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Royal City
Royal City, Vol. 3: We All Float On
When a surprise new member of the family arrives in the fading industrial town of Royal City looking for answers, the past and present all come together and the Pike family must face the truths about their youngest brother's death, decades earlier. The concluding chapter of this generation-spanning saga of one family haunted by their own private ghosts from the New York Times best-selling writer and artist Jeff Lemire (GIDEON FALLS, Sweet Tooth, Essex County).
Collects ROYAL CITY #11-14
Collects ROYAL CITY #11-14
120 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2018
About the author
Jeff Lemire
1,502 books3,970 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
November 19, 2018
“This town’s bones are loneliness.”
After a layered and complex set-up in the first two volumes of Jeff Lemire’s Royal City, complete with the appearance of ghosts with all sort of magical expectations, the resolution seems a little conventional, unsurprising, and flat. Don’t get me wrong, if you read the first two volumes you will want to read this, without question, and it is good, but in my opinion a tad disappointing. We are back in Essex County territory, in a sense, in that Royal City is a small, bleak Ontario town, with a couple of sort of mild surprises, everything resolving in a pretty satisfactory fashion. I rate this 3.5, but it is Lemire art, don’t forget, and it is better than most stuff out there, still, so I round up to 4 stars.
The story features a family falling apart, haunted by the loss of a brother and son, in a town falling apart. To recall, Dad is unconscious, with a stroke, after a fight with his long estranged wife; Patrick can’t write his novel and his actress wife is gone, on location, estranged, too; Richie is drunk, owes a gang 2K, Sis Tara is negotiating a deal to end the family biz, where her family works; she and hubby are estranged. An in the center of it is a young Tommy, gone. Family curse?
“Nothin’ but the dead and dyin’ in my little town”? (Paul Simon)
The second volume flashed (bleakly) (is that an oxymoron?) back to 1993, when things seemed more hopeful, though Tommy has hallucinations. We read pages of his handwritten journal. We already know from volume one that Tommy will die, so this volume basically gives you the events of the week leading up to his death.
Yeah, I won’t tell you much about th ending, no big spoilers, though a new family member emerges, and some endings are bitter, some bittersweet, and none (this is Lemire, remember?) are unqualifyingly sweet, really. I really did like this sad sack family. But I wouldn’t want to live in Royal City or have them over for Thanksgiving.
After a layered and complex set-up in the first two volumes of Jeff Lemire’s Royal City, complete with the appearance of ghosts with all sort of magical expectations, the resolution seems a little conventional, unsurprising, and flat. Don’t get me wrong, if you read the first two volumes you will want to read this, without question, and it is good, but in my opinion a tad disappointing. We are back in Essex County territory, in a sense, in that Royal City is a small, bleak Ontario town, with a couple of sort of mild surprises, everything resolving in a pretty satisfactory fashion. I rate this 3.5, but it is Lemire art, don’t forget, and it is better than most stuff out there, still, so I round up to 4 stars.
The story features a family falling apart, haunted by the loss of a brother and son, in a town falling apart. To recall, Dad is unconscious, with a stroke, after a fight with his long estranged wife; Patrick can’t write his novel and his actress wife is gone, on location, estranged, too; Richie is drunk, owes a gang 2K, Sis Tara is negotiating a deal to end the family biz, where her family works; she and hubby are estranged. An in the center of it is a young Tommy, gone. Family curse?
“Nothin’ but the dead and dyin’ in my little town”? (Paul Simon)
The second volume flashed (bleakly) (is that an oxymoron?) back to 1993, when things seemed more hopeful, though Tommy has hallucinations. We read pages of his handwritten journal. We already know from volume one that Tommy will die, so this volume basically gives you the events of the week leading up to his death.
Yeah, I won’t tell you much about th ending, no big spoilers, though a new family member emerges, and some endings are bitter, some bittersweet, and none (this is Lemire, remember?) are unqualifyingly sweet, really. I really did like this sad sack family. But I wouldn’t want to live in Royal City or have them over for Thanksgiving.
October 17, 2018
The final chapter in one of the best slice of life stories.
This is what it's all leading up to. We find out how the boy died. We also find out where the characters are, in their mindset. Some making choices that will completely alter their future. This is when most characters come head to head with each other instead of getting mostly individual stories leading up to a sweet, but bittersweet, ending.
Good: Really loved the heck out of this family. All flawed, all broken, yet all very interesting. I liked how each character started their next chapter in their life, even with uncertainty you felt they were getting proper treatment. The atmosphere and art actually work in favor for this story.
Bad: I felt another issue or two would have helped. Felt tad rushed a bit. I wanted to spend more time with them.
Overall, if looking for one of the best slice of life stories, you can't go wrong with Royal City. Jeff Lemire made a truly remarkable series here. A 4 out of 5.
This is what it's all leading up to. We find out how the boy died. We also find out where the characters are, in their mindset. Some making choices that will completely alter their future. This is when most characters come head to head with each other instead of getting mostly individual stories leading up to a sweet, but bittersweet, ending.
Good: Really loved the heck out of this family. All flawed, all broken, yet all very interesting. I liked how each character started their next chapter in their life, even with uncertainty you felt they were getting proper treatment. The atmosphere and art actually work in favor for this story.
Bad: I felt another issue or two would have helped. Felt tad rushed a bit. I wanted to spend more time with them.
Overall, if looking for one of the best slice of life stories, you can't go wrong with Royal City. Jeff Lemire made a truly remarkable series here. A 4 out of 5.
December 28, 2018
Lemire neatly ties up this quiet family drama in satisfying fashion as each member of the Pike family comes to grips with their problems, and begin to mend the rift that Tommy's death created between them. It's a touching portrait of a family bathed in watercolor and magical realism. Can't wait to read this again when it comes out as a single hardcover.
September 14, 2018
Jeff Lemire's slice of life family drama comes to an end with this volume, and it's a satisfying finale, if maybe a bit obvious in hindsight. In the end, it's no Essex County, but it's clear that Lemire had to work out some personal stuff on the page once again with this book, and the result is a simple but sincere and endearing story, and an exceedingly rare Image book that doesn't feature monsters, mythical creatures, superpowers or dystopian futures (not that there's anything wrong with that, but I get enough of that from Marvel and DC, I don't need even more generic brand fantasy/sci-fi from you, Image, gosh).
October 18, 2018
A gut punch of a denouement for this grungy tale of magical realism and family drama.
March 31, 2019
"That's the thing about the past. It's gone.
Just because it forms us, it doesn't mean you have to let it define you forever.
You gotta take all that stuff that's happened to you, and you have to use it. You can't let it use you."
Just because it forms us, it doesn't mean you have to let it define you forever.
You gotta take all that stuff that's happened to you, and you have to use it. You can't let it use you."
February 3, 2019
I admire Lemire's work, but I mostly admire the way he knows when to stop a story.
October 12, 2019
The story of the Pike family comes to an end. I wasn't quite ready to leave these characters behind. I wanted to know how their lives continued after they came to
Another story Lemire manages to squirm into my heart.
Another story Lemire manages to squirm into my heart.
June 4, 2019
Royal City might be my favourite Jeff Lemire book. It's so touching and beautiful. This volume is shorter compared to the others and isn't that long a read, but that doesn't take anything away from the quality. Great ending to the series.
October 4, 2021
Ya el último volumen. Un cierre perfecto para la historia de ROyal City.
December 13, 2020
Tie drámy a rodinné príbehy Lemire skrátka vie. Royal City je úžasná séria od prvej po poslednú stránku. Tri paperbacky zhltnete za nejakú tú hodinku a pol, max. dve, nie je to nasilu a nederie to z vás slzy, skrátka príjemný príbeh z rodiny s problémami, s ktorými sa bežne rodiny stretávajú, milé a s koncom, ktorý ma naozaj potešil, aj keď som ho čakala.
December 7, 2018
This final volume of Royal City concludes this family saga.
I continue to love Lemire's sketchy art, and his deep dive into ordinary people, their lives, loves, losses, and ghosts. A stranger in town has unexpected connections to the family, and we learn more about past and present secrets and betrayals, and while the resolutions were all rather conventional and unsurprising, this bittersweet tale is worth a read.
I continue to love Lemire's sketchy art, and his deep dive into ordinary people, their lives, loves, losses, and ghosts. A stranger in town has unexpected connections to the family, and we learn more about past and present secrets and betrayals, and while the resolutions were all rather conventional and unsurprising, this bittersweet tale is worth a read.
November 30, 2019
A pedestrian domestic drama and ghost story ends as blandly as it began.
December 4, 2018
Fitting ending and another win by Jeff Lemire, he is at his best with these small, family drama style of stories. A family is dealing with the dead of one of there family members, who everybody still sees in different ages and all. Would not have mind the story to be a bit longer but still a very good one, told in three trades, this one being the last one.
September 27, 2022
This series is insanely good. I'm reading it and it floods me with all this satisfaction about how well told stories make us feel, and how relating to even small parts of the narrative can drive the point home even harder. This may be my favorite comic I've ever read other than Saga. Lemire leaves me floored almost every time I pick up his work. A masterpiece.
November 20, 2018
The conclusion to one of the best simple storys about life. Lemire seems to hit all the best spots when hes doing this simplified storys more so than the superhero action style. Even his Black Hammer series is more than just superheroes. I highly recommend this series to all readers.
February 16, 2019
Wow this jumped the shark......
December 26, 2018
Lemire is an outstanding artist, storyteller, a weaver of compelling tales. Volume 3 wraps up the series and here we see more social decay, family breakdown, a substantial plot twist, and ultimately redemption. Royal City fits into Lemire’s small town universe of His previous works Roughneck and Essex County and are somewhat a departure from his celebrated Sweet Tooth. I picked up his sci-fi Descender TPB Volume 1 so I’ll see how he fares with that genre. Definitely a 5 star series and he remains a Top 10 Creator for me.
December 25, 2020
(4 of 5 for the classic Lemire, see my Vol. 1 comment)
January 14, 2019
Fizzled ending to a flash-bang start.
March 23, 2019
4.5 stars. A story that marinates in the strange beauty of melancholy, even as it plucks at the self-created burdens we carry through our years.
Lemire is hardly the first to frame that insight, but in the context of this struggling family - struggling both as individuals and as unit - it isn't trite as much as it is signpost for claiming agency. It's the end of a journey. It is also the beginning of one. Or should be.
The conclusion proffers more resolution than anticipated, and that may be the source of my wavering on that last full star. I want hope for these characters, but hope tempered with reality. Tidy doesn't quite satisfy, even as it pains me to articulate for a series that has had such profound effect. I champion the elegiac, conflicted, reflective tone that permeates each chapter, especially as underscored by illustration style and intentional scaling of frames. The concern is that this seems compromised by the choice to allow a single/shared epiphany to wave toward a now-that's-all-behind-us presumption. We leave with a bit of a whimper - an artful one, make no mistake, but a whimper nonetheless.
That's the thing about the past. It's gone. Just because it forms us, it doesn't mean you have to let it define you forever. You gotta take all that stuff that's formed you, and you have to use it. You can't let it use you.
Lemire is hardly the first to frame that insight, but in the context of this struggling family - struggling both as individuals and as unit - it isn't trite as much as it is signpost for claiming agency. It's the end of a journey. It is also the beginning of one. Or should be.
The conclusion proffers more resolution than anticipated, and that may be the source of my wavering on that last full star. I want hope for these characters, but hope tempered with reality. Tidy doesn't quite satisfy, even as it pains me to articulate for a series that has had such profound effect. I champion the elegiac, conflicted, reflective tone that permeates each chapter, especially as underscored by illustration style and intentional scaling of frames. The concern is that this seems compromised by the choice to allow a single/shared epiphany to wave toward a now-that's-all-behind-us presumption. We leave with a bit of a whimper - an artful one, make no mistake, but a whimper nonetheless.
August 23, 2018
This series is the Jeff Lemire work I have been waiting for for years. As he says — “a non-genre book in today’s comics market is risky business” — but all I’ve wanted is a Lemire non-genre book! Beautifully articulate dialogue and monologues, unique stylized drawings, surreal storylines based in reality... Sad to see it go, but I’m glad to have seen how it ends.
September 22, 2018
Royal City konci a tim se uzavira pribeh dysfunkcni rodiny, kterou pronasleduje tragedie z minulosti.
I pres prvky nadprirozena je tohle strasne civilni a osobni pribeh, kterej me chytil a nepustil az do konce.
Finale je mozna takovy jednoduchy a bez nejakyho zvratu, ale byla to paradni jizda a tesim se, s cim prijde Lemire priste.
I pres prvky nadprirozena je tohle strasne civilni a osobni pribeh, kterej me chytil a nepustil az do konce.
Finale je mozna takovy jednoduchy a bez nejakyho zvratu, ale byla to paradni jizda a tesim se, s cim prijde Lemire priste.
October 30, 2018
The conclusion had some intense moments, but as always: I love the quite moments the most. Those three panel pages without any dialogue always get me. This was one of the comics I finished reading, took a deep breath and just let it sink in for a minute. No matter the theme, Lemire's work always feels relatable on some level.
November 2, 2018
A fine conclusion to this series.
It's good that Lemire saved the final reveals of Tommy's last day for this final volume, as it's really the last surprise we get After that everything pretty much clicks together as people accept the change of life. It's a good finish for our Royal family, though not a particularly surprising one after that first issue.
It's good that Lemire saved the final reveals of Tommy's last day for this final volume, as it's really the last surprise we get After that everything pretty much clicks together as people accept the change of life. It's a good finish for our Royal family, though not a particularly surprising one after that first issue.
October 30, 2018
Whew...not really sure what to say. I definitely recommend it though. 5 stars.
July 24, 2019
I don't really have much to add beyond that what many reviewers have already pointed out. I found this book disappointingly predictable with a bit too much of a happy ending that resolves everything too neatly for everyone.
I do disagree with reviewers about the quality of Lemire's art. I am not a huge fan of his style to begin. I like cartoonists with a distinct, individual style (and he does have that). And sometimes Lemire's style really works (e.g. Essex County, Sweet Tooth, The Nobody, Secret Path). But at times, his art comes across to me as messy, hasty, and amateurish - as it did for me in this volume.
I'm from the "Royal City" in Ontario, so I went into this series with big hopes. All-in-all not a bad work; it's solid. Just nothing particularly memorable or leaving a lasting impact (much like my Royal City).
I do disagree with reviewers about the quality of Lemire's art. I am not a huge fan of his style to begin. I like cartoonists with a distinct, individual style (and he does have that). And sometimes Lemire's style really works (e.g. Essex County, Sweet Tooth, The Nobody, Secret Path). But at times, his art comes across to me as messy, hasty, and amateurish - as it did for me in this volume.
I'm from the "Royal City" in Ontario, so I went into this series with big hopes. All-in-all not a bad work; it's solid. Just nothing particularly memorable or leaving a lasting impact (much like my Royal City).
January 1, 2019
"We spent the most important parts of our lives here. That's not something that stays behind. It comes with you. Of course, we can get lost even when we stay put. But the best part of being lost is getting found. That's the thing about the past. It's gone. Just because it forms us, it doesn't mean you have to let it define you forever."
Closure. The Pike family got that, we got it. And now we can all move on from Royal City. Thank you Jeff Lemire for yet another brilliant family series.
Closure. The Pike family got that, we got it. And now we can all move on from Royal City. Thank you Jeff Lemire for yet another brilliant family series.
June 12, 2019
A powerful yet subtle ending to a great series. Lemire is in top form in his family drama specialty, he has an uncanny way of conveying emotion with very little dialogue or artistic punch. The message is simple, everything doesn't always have to be ok... yes it a recycled idea but Lemire delivers it with grace. I admire Lemire and his "family dramas" they are so honest and this one is easily top 3 for me. Tired of superheros? looking for something grounded and real? this is your ticket.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews