La région du Kilimandjaro et du lac Victoria est au coeur de phénomènes étranges et inexpliqués. Des créatures que l'on croyait disparues réapparaissent, semant la panique auprès de la population locale. Sur place un prophète blanc explique à qui veut l'entendre que tout ceci est l'oeuvre d'extra-terrestres venus sur Terre afin d'accomplir une mission, bien après l'apocalypse qui aurait dévasté notre planète. Il parle alors de la loi des étoiles... Et si ce prophète avait raison? Comment expliquer autrement ces apparitions ? Mais ces créatures semblent bien appartenir à des espèces terriennes disparues depuis longtemps. L'une d'elles, une bête monstrueuse, rode justement autour d'un village massaï où se rend Miss Austin. Elle tente de comprendre la signification de ces événements qui n'ont plus rien de rationnels. Elle fera alors une ultime rencontre qui lui permettra de découvrir la vérité. Une révélation impensable et pourtant bien réelle...
This concluding part to the Kenya story offers an explanation of the surreal events out in Africa, although it doesn’t quite answer all of the questions, plus it also sees the surprising demise of one of the leading characters following a redeeming act. Beyond that, saying much more would spoil what’s in store for you, suffice to say that there’s plenty of period action, prehistoric beasties and sci-fi intrigue, not least our awakening to the phenomena that is the UFO (which here, at least, is something tangible).
It should be pointed out that Leo and Rodolphe share scripting duties, with Rodolphe then writing the dialogue and Leo producing the art. It’s possibly because of Leo’s involvement at the scripting stage that this feels like a welcome companion piece to the Aldebaran series despite not being directly linked through the story. It’s a tale of scientific mystery, our place in a wider universe, and how we conduct ourselves with one another, with the prehistoric (and bizarre) creatures being the cherry on the cake. Personally I’d have been quite happy for this to have been fleshed out further, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be feeling short-changed – just sad to see it go.
This is the fifth and final volume of Rodolphe and Leo's Kenya and it picks up where the fourth volume, Interventions ended. The mysterious happenings in Kenya are slowly unveiled, or are they? Pieces of evidence appear to go missing one after another, and in the end perhaps the question is whether anyone will know what has happened.
Having now finished all five albums in the series, I have to say that it is enjoyable read. It does not quite match Leo's Worlds of Aldebaran saga, but it is still worthwhile, and I will definitely be checking out the sequel series Namibia.
In this concluding album we see all the mysteries get unravelled. While satisfying, the revelations doesn't live up to the expectation &tension the previous albums built up. It all just felt too simple and a quick cover up.
Anyway, despite that disappointment, on the whole this book deserves a grand applause for the setting, vibrant artwork and designs and finally the adventurous, tension-building & fast paced narrative.
This Kathy Austin's group is my favorite assortment of all the female-led Leo's that I've read! The curly-mustachioed aristocrat and the adorable female that he protects have their own smooth dynamic that compliments the friction between Kathy and the alpha-cis masculinity of the hunter who can be highly off-putting. The delivery dude was my favorite to look at with his incredibly bright eyes and teeth adorned with standard mustachios and collar-free cravat. Her entourages strangely "rook" the group of Kenya->Betelegeuse->Aldebaran->Surviviantes->Antares->Namibia, so don't look for the same in her next because I cannot even remember the latter clearly.
One of my favorite HERO sequences -with the sort of emotional effect that gnashes teeth during the bravery then "chokes one up" with the swelling GLORY and finality of the result- spreads over eight pages but I'm not going to ruin it for you.
Even Rodolphe couldn't find an ending that wasn't flat and too-easy-an-out for any feeling of finality. Leo put too many "cards" on the table, too implausibly, for them to create a winning "hand"- even though one of the greatest scriptwriters was enlisted. For those who've read recent reviews, you can argue that Rodolphe is even more consistent than Yann or Sente with the worlds of others.
Leo's art is excellent as usual: ->expressive facial emotion, ->singular creatures, ->breathtaking nature, ->well-drafted appropriate vehicles and architecture, ->and such genuinely captured ethnicities of such a diverse populace!
Still, I believed it suffered from Smulkowski's coloring. She seemed to have the wrong "temperature" to her palette which regularly looked strangely chosen and even oppositional, especially when it too often alternated between too dark and too bright. The separations/blending even annoyed me.
Overall, Kenya is a good series. A bits of so-so moments some of the volumes. I think ending sequence is not that good. And not drawing the series most anticipated creatures is some lazy writer choice.