A Land Called Tarot

by Gael Bertrand

Follow the Knight of Swords as he explores and meets with the inhabitants of a Land called Tarot.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Fiction, Adventure, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 8, 2017

Reviews

[CS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

Rated M because OMG, if you read this, then sorcerers will rape your daughters and witches will seduce your sons to the pit of hell!

Good god.

This is a gorgeous book about a knight (I'm assuming) doing various tasks and puzzles in this incredible land. Would probably have been more monumental if I knew more about tarot other than it will let the devil inside, giving you a forked tongue that you use on the sheep you screw while sacrificing babies in the full moon.

[talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gorgeous wordless comic book volume follows the Knight of Swords as he walks around, having adventures. I'm not totally sure what happens in the adventures or how they connect, but the imagery is absolutely astounding. Really just beautiful, colorful artwork.

I love the whimsical feeling of A Land Called Tarot. I can imagine that certain kids will love poring over the pictures, assembling them into a mental narrative or just absorbing their artistic value. In terms of being a story, this isn't one. And I'm pretty sure that it's not supposed to be. In an interview, Bertrand said, "Sometimes we yearn for closure and resolution, and sometimes all we need is going out for walk." This is a walk. A lovely, confusing, meandering walk through dimensions, portals, identities- with absolutely no explanation. It's not quite my cup of tea (I tend to prefer content with a narrative), but it will definitely find its people.

I received a digital review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Interview source: https://imagecomics.com/content/view/...

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wordless graphic novel that will take you on a dreamlike trip through some of the most beautiful fantasy lands you will ever visit, with art and visuals heavily inspired by anime and gaming culture, it almost feels like an adaptation of a popular RPG videogame that was never made, highly recommended.

[eris · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25✨
pięknie narysowane ale nic zrozumiałxm lol

[Charlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why this is rated Mature I am not certain - is it because of the evil evil Tarot? I would feel comfortable classing this in the juvenile graphics for my library.

Anyway, it's a beautiful if short book that is (I feel) less an attempt at storytelling and more an exploration of themes of different Tarot cards (so far it looks like major arcana: the use of Roman Numerals indicates which one is the focus for each particular section). It ends up giving it a episodic feel, like a level-based video game with a heavy puzzle mechanic. The artwork gave me an Asterix-meets-Amulet feel, with dense backgrounds that are worth poring over for details. Not the conventional book: I'd be curious to see if another volume would expand on a narrative or continue the confederacy of vignettes.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a beautiful book, like a Studio Ghibli movie on paper. It's also impressively coherent considering there is no text in the book at all (the closest are roman numerals). The adventures of our protagonist as he explores the world and interacts with its magic are well portrayed and in some cases manifestly weird. The use of the Tarot is present if understated. I'm not sure why it's rated for mature readers, as I don't recall seeing anything overtly violent or sexual. It's just a strange new world to be shared with readers.

[Alex Sarll]

Wordless adventures in a land whose pristine architecture, sweeping landscapes and giant beasts echo Ghibli, Monument Valley and the adventure cartoons of my youth. I have only the barest idea what's going on, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous artwork and a super cute horse creature.

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 5 out of 5]

A land called Tarot
Gael Bertrand

Рідкісний барвистий німий графічний шедевр, який переросить тароїчну символіку в фентезійний світ.

Маємо три окремі історії - ініціації.

Вежа

Головний герой - Лицар Мечів, Володар рожевого фрукта-сфери мандрує до Вежі, яка під його контролем стає гігантським мехою в стилі Єванґеліона. Цікаво, що удари блискавки у Вежу, які в класичних трактуваннях символізують руйнування, тут слугують імпульсами оживлення в стилі Франкенштейна.
Та всеж, маґічним чином рожева сфера повертається до Імператора і після грандіозного експлоужена Мехо-Вежа дезінтегрується.

Маг

Лицар мечів здобуває маску Мага - зеленої жаби, яка дуже нагадує маску бога Локі з однойменного фільму. З її допомогою він отримує здатність маніпулювати чотирма стихіями. Художник цікаво обіграв ідею чотирьох мастей і Тетраморфів. Вкінці - епічна боротьба з Уроборосом!

Відлюдник

Третій розділ особливо зрезонував зі мною, адже саме в ньому я знайшов візуальне відтворення цитати з "Тетраморфеуса": головний герой випиває лабіринт, щоб потрапити в нього!
"...у Індії (що починається з того, що сняться сни) лабіринт використовується як магічний засіб для полегшення пологів, вагітній подається тарілочка з шафраном, на якім вона креслить пальцем лабіринт, наповнює посудину водою й випиває, перед тим подумки пройшовши ним, послання своїй утробі, символічний шлях немовляти з лона матері, щоб зрозумів, окріп і вийшов з неї..."

Підсумок: дуже навіть добре. Бачення автором арканім дуже неканонічне та особистісне, але все ж, цікаво ловити певні підказки, як от перетворення зеленого пляцка над головою жабо-мага у лемніскату, або своєрідне зображення Лева з Сили.

[Diana Ault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and lush illustrations, very detailed and engaging, the kind you make sure your eyes settle over every inch of in order to take it all in. I feel like a more intellectual person may comprehend it better though...perhaps if I researched the Tarot more, especially the numbers scattered throughout the book...and the corresponding themes and meanings. There is the strong sense of death and rebirth, cycles, that I picked up on though.

[Roi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and thought provoking. The amount of details is insane. Proves that sometimes words are very unnecessary.

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since randomly coming across Christian Slade's Korgi series, which instantly became one of the favourite things I have ever come across and a joyous balm, I have discovered a great affection for silent comics. A Land Called Tarot is a wonderful example of how varied, strange, effective the medium can be.

Bertrand goes on a fascinating journey, seemingly between realms, as they embark on a strange quest of myth and magic inspired by and reflecting aspects of the tarot.

Much like the tarot itself, A Land Called Tarot is open to interpretation with some interesting discussion here (https://imagecomics.com/features/expl...).

It is filled with beautiful artwork that evokes all manner of fantasy and science fantasy elements with touches of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Studio Ghibli, Moebius, and Escher.

Honestly, I'm not sure I know exactly what's going on, but I love it and know it is something I will continue to return to, being inspired by, and ponder.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful non-text graphic novel, illustrated as I can only describe as a mesh between manga art and the artist Moebius' work. The story is broken up into three major chapters: La * Maison * Diev (The Tower), Le Bateleur (The Magician), and Le Hermite (The Hermit). I was pretty perplexed by the surreal adventures of our main character who enters various circular cosmic portals, but I enjoyed the journey, mostly for the bizarre yet gorgeously fantastically imagined realms.
Story, art and design all by Gael Bertrand.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Land Called Tarot is a truly beautiful graphic novel with an expansive fantasy world. It's a wordless comic and the story is a bit obtuse. Though I appreciated the nods to tarot, and the world was truly impressive. Worth a read because the art is wonderful!

[andrew y · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ain't read no book with no words many times before

[Matt Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Visually stunning, there’s no denying that. Unfortunately though, as a wordless graphic novel, the artwork (as beautiful as it is) just doesn’t convey the narrative of the story clearly enough.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's four stars for GORGEOUS art and great silent narration. My only complaint is that it is way too short.

[Rinaldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have finished this book for a while but I just haven't got the chance to review this.

A Land Called Tarot is a weird but delightful fantasy graphic novel. In this era where well-written dialogue is the benchmark of narrative across different media, it is quite seldom to read fantasy graphic novel/comic in silence format. Arrival by Shaun Tan is another I can think of right now from top of my head, but they're vastly different. While Arrival is a nostalgic tale about immigration presented in whimsical surrealism, A Land Called Tarot is a straight up high fantasy with quests and arcane references to Tarot and esotericism.

Visually and stylistically I can see the influences of Jean 'Moebius' Giraud and Hayao Miyazaki: surreal desert landscapes, ruins, with a touch of storybook/engraving renderings. Maybe even a touch of Gundam and Legend of Zelda.

While I can't parse all the narrative and symbolisms fully, I'm delighted with pure visual aesthetics and some Hermetic/alchemical references I get. This book has high value of rereading for these elements alone.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's a story in A Land Called Tarot, I was not able to follow it. But that didn't stop me from enjoying this graphic novel/art project. Bertand's illustrations are beautiful and detailed, basically design work for a future Studio Ghibli movie. Despite there being no dialogue, I still took my time reading this work because I wanted to soak up as much of the art as possible.

There might have been some plot. Sections of the book followed different characters through various fantastic worlds, all possibly based on tarot cards? My knowledge of tarot is nil, but I still enjoyed the vague symbology going on. It hinted at a larger story ala Mysteries of Harris Burdick. As it stood, the brief little adventures were pleasant to wander through, but not meaty in any way. Really, if anything stuck with me from A Land Called Tarot, it was Bertrand's ability to make a bizarre landscape seem real and alive. This is probably the first graphic novel I've read that I would recommend as a coffee table book to skim through rather than a novel to explore in detail.

[Darcy Roar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and confusing. I'm all for wordless books, but I tent to enjoy a bit less obliqueness. The illustrations are wonderful & you can feel the edges of the narrative but I could not connect them. Despite this, quite lovely to read.

[J MaK · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.0) Incredible artwork for word building context (almost Ghibli like) that might be better interpreted by someone who reads Tarot. I dearly wish this wordless narrative could have been expanded into a second volume.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Utterly bizarre, beautifully illustrated. Just lovely.

[Jin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really amazing visuals but not quite sure what the story is.

[John Wiswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that was lovely.

When people write wordless comics, they tend to give them obvious forward direction and obvious plots. Writing comics without dialogue or exposition is a great challenge, but I've seen a book take the challenge like A Land Called Tarot. It appears to follow an adventurer on increasingly arcane missions, through towers that might be robots, into dimensions that only frog people can access, and apparently across the brink of death itself. But it's not to cure a disease or rid the world of a dark emperor; even after the final page, I was still left puzzling why this adventures happened in that sequence.

Based on other reviews, some people thought it had no plot. I don't agree, and immediately flipped back to the first page to read it over again and test my theories.

Because the book can be read very breezily. It's barely over a hundred pages, and many of them are massive splashes of gorgeous art the evokes a JRPG-like adventure. These drawings would've been the very best inclusions in a Dragon Quest manual. There's so much gorgeous art that some is relegated to being inserts between chapters - though some, like a two-page splash of a ball casting a colorful shadow on an unraveling carpet, feel suggestive of worldbuilding you could use to open up the plot.

With art that is so pleasant to stare at for minutes on end, with inventive creature designs and lavish city- and landscapes, revisiting it to pull apart its events is a delight. And with the omission of any explicit direction, it obviously invites interpretation. But that is what you're buying. If you don't want a baroque comic, you can buy almost anything else. I'll treasure this.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 2 out of 5]

CZ&EN
Tahle kniha je pro mě zklamáním. Je to chaos bez definice. Napůl sci-fi, napůl fantasy, možná videoherní svět o kterém nic nevíme s hrdinou o kterém nic nevíme a nevíme ani co je jeho cílem. Jenom to, že vždycky někam jde, ale nevím proč a tam si sedne a medituje. Pak se něco stane, nevíme co, a najednou je konec a ani nevíme čeho. Je to jako artbook k něčemu, o čem nám nic neřekli. Kresba není špatná, je to taková pěkně barevná a detailní manga, ale po chvíli přestane bavit a hlubší dojem nezanechá.

Pravděpodobně je to ale jenom můj problém, protože neznám tarotové karty. Četl jsem tady od někoho vysvětlení a ten čtenář tím byl nadšený. Příběh totiž následuje význam jednotlivých karet...
----
I’m disappointed from this book. It’s chaos without definition. Half sci-fi, half fantasy. Probably videogame world and we don’t know anything about that world. There is some hero and we again don’t know anything about him and the book hasn’t any answer. We don’t know where he is going and why. He always came somewhere, sit down and start meditation. Then something happen and it’s end and we don’t know of what. It's like artbook and no one said us to what it’s related. Art of the book is not bad. It‘s like manga with nice colors but it start boring soon.

But probably it’s only my problem because I don’t know tarot cards. I read some explanation here and the reader was excited from this book. Story is following meaning of some tarot cards...

[Teodora Gheorghe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give the STUNNING artwork 5 stars... I do know tarot, but this did not make much sense... I could recognize a couple of symbols (a few runes as well, if I'm not mistaken), but this wordless graphic novel is mostly obscure.

* The Tower (Maison) might symbolize some sort of death and rebirth, the destruction of ego. The hero is reborn from his own...bricks (old/shadow self) with the help of a god/master/guide who could be his Older, wiser self (?)
* The Magician (Bateleur) talks about the secret powers/skills that one possesses, symbolized by the frog mask. There is a process, an initiation that grants access to deep-seated knowledge and also allows the hero to fight (his inner monsters?) The frog could be a symbol of flexibility, resourcefulness, but also of cleverness and transformation (shedding of old skin). He is sort of a trickster, just like the Magician from the Major Arcana.
* The Hermit seems to migrate from a life of debauchery to a life of solitude. The hero ascends to a higher dimension of consciousness (?)

[Vail Chester · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am kinda at a loss of wordS..JUST LIKE THIS BOOK!
There truly is something to be said about sequential art that tells a story...when the story itself is up to interpretation like art itself.
We got this anime-esque Link from the Legend of Zelda dude who might be an aristocrat helping others with random tasks that make this fantasy landscape come alive?
This same dude might've done a spirit fusion with a frog wizard (by donning a mask so not beating the Link-in-another-life allegations dude!) and they have to escape some metaphysical giant serpent?
And more & more & more randomness that I can't look away because it's just a magical place with magical things happening and worlds being vibrant & alive, but I can't figure any of it out without real story.

[Morgan Golias · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel with no actual words. The reader gets the entire story from the illustrations throughout the book. I think that is a very interesting way to tell a story, but I think that this world is too different and confusing to not have any words. The story was very two dimensional, there was not a lot of depth. As I went through all I thought to myself was "Oh now he's going over here, now he's walking past some stone dudes with stone cubes, oh look a huge snake thing." It just made it feel very disjointed and shallow.

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wordless story, or stories, sort of Moebius by way of Miyazaki. Reminded me a lot of Dresden Codak as well, I think because they're drawing on similar inspirations. Stunning and varied art; despite being mostly unclear as to meaning (and who needs meaning anyway) it manages to still be surprising just by use of sheer visuals. Also worth having another look at with more attention paid to the tarot symbolism, I think.

[Matthew McMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. An astounding achievement is visual storytelling. One of the original, comprehensive, mysterious, fascinating, and delightful graphic novels I have ever read. The world's and their details, the characters, and magic blew me away. I am an avid tarot enthusiast, and as a Virgo, I absolutely loved The Hermit chapter. Like a Final Fantasy game with a Hobbit like adventure, this unique story deserves all five stories. Perfection may not be attainable, but this gets close.