Scan barcode
A review by graypeape
The Wall by Mario Alberti, Antoine Charreyron
dark
fast-paced
3.0
This is a tough one, I really thought I'd like this more. I dig post-apocalyptic stuff, and this story does have good ideas behind it: people struggling to live in a post-apocalyptic world, with some fighting to get to the other side of the Wall, behind which is ED3N, an oasis of easy living where no one wants for anything and life is perfect. Lots of room for present-day symbolism about walls both physical and metaphorical, keeping out refugees, immigrants, and other "undesirables." Cinematic art, full of action. However...
The execution is... not great. The pace is choppy, the timeline jumps around in a confusing way, and I just didn't get attached to the characters (I don't need to love them or even like them, but I should be interested in what happens to them). I did maintain a desire to continue reading; I still wanted to see how things played out. The initial twist wasn't super surprising, but hey, it's a good trope, and it worked. Once I caught on to the flashbacks (seriously, a little hint that events weren't concurrent would've been helpful), things made more sense, but that part of the story felt a bit rushed, I guess to make room for all the battle scenes in the second half - I'd've preferred less action and more story, but YMMV. The art is great, really nice, but the battle scenes were confusing, and it got hard to tell what was going on.
Would I recommend this? Maybe. I'd add caveats, though.
The execution is... not great. The pace is choppy, the timeline jumps around in a confusing way, and I just didn't get attached to the characters (I don't need to love them or even like them, but I should be interested in what happens to them). I did maintain a desire to continue reading; I still wanted to see how things played out. The initial twist wasn't super surprising, but hey, it's a good trope, and it worked. Once I caught on to the flashbacks (seriously, a little hint that events weren't concurrent would've been helpful), things made more sense, but that part of the story felt a bit rushed, I guess to make room for all the battle scenes in the second half - I'd've preferred less action and more story, but YMMV. The art is great, really nice, but the battle scenes were confusing, and it got hard to tell what was going on.
Would I recommend this? Maybe. I'd add caveats, though.