A review by benfast
The Explorers Guild, Volume 1: A Passage to Shambhala by Kevin Costner, Jon Baird
3.0
I bought this book on a whim. Explorers? Graphic novel? Co-written by Kevin Costner?! Why the heck not.
I read it over a snowed-in, cold-suffering long weekend and wasn't thoroughly disappointed, though I wouldn't rate this book near the top of any to-read shelf. The story is exciting enough: full of 1915-style adventure language, a strange mix of characters, secret societies, exotic locales, mystery and mysticism, and a fair few blanked out curse words. The story does drag at times, however, for this is not just a 760ish page graphic novel, but rather half graphic novel have regular novel. The narration (which is the regular novel part) takes the form of letters and diaries and (I think) just straight narration from the...the person telling the story, I forget who exactly he is but he has something to do with the Explorer's Guild. These sections are rich with the 1915-style language that suits the adventure story but makes for a long-winded narration. I often found myself wanting to read quickly to get back to the images.
The images themselves are interesting, four long vertical boxes in a grid pattern on each page. The art is nice, though perhaps not the most outstanding, and I found myself having difficulties keeping track of characters in scenes involving lots of people. But they read easily, were interesting enough, and suited the old-school action they contained.
I was confused by some characters, and by some plot lines that seemed a bit too unexplained to be able to follow easily. Some characters in particular, like Bertram, joined the team and were obviously important, but didn't have anything furthering their clues until the final chapter. Some of the Dragoons themselves were lost in various shipwrecks or accidents, but it wasn't made clear they were lost until later in other scenes when phrases like "only 20 are left now" floated in as if we were supposed to have known that. I hope in the next of the series they spend a bit more time on character development (though I'm not sure what the next installment could be about as the story seemed to wrap up with finality in the last chapter - I guess the plot might be very different though the characters could be similar).
I didn't expect the level of mysticism that would come up in the latter half of the book. The underground rivers were one thing, ok you could suspend disbelief in an Indiana Jones sort of way, but the undead Mr. Sloane and the man who eats so much he - quite literally - turns into an island? I didn't go for that. In my mind elements like that turn the story from a Biggles-style adventure book to a fantasy book. I can live with secret cities and what not, but for some reason I found myself thinking "...really?"
I may read the next in this series if it comes across my path, just to see what they do with it and because it's not the worst distraction. I probably won't buy it though. I also wonder how much Kevin Costner was actually involved with this project...?
I read it over a snowed-in, cold-suffering long weekend and wasn't thoroughly disappointed, though I wouldn't rate this book near the top of any to-read shelf. The story is exciting enough: full of 1915-style adventure language, a strange mix of characters, secret societies, exotic locales, mystery and mysticism, and a fair few blanked out curse words. The story does drag at times, however, for this is not just a 760ish page graphic novel, but rather half graphic novel have regular novel. The narration (which is the regular novel part) takes the form of letters and diaries and (I think) just straight narration from the...the person telling the story, I forget who exactly he is but he has something to do with the Explorer's Guild. These sections are rich with the 1915-style language that suits the adventure story but makes for a long-winded narration. I often found myself wanting to read quickly to get back to the images.
The images themselves are interesting, four long vertical boxes in a grid pattern on each page. The art is nice, though perhaps not the most outstanding, and I found myself having difficulties keeping track of characters in scenes involving lots of people. But they read easily, were interesting enough, and suited the old-school action they contained.
I was confused by some characters, and by some plot lines that seemed a bit too unexplained to be able to follow easily. Some characters in particular, like Bertram, joined the team and were obviously important, but didn't have anything furthering their clues until the final chapter. Some of the Dragoons themselves were lost in various shipwrecks or accidents, but it wasn't made clear they were lost until later in other scenes when phrases like "only 20 are left now" floated in as if we were supposed to have known that. I hope in the next of the series they spend a bit more time on character development (though I'm not sure what the next installment could be about as the story seemed to wrap up with finality in the last chapter - I guess the plot might be very different though the characters could be similar).
I didn't expect the level of mysticism that would come up in the latter half of the book. The underground rivers were one thing, ok you could suspend disbelief in an Indiana Jones sort of way, but the undead Mr. Sloane and the man who eats so much he - quite literally - turns into an island? I didn't go for that. In my mind elements like that turn the story from a Biggles-style adventure book to a fantasy book. I can live with secret cities and what not, but for some reason I found myself thinking "...really?"
I may read the next in this series if it comes across my path, just to see what they do with it and because it's not the worst distraction. I probably won't buy it though. I also wonder how much Kevin Costner was actually involved with this project...?