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Sonata (Single Issues) #1-6
Sonata, Vol. 1: Valley of the Gods
Two cultures clash on a planet both sides believe is their Promised Land. The Rans are a peace-loving people. The Tayans are a race of warriors who are here to colonize and control. There are the Sleeping Giants, who may be monsters or the gods of legend. Sonata is a young woman who will break all the rules to find her place in this world, and she's not about to let sleeping gods lie.
192 pages, Paperback
First published December 24, 2019
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December 8, 2019So there are these colonists – but the good sort – on an alien world. They came there from another alien world, not Earth, but they are still human, because of course the leads have to be human, don't they? Not just on TV and film SF, where there are budgetary and technical constraints, but in comics too, because this diversity business is all well and good, but you wouldn't want to take it too far. Still, they live in harmony with the indigenous sentient race, and ride the local big flying things, and only use violence as a last resort. But what's this? Some other colonists have arrived. Still not from Earth, still very human-looking, but these ones wear sinister uniforms, and believe in hierarchy, and pollution, and generally being rotters. They've dammed the river and are starving the nice lot (oh, and the natives) out! So the nice lot decide to very carefully blow up the dam, but only a little bit, because apparently that's a thing, and also that way it won't be taken as an act of war, which seems optimistic given what dicks the other lot are, but OK. Except oh no! The whole dam's gone up! How unexpected! General carnage ensues, including ancient ruins, rampaging giant monsters, the usual...and, of course, the revelation that while the natives are Wise, they are also Devious (but it's fine how stereotypical this all is, because they're not human, right?). Oh, and there's a half-arsed across-the-barricades romance, which feels a lot like an attempt to grab some of that Saga dollar.
I'm tempted to sum this up as Anne McCaffrey by way of Pat Mills, but I've only read one short story collection by McCaffrey, and that decades ago, so I'm aware this might be either too harsh or too kind on her and I really wouldn't know either way. And to be fair even to modern Pat Mills (not something I say very often at all), for all the failings of his work, he'd know better than to pull the noble (or are they?) savage bullshit in this. I was drawn to Sonata by the David Hine credit, because I don't see that name enough, but while he often works at an emotional pitch somewhat higher than could pass for naturalistic, I don't expect his stuff to clunk like this. Turns out he's co-writing with the artist, Brian Haberlin, who as such is presumably a biggish deal though the name doesn't ring much of a bell for me; the blurb leads his credits with Witchblade, which might explain why. His stuff is...fine, I guess? Pleasant enough science-fantasy, but nothing to take your breath away, and certainly nothing to justify wading through this swamp of clapped-out tropes.
(Edelweiss ARC)
I'm tempted to sum this up as Anne McCaffrey by way of Pat Mills, but I've only read one short story collection by McCaffrey, and that decades ago, so I'm aware this might be either too harsh or too kind on her and I really wouldn't know either way. And to be fair even to modern Pat Mills (not something I say very often at all), for all the failings of his work, he'd know better than to pull the noble (or are they?) savage bullshit in this. I was drawn to Sonata by the David Hine credit, because I don't see that name enough, but while he often works at an emotional pitch somewhat higher than could pass for naturalistic, I don't expect his stuff to clunk like this. Turns out he's co-writing with the artist, Brian Haberlin, who as such is presumably a biggish deal though the name doesn't ring much of a bell for me; the blurb leads his credits with Witchblade, which might explain why. His stuff is...fine, I guess? Pleasant enough science-fantasy, but nothing to take your breath away, and certainly nothing to justify wading through this swamp of clapped-out tropes.
(Edelweiss ARC)
February 13, 2020
Awkward and undemanding characters embarking on an unceremoniously and unrealistically fragmented journey? This does not bode well.
SONATA rumbles into the science fiction curio of off-world terraforming, species conflict, and giant skeleton gods that can communicate with the spirit of the dead. Very little in this comic book makes sense. The book's initial, high-concept story pits competing factions of humanity against one another but on a second planet. The humans do what they've always done: bicker over natural resources and pledge to wipe out one another simply because they can. Nothing fancy.
At the center of the series is a typically enterprising young woman who is the best at doing whatever she does because she doesn't pay attention to the rules: training local beasts, flying scouting missions, befriending aliens, and so forth. Sonata, the woman, gets into a bit of trouble when she crosses paths with an equally, typically enterprising young man from a rival tribe. Pau is an idiot, but what great heroine in survivalist comic books hasn't fall in love with an idiot? Pau's tribe is full of technocratic warmongers, so it's no surprise he's conflicted when it turns out the locals he believed to be backward "primitives" turn out to be caretakers of the giant god-beasts that roam the barren landscape.
SONATA is tedious and predictable. The two feuding sides bury one another in melodrama, kill a few stragglers and innocents, lose precious sons or daughters, and are confused as to whether they should unite for a common cause or diverge from the obvious solution in favor of good old fashion human ego. The book's high-concept comes into play when one considers the vast quantity of resources and energy required of these two competing forces to terraform a new planet, survive, and plot their enemy's death. Unfortunate for readers, very little about these characters' technology is explained, very little of their political motivations are given context, and very little of their practical history (of how they got to where they are now) is given the time of day.
In this comic, whatever happens, just happens. The local alien folk are morally ambiguous without much reason. The requisite young male and young female egoists fall in love . . . obviously. And the distant home world of the narrative's feuding clans is suddenly very interested in not allowing its once-absconded rebels to live in peace.
SONATA also bears aesthetics that are difficult to digest. The rendered art prioritizes stiff, awkwardly cel-shaded models that move poorly, take up too much space, are prone to bad lighting, and leave no room for functional environmental design to take root. The character designs are a mixed bag, which probably doesn't help considering a number of the appointed antagonists look as rudimentarily "evil" as their dialogue is rudimentarily written.
Of the simple pleasures wrought by most sci-fi books, SONATA checks a few boxes — but does not do so particularly effectively.
SONATA rumbles into the science fiction curio of off-world terraforming, species conflict, and giant skeleton gods that can communicate with the spirit of the dead. Very little in this comic book makes sense. The book's initial, high-concept story pits competing factions of humanity against one another but on a second planet. The humans do what they've always done: bicker over natural resources and pledge to wipe out one another simply because they can. Nothing fancy.
At the center of the series is a typically enterprising young woman who is the best at doing whatever she does because she doesn't pay attention to the rules: training local beasts, flying scouting missions, befriending aliens, and so forth. Sonata, the woman, gets into a bit of trouble when she crosses paths with an equally, typically enterprising young man from a rival tribe. Pau is an idiot, but what great heroine in survivalist comic books hasn't fall in love with an idiot? Pau's tribe is full of technocratic warmongers, so it's no surprise he's conflicted when it turns out the locals he believed to be backward "primitives" turn out to be caretakers of the giant god-beasts that roam the barren landscape.
SONATA is tedious and predictable. The two feuding sides bury one another in melodrama, kill a few stragglers and innocents, lose precious sons or daughters, and are confused as to whether they should unite for a common cause or diverge from the obvious solution in favor of good old fashion human ego. The book's high-concept comes into play when one considers the vast quantity of resources and energy required of these two competing forces to terraform a new planet, survive, and plot their enemy's death. Unfortunate for readers, very little about these characters' technology is explained, very little of their political motivations are given context, and very little of their practical history (of how they got to where they are now) is given the time of day.
In this comic, whatever happens, just happens. The local alien folk are morally ambiguous without much reason. The requisite young male and young female egoists fall in love . . . obviously. And the distant home world of the narrative's feuding clans is suddenly very interested in not allowing its once-absconded rebels to live in peace.
SONATA also bears aesthetics that are difficult to digest. The rendered art prioritizes stiff, awkwardly cel-shaded models that move poorly, take up too much space, are prone to bad lighting, and leave no room for functional environmental design to take root. The character designs are a mixed bag, which probably doesn't help considering a number of the appointed antagonists look as rudimentarily "evil" as their dialogue is rudimentarily written.
Of the simple pleasures wrought by most sci-fi books, SONATA checks a few boxes — but does not do so particularly effectively.
September 26, 2022
Hier ist nicht nur der Stil oder die Handlung cool, sondern auch das Setting und die Art, wie erzählt wird. Trotz der wenigen Issues gelangt man tief in die Welt und die Gedanken der Charaktere ein. Es wird lebendig und ich war recht schnell total gefesselt. Vor allem auch das Gegenüberstellen der drei technologisch ähnlich gut entwickelten Stämme und deren so unterschiedliche Fokussierungen bei der Entwicklung eben dieser begeistert mich. Es hat ein ganz klassisches Verfeindete-Stämme-Motiv und trotzdem bringt es das gewisse Etwas mit, um nicht das Gefühl eines ausgelutschten Stoffs zu vermitteln oder mich zu langweilen. Eher das Gegenteil ist der Fall!
April 2, 2021
I usually am not one for sci-fi, but the art really intrigued me. It's a pretty complex future/alternate/in space world and politics, with two completely different people sharing a planet habited by natives advanced (ish) creatures where huge giants believed to be gods live, but they are waking up and sorta attacking the newcomers. Took me a while to get the gist, but once I got it and the plot started to unravel, I was hooked in. Will read the next volume for sure!
January 7, 2020
3.5*
It has elements of being epic but just never gets there.
It has elements of being epic but just never gets there.
April 2, 2020
We’ll see. Sort of a Romeo and Juliet if their parents were conquistadors from different planets and Mercutio was the noble savage. Plus ancient gods - that owe a lot to Monstress for looks, communication and unknowable history. The planet, animals and MC’s are beautifully drawn though (in an EMO sort of way). Everyone else is uglier and more cartoonish.
December 18, 2023
DNF 53%
The artwork drew me in and the potential of the worldbuilding had me intrigued, but, oofa duffa, this baby's first time playing with tropes and no Dinotopia-esque aesthetics can save this writing.
You've got your 'good' human colonists from another planet who have a matriarch and are cool with the indigenous people. You've got the 'bad' human colonists from a different planet who have an entirely racist war culture and are not cool with the native people. The main dudes, despite the 'goodies' having a matriarch, it's still a dude that is their representative, have teenage kids who are uniquely different and rebellious to anyone else in their entire cultures. You've got the indigenous people who have classic 'tribal' coding and look like a mix of D&D's Slaad and Warhammer's Lizardmen, who have the 'noble savage' thing going on. They are also keeping a big secret of ancient technology and dangerous knowledge, being charged with keeping this from the colonists, killing them of they find out.
Tensions reach a head between the colonist groups who are ready to go to war, but an act of light eco-terrorism from the 'goodies' causes massive damage revealing the secret ruins and the Romeo and Juliette teens end up bungling through a portal with one of the indigenous guys who just couldn't bring themselves to murder their friend. They are now stuck in the dangerous, uncharted South, while their parents have to settle their differences to try and find them, while the indigenous leader plans to kill everyone because secrets.
This is the setup of the first few issues and it's just bad and lazy and boring and offensive.
There is some interesting looking tech, animals, and monsters with some hinted at potentially interesting lore and abilities of the titanic psychic monstsrs that might be gods? But it's too little under this embarrassing paint by numbers narrative.
The fact that this was published by Image in 2020 is fucking mind-boggling and embarrassing. Seriously, I would absolutely believe this was written by Chat GPT with the prompt: 'Comic based on Dinotopia, Stargate and Avatar (the blue one) set in Pandora with bigger monsters'.
The art is great, but it really isn't enough to save this powerfully mediocre and derivative nonsense.
The artwork drew me in and the potential of the worldbuilding had me intrigued, but, oofa duffa, this baby's first time playing with tropes and no Dinotopia-esque aesthetics can save this writing.
You've got your 'good' human colonists from another planet who have a matriarch and are cool with the indigenous people. You've got the 'bad' human colonists from a different planet who have an entirely racist war culture and are not cool with the native people. The main dudes, despite the 'goodies' having a matriarch, it's still a dude that is their representative, have teenage kids who are uniquely different and rebellious to anyone else in their entire cultures. You've got the indigenous people who have classic 'tribal' coding and look like a mix of D&D's Slaad and Warhammer's Lizardmen, who have the 'noble savage' thing going on. They are also keeping a big secret of ancient technology and dangerous knowledge, being charged with keeping this from the colonists, killing them of they find out.
Tensions reach a head between the colonist groups who are ready to go to war, but an act of light eco-terrorism from the 'goodies' causes massive damage revealing the secret ruins and the Romeo and Juliette teens end up bungling through a portal with one of the indigenous guys who just couldn't bring themselves to murder their friend. They are now stuck in the dangerous, uncharted South, while their parents have to settle their differences to try and find them, while the indigenous leader plans to kill everyone because secrets.
This is the setup of the first few issues and it's just bad and lazy and boring and offensive.
There is some interesting looking tech, animals, and monsters with some hinted at potentially interesting lore and abilities of the titanic psychic monstsrs that might be gods? But it's too little under this embarrassing paint by numbers narrative.
The fact that this was published by Image in 2020 is fucking mind-boggling and embarrassing. Seriously, I would absolutely believe this was written by Chat GPT with the prompt: 'Comic based on Dinotopia, Stargate and Avatar (the blue one) set in Pandora with bigger monsters'.
The art is great, but it really isn't enough to save this powerfully mediocre and derivative nonsense.
December 15, 2020
If you can look past the awkward, 3D-modeled, cel-shaded art, Sonata offers a pretty fun, fast-paced sci-fi tale that should please most readers. The basic conceit is entirely generic, but the authors make it work: two opposing groups of explorers have established bases on an alien planet - a planet which offers many surprises, if the groups can work together long enough to uncover them!
The two explorer groups are pretty rigidly "evil vs. not-evil," though there are some shades of grey introduced over the course of Sonata. There's also a tribe of local aliens who match every "native peoples" stereotype in sci-fi. Sonata, the main character, is the headstrong daughter of one group's leader. Pau, the secondary character, is the headstrong son of the other group's leader. They smooch. It's all very simple, really.
But simple works! You don't have to think too hard to enjoy Sonata. Sometimes that's okay. You do have to contend with just god-awful art. 3D-modeled artwork should be outlawed in comics. The characters and backgrounds look grotesque and out of place. Your eyes might grow accustomed after a while, but it's still a total affront to good taste.
The two explorer groups are pretty rigidly "evil vs. not-evil," though there are some shades of grey introduced over the course of Sonata. There's also a tribe of local aliens who match every "native peoples" stereotype in sci-fi. Sonata, the main character, is the headstrong daughter of one group's leader. Pau, the secondary character, is the headstrong son of the other group's leader. They smooch. It's all very simple, really.
But simple works! You don't have to think too hard to enjoy Sonata. Sometimes that's okay. You do have to contend with just god-awful art. 3D-modeled artwork should be outlawed in comics. The characters and backgrounds look grotesque and out of place. Your eyes might grow accustomed after a while, but it's still a total affront to good taste.
March 1, 2021
Really good start of a series. Can't wait to read more.
July 12, 2020
This comic is really incredibly awesome. Has a very believable cyberpunk universe, intriguing storyline and both the characters and the environments are very artfully drawn with lots of expression. I enjoyed it a lot and can't wait for the second collection. Gonna check out the creators' other work as well!
April 19, 2023
This story is a pretty serious undertaking. There are many complexities in this scifi universe that could have been explored in more detail. Instead, the reader is thrown into the action early on. Each chapter brings up more details about the universe, its civilizations, races, history and beliefs. It feels rushed at times, but it's understandable for a limited series that focuses on the conflict between two factions. Also it looks good. The artwork is colorful and expressive. I'm surprised the series didn't go past the second volume.
The Planet Perdita is a lush land with plentiful resources. Nearby planets have been colonizing it with varying success. The Ran have the colony of New Salomar, but its survival depends on a river that has run dry. This was caused by another civilization, the Tayans, who have dammed the river for their own use. Though the Rans ask to share the life-giving water, the Tayans refuse and threaten with war. The Rans decide to destroy the Tayans' dam, but a team of Tayans secretly blow it up themselves. The water threatens to wash away the town inhabited by the Lumani, a race allied with the Ran and under their protection. Sonata, the Ran leader's daughter can only watch from afar as a quake sends her underground where remains of an ancient civilization are to be found.
The Planet Perdita is a lush land with plentiful resources. Nearby planets have been colonizing it with varying success. The Ran have the colony of New Salomar, but its survival depends on a river that has run dry. This was caused by another civilization, the Tayans, who have dammed the river for their own use. Though the Rans ask to share the life-giving water, the Tayans refuse and threaten with war. The Rans decide to destroy the Tayans' dam, but a team of Tayans secretly blow it up themselves. The water threatens to wash away the town inhabited by the Lumani, a race allied with the Ran and under their protection. Sonata, the Ran leader's daughter can only watch from afar as a quake sends her underground where remains of an ancient civilization are to be found.
April 3, 2020
The rating might be a little high for this, but I've enjoyed the story so much that I've already begun reading volume two in digital floppies.
I can accept a creator taking a bunch of old tropes, mashing them up and presenting it as a new story. Hell , James Cameron got away with it with Avatar. Whereas Avatar was very predictable, including the end, Sonata, while predictable is doing better character work.
I mean we know Treen and his race are presenting to the colonists as primitive, and yeah I know Treen, et al are kind of running a scam on the Tayans and the Ran. Tayans are the more warlike and aggressive of the colonial factions. The Ran are the more passive, and less technology inclined. The Ran don't hate tech, they're just better at finding ways to live within their and the planet's resources means.
As conflict appears about to break out things get complicated. Sonata is a Ran, and on the surface it appears she is headed for a Romeo and Juliet affair with the Tayan Pau. But, especially as the reader gets into the beginning of volume two Pau unfortunately shows how selfish he is, and tied to his Tayan culture.
Is war going to happen between the two colonial factions? Most likely. will the natives interfere-duh? Is more going to be revealed about the planet's first settlers (you mean it's not the Tayans, or Ran)?
I can accept a creator taking a bunch of old tropes, mashing them up and presenting it as a new story. Hell , James Cameron got away with it with Avatar. Whereas Avatar was very predictable, including the end, Sonata, while predictable is doing better character work.
I mean we know Treen and his race are presenting to the colonists as primitive, and yeah I know Treen, et al are kind of running a scam on the Tayans and the Ran. Tayans are the more warlike and aggressive of the colonial factions. The Ran are the more passive, and less technology inclined. The Ran don't hate tech, they're just better at finding ways to live within their and the planet's resources means.
As conflict appears about to break out things get complicated. Sonata is a Ran, and on the surface it appears she is headed for a Romeo and Juliet affair with the Tayan Pau. But, especially as the reader gets into the beginning of volume two Pau unfortunately shows how selfish he is, and tied to his Tayan culture.
Is war going to happen between the two colonial factions? Most likely. will the natives interfere-duh? Is more going to be revealed about the planet's first settlers (you mean it's not the Tayans, or Ran)?
September 9, 2023
I saw this book at a second-hand bookshop. It seemed interesting so I picked it up to read.
The story has some interesting concepts, that could be well developed. Here, it seems like a lot of ideas from other media, games, books. None of them are well explained or developed, just thrown in. In the centre is a love story that doesn't seem believable.
So, very predictable points. Hard to follow sometimes, but probably because I felt that nothing that was happening was important.
I didn't like the artwork, that at first intrigued me. It's very different to what I'd normally like, but was interested to see how it worked within this story. It generally felt stiff, with some very strange expressions sometimes, that didn't really fit into the panel. The dialogue had some very bad lines too, with repeating this like 'oh gods preserve me' that felt annoying fast.
The few things I liked were some of the gods sleeping (even they remind me of Shadow of Colossus). But I wish they'd be done better.
The second volume was at the shop and I thought I'd get it if I liked this first volume, but instead I'll return this for someone who'll like it more.
The story has some interesting concepts, that could be well developed. Here, it seems like a lot of ideas from other media, games, books. None of them are well explained or developed, just thrown in. In the centre is a love story that doesn't seem believable.
So, very predictable points. Hard to follow sometimes, but probably because I felt that nothing that was happening was important.
I didn't like the artwork, that at first intrigued me. It's very different to what I'd normally like, but was interested to see how it worked within this story. It generally felt stiff, with some very strange expressions sometimes, that didn't really fit into the panel. The dialogue had some very bad lines too, with repeating this like 'oh gods preserve me' that felt annoying fast.
The few things I liked were some of the gods sleeping (even they remind me of Shadow of Colossus). But I wish they'd be done better.
The second volume was at the shop and I thought I'd get it if I liked this first volume, but instead I'll return this for someone who'll like it more.
February 5, 2020
Sonata's people have colonized a new planet but their clan isn't the only one. When a dam has been built cutting off their water her peaceful can tries to come to an agreement with a clan that is hell bent on starting another war. After a sabotage plan goes horribly wrong Sonata and the warring clan's son stumble upon ancient ruins, weapons, and vehicles, all of which could help the clans in the fight against the Sleeping Giants that also inhabit the planet. Sworn to secrecy about the ruins and technology from another specie of natives living on the planet. But nothing as it seems and life on this new planet is about to get way more complicated.
The illustrations are really nice and the story is okay. I wasn't really sucked into this and I got heavy Romeo & Juilet vibes from this. As you can guess I am not a romance fan. No it doesn't drive the story but its annoying none the less. I don't think this is something that is memorable and if I were to see Volume 2 I might possibly read it but only if it has a cover anything like this one.
The illustrations are really nice and the story is okay. I wasn't really sucked into this and I got heavy Romeo & Juilet vibes from this. As you can guess I am not a romance fan. No it doesn't drive the story but its annoying none the less. I don't think this is something that is memorable and if I were to see Volume 2 I might possibly read it but only if it has a cover anything like this one.
January 26, 2022
Sonata took me quite a long time to finish, mainly because it suffers from a major flaw that is never remedied: nothing feels real or unique. Characters, technology, motivations, world building… every element of the story has the feel of homework that was done at the last minute to avoid another F.
The design of the skeleton gods is pretty cool, and they are by far the most intriguing part of the story. However, they don’t get much attention, as we focus instead on cardboard characters moving around the plot board.
In fact, as I was reading this I had the distinct feeling that I was reading someone’s homebrew Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The events and world building in Sonata would probably suffice for a tabletop RPG with friends, where these things are happening to you and your buddies. But in written form, the lack of innate drama, stakes, and emotional investment really stand out.
The design of the skeleton gods is pretty cool, and they are by far the most intriguing part of the story. However, they don’t get much attention, as we focus instead on cardboard characters moving around the plot board.
In fact, as I was reading this I had the distinct feeling that I was reading someone’s homebrew Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The events and world building in Sonata would probably suffice for a tabletop RPG with friends, where these things are happening to you and your buddies. But in written form, the lack of innate drama, stakes, and emotional investment really stand out.
October 28, 2023
A peace-loving culture known as the Rans clash with a warrior class known as the Tayans over a planet they view to be their "Promised Land". I'm a sucker for infusing historical stories to ground sci-fi stories, but this was a chore to get through. Though there is a hefty lore to the backdrop of Sonata, very little is fully established to really understand what is going on. The underlying story is pretty generic with some "Romeo and Juliet"-esque beats going on. And though the 3D photo-realistic artwork does capture some Richard Corben energy to it, there is an underlying lack of imaginativeness to it to really make it work well. Instead, the artwork is mostly stiff and awkwardly composed.
I'm generally a fan of David Hine's other written works, but Sonata was a miss for me.
I'm generally a fan of David Hine's other written works, but Sonata was a miss for me.
January 26, 2020
.It is best illustrations carrying comic I have read in a long time.
Art and graphics are extremely wonderful, vivid and innovative.
All faces appear 3 dimensional and backgrounds including big monsters are wonderful.
Even if no captions were written you could read this one to see great artwork.
Story is themed on well known theme of two rival families whose kids fall in love but it happens in future in some other galaxy.
Sonata is main character and see is expertly developed into a super hero who has kind heart.
I liked the book very much.
Just one of books you keep flipping through again and again.
Thanks edelweiss plus and publisher for review copy.
Art and graphics are extremely wonderful, vivid and innovative.
All faces appear 3 dimensional and backgrounds including big monsters are wonderful.
Even if no captions were written you could read this one to see great artwork.
Story is themed on well known theme of two rival families whose kids fall in love but it happens in future in some other galaxy.
Sonata is main character and see is expertly developed into a super hero who has kind heart.
I liked the book very much.
Just one of books you keep flipping through again and again.
Thanks edelweiss plus and publisher for review copy.
February 18, 2020
I give it a 7/10.
I'd say it's Saga without the clever dialogues, without the sex, without that critical view on people and politics.
Sure, most of the other elements in Saga are here as well. The story about a girl who falls in love with a guy who's in the wrong side of the war, two very different cultures. A fantastic world embodied in beautiful art.
In the end it feels like a canned story, a washed down Saga, where dialogues are insipid and you can tell where the story is heading to. It feels too forced at times.
I'd recommend this story to anyone who loves sci fantasy, those who value visuals over dialogues and story.
I'd say it's Saga without the clever dialogues, without the sex, without that critical view on people and politics.
Sure, most of the other elements in Saga are here as well. The story about a girl who falls in love with a guy who's in the wrong side of the war, two very different cultures. A fantastic world embodied in beautiful art.
In the end it feels like a canned story, a washed down Saga, where dialogues are insipid and you can tell where the story is heading to. It feels too forced at times.
I'd recommend this story to anyone who loves sci fantasy, those who value visuals over dialogues and story.
April 14, 2020
I really wanted to like this more than I did. Very fine artwork and the makings for a truly epic tale, but the setting of a mysterious world colonized by competing groups of humans feels underbaked, and more in line wit the kind of sketchy treatment we’d get in a Heavy Metal short story than an ongoing series. But even by that standard, there just isn’t quite enough *there* there to put this over the top. That the main character looks an awful lot like Tanis from Borderlands doesn’t help.
December 15, 2019
A strong four stars.
There's little that's entirely fresh in this book, but nor is there little that is not done well. The artwork is a lot more competent than the average comic, for one, so even if the prologue here seems to pitch two characters that look the same into battle with each other, we still survive. In fact there are three races, all struggling to find a balance between each other, on a planet peopled by no end of critters, including gigantic cyclopean monsters thought to be gods. This certainly looks like a title to keep track of, for while it does stick to formulaic tropes, it is all done much more effectively than you'd expect.
There's little that's entirely fresh in this book, but nor is there little that is not done well. The artwork is a lot more competent than the average comic, for one, so even if the prologue here seems to pitch two characters that look the same into battle with each other, we still survive. In fact there are three races, all struggling to find a balance between each other, on a planet peopled by no end of critters, including gigantic cyclopean monsters thought to be gods. This certainly looks like a title to keep track of, for while it does stick to formulaic tropes, it is all done much more effectively than you'd expect.
December 16, 2019
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the e-arc!
Interesting art style. Fairly standard sci-fi exploration and colonization plot where the people colonizing bite off more than they can chew. The conflict between the two human-seeming groups feels like a setup to keep us from looking at the the plot holes surrounding the natives and the cyclopean mind-melting beings known as sleeping giants. Interesting enough for a second look.
Interesting art style. Fairly standard sci-fi exploration and colonization plot where the people colonizing bite off more than they can chew. The conflict between the two human-seeming groups feels like a setup to keep us from looking at the the plot holes surrounding the natives and the cyclopean mind-melting beings known as sleeping giants. Interesting enough for a second look.
June 20, 2020
This is a steampunk/sci-fi (possibly) Romeo & juliet story with a lot of interesting plot hooks. I can see Hine write another 10 of these with the stuff he planted in this book. And I will keep reading them. Comics are a great medium for weird ideas.
Also: great art. Love the way the illustrator use light in some of the pictures.
Also: great art. Love the way the illustrator use light in some of the pictures.
March 22, 2021
Sonata was a fairly interesting and an intriguing comic book, this book had some great art, creative concepts, and the storyline just flowed very smoothly. I am excited and curious to see what happens in the second book especially since it’s a big event in the story, overall I enjoyed this and had fun reading it!
June 27, 2021
The story was entertaining and being on another planet was a nice change. I found that the relationships and reactions lacked depth (they felt a little childish), but was interested by the 2 main human characters and the other people living on the planet. The art was overall good and convey well the atmosphere.
June 27, 2022
Gave this one a re-read since I recently bought volume 2, but couldn't remember the plot. Very basic sci-fi colonization premise with equally simple characters, but the political machinations of the 3 factions keep things interesting. The digital art is an acquired taste, but I love the different creature designs. Interested to see where this goes.
January 21, 2020
This was better than I thought it would be. Its s a complex story that has some interesting twists and turns. Nothing ever seems to be what it seems. That's what I like about it. The artwork on this book is awesome. Worth the read. Looking forward to seeing where this is going in future volumes.
March 6, 2020
Scifi comics are so rare now and it's a joy to find a good one. Well done in terms of story and art. Reminds me of a modern take on the dragon riders of pern mixed with a dash of heavy metal and Romeo and Juliet. Looking out for volume 2
October 21, 2021
Saga rip off with two different alien races that look suspiciously just like a bunch of white people. Don’t have it in me to critique the neocolonial storyline that I’m pretty sure they were trying (but failed) to critique.
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