loving more than just one character, however. Just Lucifer wasn't enough to make this a perfect read for me.
Now that I've read the first volume, I'm not sure I'm going to read any more of it.
That's not a statement on its quality. This is not a bad book. The artwork is amazing. It was one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place. The colors are bright and vibrant – the character designs creative and distinctive. If I was judging this book on the artwork's appeal alone, it would have earned a full five stars from me, hands down.
Instead, it's the plot and the characters that I had a hard time with. And when I say, 'hard time,' I mean there are too many characters and things going on at a time with little explanation in between to ease understanding.
They kinda drop you right into this story. It seems to be based on mythology and different Gods – which is right up my alley usually. I'm unsure how accurate the information on the Gods is in this story or how much artistic license is used. I'm not educated enough on the subject that I'm qualified to say. It doesn't go into too much depth in the first volume, anyway. I've never seen Lucifer depicted as a God instead of a Fallen Angel or Demon, though. That was new. Guess there's a first time for everything.
Lucifer was, hands down, my favorite character in this. I love pretty much any representation of Lucifer in Literature, and this comic wasn't an exception. By the halfway point of this book — when I was starting to get confused and bored — I was only continuing to read because I wanted to see what happened to Lucifer. They, in particular, also had my favorite character design. That white suit was to die for. Where can I get one?
Anyway, these so-called Gods were apparently once humans that suddenly woke up and learned they were a reincarnated God one day? And this apparently happens every 90 years. These Gods only live for two years after this revelation (mostly in the spotlight) before they die and then have to wait another 90 years to be reborn. As I said, it was a fascinating premise.
The main character was a bit of a blank slate for me. I guess this could change in later books, seeing how this one ended, but for now she was just kinda... meh. We were clearly meant to learn more about the world through her, but - as I've said previously- this book mostly failed me in its lack of explanation. I like exposition and having a clear idea of what is happening and who the characters are deep down. There were too many characters to keep up with. I can only remember the name of two of them off the top of my head. If you enjoy being thrown right into the action without much explanation, have at it. I'm sure you'll enjoy this.
This might have worked better as a novel, sad as it would have been to have to give up the artwork. If I do end up reading more of this, it will be to see if Lucifer makes any further appearances. If they had been the main character, that also would have insured my further readership. I'm a character oriented reader and can forgive almost anything in a story if I like the characters enough. That usually involves me loving more than just one character, however. Just Lucifer wasn't enough to make this a perfect read for me.