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A review by twicomb
Dandelion by Sabir Pirzada
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Essentially a short-story compilation in graphic format, all themed to the same idea: what if someone invented free-floating "homes" large enough that people could live out the rest of their lives there, never touching back down to earth again? And what if the government decided these should be used as housing for those people it wanted to essentially remove from society? (Similar to when convicts were given one-way ocean trips to Australia.)
The idea of the free-floating "dandelions" (houses) is a fascinating one, and unfortunately we don't actually learn much about them in this compilation. The stories focus more on the human reaction and experience around living (or not living) in the dandelions. A fair choice to make, looking at it from the human-experience perspective, but it left me with a lot of unanswered questions around the dandelions themselves that could have made for rich storytelling. Most of the stories are quite short (after all, they're one-shots, in the comic book sense of the word), which also means that we get a quick glimpse into the mind of a person or people related to the dandelion saga, but we never go too deep. The stories are split between one-shots about everyday dandelion inhabitants and one-shots that touch on the backstory of the mysterious inventor.
The art styles vary from story to story, as one would expect in a compilation, but they all play nicely together. All of the artists did a great job visualizing the dandelions themselves (although again, for a book titled "Dandelion" and ostensibly about these floating housing units, there is very little actual story or visual time spent showing/telling us about the dandelions).
I have mixed feelings about this book. The concept is fascinating. I feel it would have been more successful as a full-length graphic novel that took a few characters (perhaps one or two inhabitants, plus the inventor) and then spent the whole book digging into and expanding on those specific stories. Instead, this felt a little like a "what if?" collection akin to a "what if dinosaurs were vampires?" story collection where you get a lot of things roughly themed around the idea, but no central heart to hold it all together. I do like the originality of the overarching idea, and the opportunity always provided by this sort of compilation to showcase a variety of writers and artists.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.
The idea of the free-floating "dandelions" (houses) is a fascinating one, and unfortunately we don't actually learn much about them in this compilation. The stories focus more on the human reaction and experience around living (or not living) in the dandelions. A fair choice to make, looking at it from the human-experience perspective, but it left me with a lot of unanswered questions around the dandelions themselves that could have made for rich storytelling. Most of the stories are quite short (after all, they're one-shots, in the comic book sense of the word), which also means that we get a quick glimpse into the mind of a person or people related to the dandelion saga, but we never go too deep. The stories are split between one-shots about everyday dandelion inhabitants and one-shots that touch on the backstory of the mysterious inventor.
The art styles vary from story to story, as one would expect in a compilation, but they all play nicely together. All of the artists did a great job visualizing the dandelions themselves (although again, for a book titled "Dandelion" and ostensibly about these floating housing units, there is very little actual story or visual time spent showing/telling us about the dandelions).
I have mixed feelings about this book. The concept is fascinating. I feel it would have been more successful as a full-length graphic novel that took a few characters (perhaps one or two inhabitants, plus the inventor) and then spent the whole book digging into and expanding on those specific stories. Instead, this felt a little like a "what if?" collection akin to a "what if dinosaurs were vampires?" story collection where you get a lot of things roughly themed around the idea, but no central heart to hold it all together. I do like the originality of the overarching idea, and the opportunity always provided by this sort of compilation to showcase a variety of writers and artists.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.