Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Descender #3

Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities

Rate this book
This third collection of the bestselling series by JEFF LEMIRE and 2016 Eisner Award winning artist DUSTIN NGUYEN dives deep into the secret histories of each cast member with revelations that will propel young robot Tim-21's sci-fi adventure into dangerous and exciting new territory. Collects DESCENDER #12-16

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2016

40 people are currently reading
1436 people want to read

About the author

Jeff Lemire

1,393 books3,873 followers
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name


Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
2,330 (36%)
4 stars
2,939 (46%)
3 stars
925 (14%)
2 stars
90 (1%)
1 star
18 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 621 reviews
Profile Image for Book Roast.
52 reviews8,771 followers
April 19, 2019
I loved the little backstories we got here. So emotional! Can’t wait to continue.
Profile Image for Michael Finocchiaro.
Author 3 books6,270 followers
November 24, 2019
This entire Descender series is great. The watercolor art works perfectly (and is so much less confusing that that of Low for example.) The story is complex but great - Harvesters, giants, gnish, the Tim series and Andy and Effi! With Saga, my favorite current graphic novel series!

In Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities, the cover kind of gives away the sinister side of Tim-22 and Effy and Andy lose lots of friends. We also meet Telsa's father, General Nagoki in the past before things on the Machine Moon go pear-shaped due to Quon's past. Driller also revisits some ghosts of his past. So, this episode is sort of a pause as we gear up for the home stretch starting in Descender, Vol. 4: Orbital Mechanics.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.1k followers
February 9, 2017
Volume 3: 5 issues, each devoted to the backstories of principal characters dating back to ten years up to the present action, to help us better understand what is going. Which is a lot. Tim 22, Telsa, Effie (and Andy), Bandit the Robot dog, Driller (the Killer). This is not Vaughn’s Saga with clever dialogue, but it nevertheless has heartfelt characterization and warm and wonderful watercolor art from Nguyen.

And you really care about some of the characters such as little bot Tim 22. And Bandit. And Driller. The point would be that robots can be real characters with depth of feeling and relatability. So this is AI emotional capacity exploration, nothing all that new here, but Lemire and Nguyen do a great job.

The story does not advance here at all, but it does go deeper, and this is, after all, what they are principally going for, depth. Could they have done the backstories piecemeal, as in occasionally doing a backstory issue here and there? Maybe. But this was a well done and well though-out issue to show you this series is more about thought than just action.
Profile Image for Chad.
10.3k reviews1,061 followers
March 11, 2019
These 5 issues dive into the history of Tim-22, Telsa, Bandit, Andy and Effie, and Driller respectively. They all go back 10 years or so before the Harvesters came and then check back in with the characters periodically up until the current story. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen do a fantastic job of weaving the stories together and showing us how they all affect each other. Just a brilliant series.
Profile Image for Shannon.
3,111 reviews2,565 followers
April 14, 2017
Individual issue reviews: #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16

Total review score: 3.6 - one issue was a dud and brought down the average : (

Each issue seems to be giving us one piece of the puzzle and I enjoy that. I don't need info dumps but I also don't want to be confused about what is going on.

Two things that I appreciate for being constant: the beautiful watercolor art and the fact each issue has a summary of what happened in previous issues at the start.
Profile Image for Ivan.
511 reviews323 followers
November 5, 2016
I am bit disappointed by this volume. This volume consists of backstories and main storyline doesn't move an inch.Yes they are well written but some of them are useless (Bandit's) and some of them could be shorter so there was definitively space for story to move forward.
Profile Image for Trish.
2,391 reviews3,747 followers
January 29, 2019
Holy shit.

Well, not much happens here in terms of the story moving forward.

The characters that had been left on Gnish and were "rescued" by Andy and his "partner" are still with the Betweeners and this volume was mostly about flashbacks. Namely about Telsa's relationship with her father, as well as that between Andy and Effie, and what happened to the mining colony where Andy and Tim-21 used to live.

The latter hit the hardest though I was expecting something along those lines. I mean, was quite the shock. Though also understandable. Again, when you keep kicking a dog, the dog will eventually bite you.


However, considering that the only other story elements were as well as in which even more lies were revealed, this was quite a thin story.

BUT: I like that EVERY character here has a background story instead of just being background decoration.
Moreover, seeing not one but two tragic / negative life stories of robots (in addition to all the stuff Andy has done as a Scrapper) was important, I think. Important to understand why Tim-21 is different. Important in order to understand the conflict with Tim-22. Important to understand the motivation of Driller and people like Effie. Important to get myriad relationships between humans and robots. It's all fucked up and has been since way before the Harvesters came (as can be seen from )- which only makes sense but we still needed to be shown.

Thus, maybe not exactly as good as the previous two but still powerful in its messages about realtionships, crises, domestic violence in various forms and, once again, with more than one heartbreak in this. Not to mention that even after three volumes, I'm still marvelling at the gorgeous watercolour art.

Profile Image for Dennis.
663 reviews329 followers
January 2, 2020
They can’t all be five stars, can they?!

This volume takes us back in time as each issue bar one is dedicated to a particular character and tells us their respective backstories. Usually starting at the time of the attacks through the Harvesters.

Unfortunately I thought only the first issue (TIM-22’s story) to be a great one. It actually made me pity the mean little guy.

description

Bandit’s story was really sweet. No question about that.

description

But the remaining three were only decent.

description

My problem with this volume, apart from the obvious one of it not moving the main storyline forward, was that I knew some of the scenes already. And what might have worked as a nice recap of previous events at the time of its release felt more like recycled material to me personally, because I read the first two volumes only days ago.

Well, they can’t all be five stars, indeed. This one is more like a low four.

I’m still looking forward to the next one and plan to read it on the weekend. I know somebody who’s already waiting for me to return it to the library.

description
Profile Image for CS.
1,213 reviews
August 8, 2017
Bullet Review:

The first four issues were boring, superfluous, meandering - but the final one with Driller was FANTASTIC. WOWEE.

If the whole volume were like that finally issue, this would have been easily 5-stars; however the four dull, pointless issues of boring backstory to just pad out and delay the plot bring it down.
Profile Image for Connor.
709 reviews1,681 followers
January 6, 2019
Love me some good backstories. I always end up enjoying volumes with a lot of backstory exploration for the characters. I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed this one.
Profile Image for Bradley.
Author 9 books4,864 followers
January 27, 2019
Yeah, well, not every volume is up to the standards of the first. This one was fine if all you are looking for is *mostly* backstory on some of the individuals and robots, but there's only a smidge of real action in real-time.

I'd classify these five issues as filler if I was reading manga.

Definitely average stuff. I hope some of the minor character reveals lead up to something awesome later because it's kinda lame here.
Profile Image for Paz.
549 reviews219 followers
July 12, 2017
Oh, god. I fucking loved this volume so much more than I did the first time I read it. Maybe it was cause I already knew what to expect. Not any progress in the main story, but a focus on the past of many characters.
I was emotional, engaged and I enjoyed every page.
It was SO good
. The little pockets of information hit me right in the feels and of course the artwork is beautiful! I love this title.
I'm changing my rating now to 4.5 stars, 5 stars on goodreads. Now to volume 4!

First impression:
4 Stars.
Driller a real Thriller
I was not expecting this. Volume 3 is a 5 issue trade that works as a mini anthology. Every issue focuses in a different character and they all start, except for Driller, 10 years ago just before the Harvesters attacked and then skips in time till present time.
My favorite was the first issue. The one about Tim-22 and Oh, man. I feel like an idiot I just wrote in another review that Tim-22 was the worst. NO LITTLE BOT, I'M THE WORST. Humans are the worst. Ugh.
There were many compelling moments and I loved the ending. Good volume, but I wish we could have made some more progress in the actual story. It was great having more background from these characters, but I needed more of the present time storyline.
Profile Image for Kitty G Books.
1,684 reviews2,971 followers
December 31, 2016
This series gets better and better with each volume. I LOVED all the backstories we were shown in this volume and the way that all the threads are crossed makes me super excited to keep reading. The fact that this series always gets an emotional response from me too is a massive credit to the art and story because they work so well together. Fantastic. Definitely still a favourite and I can't wait for the next volume too. 4.5*
Profile Image for Rachel (TheShadesofOrange).
2,895 reviews4,806 followers
September 6, 2021
4.5 Stars
This third volume is filled with fantastic character development through backstory flashbacks. I also love the science fiction elements of this story which give me serious star wars vibes. I personally adore the watercolour artwork style.
Profile Image for Alexander Peterhans.
Author 2 books298 followers
January 12, 2022
It's the flashback book! We really need the origin stories of these fascinating characters.

The Driller issue is the one we've all been waiting for, of course. It made me ask a lot of questions.

Others have mentioned this, but why do the mining robots have A.I.? Why would you give a large, dangerous tool the capacity to think and make its own decisions? And why did the HRRMANS design the A.I. so that they can speak, but they can't speak properly? Why can't they say 'humans'?

Mrs Tavers says the miner needs to mine 25 meters instead of his usual 15 meters day, right after she said "hey, your mining bots look really old". Are miners supposed to purchase and supply their own tools? That seems a backward way to approach industrial work.

When the deadly gas escapes in the mining colony, why does it instantly knock out (and presumably kill) people wearing space suits?

This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.
Profile Image for RG.
3,084 reviews
February 20, 2018
This is continues one of my favourite series atm. Again great artwork, the plot is more of a backstory/history retelling of where the main characters came from or got to the current situation. Some of the story has already been told in previous volumes but others give some good info. Already started Vol 4
Profile Image for Lata.
4,931 reviews254 followers
February 6, 2017
I keep waiting for an interesting story to happen. I like the robot that acts like a dog, and Driller. The other characters don't engage me. I like the artwork a lot, but the overall story is pretty pedestrian for scifi.
Profile Image for Sud666.
2,330 reviews199 followers
October 13, 2017
The third volume in this excellent epic space drama continues. The epic conflict between Tim-21 and Tim-22 goes into high gear. A great deal of this issue focused on backstory and that was fine. There is a great deal of history that needs to have light shed on it. Tim-21 is a great character and reminds me of the small android child from A.I. (the movie).

We find out a great deal about Tim-21, Adam, Capt Telsa and Adam's ex-wife Effe. There is also an interesting historical look at Driller and the part he played in the gas-related mining disaster. In fact this issue looks backwards more than forwards. Though there are many important events that take place-including Dr. Quon's bombshell. But no more details on this excellent story.

Once again a stellar story is hampered by mediocre art. Shame a story of this scale deserves some good, detailed art. Nonetheless this is a must read for any sci-fi fan. A great series.
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,203 followers
March 7, 2020
Descender goes into a dark place as we get the past revealed of all our major characters.

The story starts with Tim 22 hunting down Tim 21, and we see his past. Then we flip to see everyone's past from Driller to Bandit, to Effie, and more. The world building is great and shows how each of these characters were effected by the event. Devastating would be a underestimation of all the terrible events that had happen.

Loved alot of the background. Least interesting is Tim 22. But omg the best is Driller the Killer, made me nearly cry.

Jeff may stall the story here but the backgrounds are amazing. A 4 out of 5.
Profile Image for L. McCoy.
742 reviews8 followers
June 23, 2018
Another great volume to a great series!

What’s it about?
This volume focuses on the origin stories of the characters.

Pros:
I found this interesting. The main story continued a teensy bit (though not very much) and the origin story stuff is very good, it makes the characters more interesting IMO (even though they were already pretty interesting, especially Driller).
The art is still good.
This volume is very intense, possibly the most action packed one so far.
This volume is so emotional but not in a way to make the reader sad. See, I like when a book is emotional but still not too sad because I read for fun, I don’t want to be sad. This book does that very well.
The Bandit chapter was great! I love dogs and little robot ones are no exception! That chapter was really nice to read with my dog (as in dog-dog, not robo-dog) snuggled up beside me.
The ending is perfect.

Why not 5 stars?
Andy’s story makes no sense to me. So how did he go from having a great friendship with a robot to

Overall:
This series continues to be great. This volume is not quite as great as volumes 1 and 2 but it’s still one of sci-fi’s best comics right now!

4/5
Profile Image for Tilly.
226 reviews6 followers
March 19, 2017
This was probably my favorite volume so far! I know that the main-plot did not went forward very much in it but I personally really love flashbacks when they are handled very well and these definitely were. We got to know a few side-characters of the first two volumes much better in this one. The flashback with Bandit was my personal favorite. I adore his character, he is very cute and cares so much for TIM-21. His parts also reminded me to the fact how emotional pages without words can be in graphic novels. Nevertheless, the other flashback were great as well and I am kind of sad that I have to wait so long for Volume 4 to be released. 5 of 5 stars!
Profile Image for Ritinha.
712 reviews136 followers
January 14, 2020
Trade de exploração e adensamento de personagens in media res que a alguns impacientará em inversa proporção do regozijo garantido aos fãs de origin stories.
A arte perde a exuberância do sublime minimalista que os volumes anteriores ostentam, mas é hiper funcional na materialização pictórica das analepses.
Profile Image for Bandit.
4,946 reviews579 followers
May 24, 2022
The greatest thing about the robots Lemire created for the Descender series is how humane they are. Just as flawed, just as complex, just as affected by nurture and nature. Just look at how different the two Tims turned out.
This is more or a “pause the action and let’s get to know our characters more” kind of a book. Since I really like the characters here, I enjoyed it. Lemire is a very good writer. Plus, the art…that art…what a thing of beauty. Recommended. On to the next one.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
Profile Image for Joni.
817 reviews46 followers
October 25, 2021
Anotación de relectura.... hay más flashback que continuidad.. podría ser relleno, podría ser ambientación, podría ser complemento de la historia...



Este tercer tomo baja una estrella a mi humilde parecer por el poco avance de la historia. Funciona mas bien en retrospectiva para entender mejor los porqués y comos. Hay poca presencia de los protagonistas. Igual sigue siendo una gran historia en general. El arte y el ritmo no decaen.
Profile Image for Bogdan.
986 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2018
Another amazing volume! Great space opera story so far, in which various races are battling the robots and with a big mystery behind and, also, super, super, artwork.
Love every moment of it!
Profile Image for Chris Lemmerman.
Author 7 books123 followers
December 19, 2016
I'd rank this one higher, because it's very good, but the fact of the matter is that the momentum of the first two arcs has basically died at this point as Jeff Lemire decides to spend each issue of this third arc focusing on an individual character for spotlight issues rather than moving anything forward.

It's a good idea to flesh out the vast cast of characters, but there's always a nagging feeling that there's something else that needs our attention; I'd have thought these spotlight issues would have fit a bit better interspersed between arcs, rather than all in one go.

Tim-22, Telsa, Bandit, Andy & Effie, and Driller all take an issue each to explore their backstory and how they've gotten into the situations that they find themselves in. The issues focusing on the robots are especially interesting, giving us some unique perspectives and how they fit into the ongoing narrative. Driller and Bandit especially have been pivotal in getting the story moving, and we've never even realised it.

Dustin Nguyen's watercolours are astounding. I'm always surprised that he manages to turn out a monthly book when other watercolour artists take much longer, and yet here we are. There's liberal use of white space, which probably explains it, but even so, he does a lot with a little.

Taken as individual issues, this is probably a 4 or 5 star volume, but collecting them all in one go and stalling the main plot is detrimental to the series' overall direction, even if the character work is very good.
Profile Image for Benji Glaab.
771 reviews60 followers
May 13, 2019
To put it simply this series is amazing. The story delves deeper and deeper with each volume. The creative team of Lemire and Nguyen are serving up a smorgasbord of emotions. Now with all the main characters back story in check I feel even more connected. I definitely side with the Robbies here, Can't help but feel for all the abuse they went through at the hands of their human d-bag masters. Driller, Tim21, and Tim 22 are emerging as my favourite characters here. Ya the robots are stealing the show.

I Can't recommend this series highly enough. Lemire is solidifying himself in my eyes as the biggest talent working in the comics industry atm all his non-super hero titles are emotionally charged, and I was ecstatic to see this series is continuing with a re-launch called Ascenders. So I'm overjoyed there will be more forthcoming from these 2 master story tellers
Displaying 1 - 30 of 621 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.