sneakyawe's review
4.0
I’m always a fan of stand alones and this one was no exception. Beautiful artwork and a meaningful story and it all just fit together nicely. Happy to have it on my shelf!
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
3.0
Like many of the stories that have come out of the Island comic anthology, this collection has fantastic art an a really cool story idea. Unfortunately, its pacing is off, whether that's due to it originally appearing in chapters of an anthology series, or whether it's a general writing issue.
The premise, the daughter of a volcano goddess is destined to become the goddess when her mother dies, and is prophesied to destroy a city is intriguing. But apart from the protagonist, I didn't really find any of the characters fleshed to the point of interesting.
While I ended up not really loving this particular story, I will definitely pick up the next book by Johnnie Christmas and see where it takes me.
I recommend this for people who enjoyed [a:Brandon Graham|7631424|Brandon Graham|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417883118p2/7631424.jpg]'s [b:Prophet, Volume 1: Remission|15770131|Prophet, Volume 1 Remission|Brandon Graham|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346249727s/15770131.jpg|21477514], people interested in mythological world building involving a predominantly female cast, and fans of the type of art currently coming out of Image Comics.
The premise, the daughter of a volcano goddess is destined to become the goddess when her mother dies, and is prophesied to destroy a city is intriguing. But apart from the protagonist, I didn't really find any of the characters fleshed to the point of interesting.
While I ended up not really loving this particular story, I will definitely pick up the next book by Johnnie Christmas and see where it takes me.
I recommend this for people who enjoyed [a:Brandon Graham|7631424|Brandon Graham|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417883118p2/7631424.jpg]'s [b:Prophet, Volume 1: Remission|15770131|Prophet, Volume 1 Remission|Brandon Graham|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346249727s/15770131.jpg|21477514], people interested in mythological world building involving a predominantly female cast, and fans of the type of art currently coming out of Image Comics.
aliciamarie89's review
3.0
Review is actually a 3.7
I really enjoyed this beautiful story. It was very different and facinating. My only critiques would be that the pacing was rushed, and I felt like the story really could have benefited from being spread out between two or three volumes in order to pace it better. And because of the rush of the storytelling we didn't really get to know the characters involved, which is pretty important. I liked the characters, but if we were given more time with them their motivations would have meant more to the reader.
I really enjoyed this beautiful story. It was very different and facinating. My only critiques would be that the pacing was rushed, and I felt like the story really could have benefited from being spread out between two or three volumes in order to pace it better. And because of the rush of the storytelling we didn't really get to know the characters involved, which is pretty important. I liked the characters, but if we were given more time with them their motivations would have meant more to the reader.
familiar_diversions's review
2.0
Okay, I'm going to start off by saying that I got a little lost at times and wasn't always sure about what was going on. I'll try to describe the story as best I can, but I could be wrong about a few things.
Azar is a city located at the foot of a volcano. The people of Azar used to perform rituals to appease the goddess of the volcano, but that didn't stop the volcano from occasionally erupting and destroying everything. Eventually the Cult of the Goddess left Azar and established a new home for themselves, the Golden Capitol. It's now many, many years later, and there's a rebel group called the Third Wave that's convinced that the Cult of the Goddess is keeping the goddess captive, and they want to free her.
Keegan is the goddess's daughter. She tries to help the rebels, but something goes wrong, her mother ends up dead, and Keegan becomes the new goddess. At that point, she becomes determined to go back to Azar, the home of her ancestors. However, the Cult of the Goddess isn't her only enemy. An emissary from the water goddess is after her, and there's a prophecy that Keegan's return to Azar will mean its destruction.
This was an ARC my mom picked up for me at a conference. As far as I can tell, this volume collects the entire series. It doesn't appear to be a spinoff of anything, although it kind of felt like it was, and I can't find anything about any sort of continuation, even though the ending leaves room for more story.
I didn't like the artwork at all, but Tamra Bonvillain's coloring helped paper over some of its shortcomings and almost make it pretty, at times. There was some really nice use of cool vs. warm colors.
The story was intriguing enough, but confusing and a bit choppy. I had thought the Cult of the Goddess would be important in some way, but after the confined goddess was dealt with, they might as well have been written out of the story. It felt like they had been, after Adria rescued Griffin. Who, by the way, was not worth any amount of Keegan and Adria's time and energy. I don't know what either of them saw in him. He was a quick way for the author to establish a basis for Adria and Keegan's more human rivalry before their goddess rivalry added fuel to the fire.
I don't know that this was necessarily bad, but it definitely could have been better. The story and characters just left me cold.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Azar is a city located at the foot of a volcano. The people of Azar used to perform rituals to appease the goddess of the volcano, but that didn't stop the volcano from occasionally erupting and destroying everything. Eventually the Cult of the Goddess left Azar and established a new home for themselves, the Golden Capitol. It's now many, many years later, and there's a rebel group called the Third Wave that's convinced that the Cult of the Goddess is keeping the goddess captive, and they want to free her.
Keegan is the goddess's daughter. She tries to help the rebels, but something goes wrong, her mother ends up dead, and Keegan becomes the new goddess. At that point, she becomes determined to go back to Azar, the home of her ancestors. However, the Cult of the Goddess isn't her only enemy. An emissary from the water goddess is after her, and there's a prophecy that Keegan's return to Azar will mean its destruction.
This was an ARC my mom picked up for me at a conference. As far as I can tell, this volume collects the entire series. It doesn't appear to be a spinoff of anything, although it kind of felt like it was, and I can't find anything about any sort of continuation, even though the ending leaves room for more story.
I didn't like the artwork at all, but Tamra Bonvillain's coloring helped paper over some of its shortcomings and almost make it pretty, at times. There was some really nice use of cool vs. warm colors.
The story was intriguing enough, but confusing and a bit choppy. I had thought the Cult of the Goddess would be important in some way, but after the confined goddess was dealt with, they might as well have been written out of the story. It felt like they had been, after Adria rescued Griffin. Who, by the way, was not worth any amount of Keegan and Adria's time and energy. I don't know what either of them saw in him. He was a quick way for the author to establish a basis for Adria and Keegan's more human rivalry before their goddess rivalry added fuel to the fire.
I don't know that this was necessarily bad, but it definitely could have been better. The story and characters just left me cold.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
mountainzombie's review
1.0
Johnnie Christmas's art in this is insane and my favorite part of the comic. the colors are out of this world and the style adds some fresh air to its genre. I am tired of anorexic foreversexy women but I'm learning that unless it's a female artist the comic will always depict women as a male gaze buffet and as someone who grew up on superhero comics I've learned to begrudgingly roll with it. That being said, I can't vibe with comics that don't have fleshed out characters. I also I'm also really tired of ugly women being evil as narrative trope or just like, ugliness in general as a mark of villainy. It's a societal standard so it's hard to get social justice oriented about the "if she isn't hot then she's a bad guy!" trope but also it does make me uncomfortable and ruins my enjoyment of whatever media I'm consuming. I think because I've been spoiling myself on comics primarily written by women that whenever I'm reading something with female characters that aren't believable as people it ruins my enjoyment. There are definitely male comics writers (Sunstone!) who can make me believe that the women are actual people but Firebug left me feeling completely Taratinoed. 1/2 stars for some cool art though.
wcsheffer's review against another edition
3.0
An immersive and visually stunning comic falling the rise of a new goddess in a fictitious world. The art and basic story of this comic are great and exciting. However, I was easily lost in the details of the story--lots of different things happening at once without much clear delineation; there is more than one fire cult, it starts in a city that may or may not be different than another city, etc. I also found some character motivation to be unclear, two characters quickly become enemies for no discernible reason. That all being said, I really had a great time reading this little comic. The illustrations are great and the pacing is just right.
jupiter72's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
djl's review against another edition
3.0
Like many other reviewers, I really loved Christmas's artwork in this standalone graphic novel. But at the same, I felt confused and a little disjointed while reading the story. Parts made sense while others had me tilting my head to the side. I really wanted to like this story more than I did, and I'm sure it will find readers who thoroughly enjoy it (a friend at my local comic store really liked it).
seawarrior's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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