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A review by destdest
The Last Count of Monte Cristo by Ayize Jama Everett
Did not finish book. Stopped at 64%.
dnf @ 103 pages
This cover is stellar! It immediately caught my eye on the library display stand. The color direction remained varied and shiny throughout too. Truly, I thought it was one of the book's strengths.
At the basic heart of the story, Dantes has been done wrong, and he goes on a long, tortuous journey to get his lick back.
It is an afrofuturistic retelling (with some Asian side characters: the jailmate, the female love interest(s), and later companions of Dantes) with Arabic references to The Count of Monte Cristo. I've not read the classic, but it didn't impede my understanding of the story. There were some cool sci-fi sprinkles here, but I'd have liked to see more.
There may be a barrier to entry with the dialogue. I greatly disliked reading it. It’s not old-timey speech, but it’s purple prose-y with an awkward rhythm. I wish the language would have been more to the point. I found myself rereading speech bubbles over, trying to get to the doggone point.
Since I was a newcomer to this story, I had to do a quick Wikipedia run and Google search to fill in some missing pieces. It's a lofty goal for a graphic novel to be able to cover everything.
Like, with Haydee who felt like a lamppost with lipstick instead of a character.she just shows up magically on one page. I didn't understand why Dante owned her. Because this graphic novel doesn't touch on that he bought her freedom as a part of his revenge. Now, from what I've read, it may have been omitted for good reason because it makes things squicky with their later relationship.
Overall, I'd have liked to continue this, but the dialogue was just too tiresome for me.
This cover is stellar! It immediately caught my eye on the library display stand. The color direction remained varied and shiny throughout too. Truly, I thought it was one of the book's strengths.
At the basic heart of the story, Dantes has been done wrong, and he goes on a long, tortuous journey to get his lick back.
It is an afrofuturistic retelling (with some Asian side characters: the jailmate, the female love interest(s), and later companions of Dantes) with Arabic references to The Count of Monte Cristo. I've not read the classic, but it didn't impede my understanding of the story. There were some cool sci-fi sprinkles here, but I'd have liked to see more.
There may be a barrier to entry with the dialogue. I greatly disliked reading it. It’s not old-timey speech, but it’s purple prose-y with an awkward rhythm. I wish the language would have been more to the point. I found myself rereading speech bubbles over, trying to get to the doggone point.
Since I was a newcomer to this story, I had to do a quick Wikipedia run and Google search to fill in some missing pieces. It's a lofty goal for a graphic novel to be able to cover everything.
Like, with Haydee who felt like a lamppost with lipstick instead of a character.
Overall, I'd have liked to continue this, but the dialogue was just too tiresome for me.