A review by kurtwombat
Marathon by Joe Infurnari, Boaz Yakin

2.0

There is a good story in here somewhere and at moments it does peak through but mostly it is lost in a blur of rushed story-telling, confused art work and a mauling of history. From the beginning I found myself putting in way too much effort trying to figure out who was who during the herky-jerky prologue that was the main character’s youth. Then when the battle for Athens was under way, it just grew worse. Most of the dialogue was inelegant and the art work under-conceived—just throw a bunch of stuff in there and have someone shout what’s happening. When you have to reread portions to figure out who is who in a story designed to mimic the impetus of a runner you have already lost the race. As implied by the cover art and the title the best part of the book is the dramatic run at the end much of which is thrilling and well executed (dialogue at a minimum). However, by this point I was shouldering enough annoyance to hinder my interest in the goings on and what should have been a stirring victorious conclusion became just the last pages of a book I was closing so I could read something else.