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1949. Quelque part en Europe centrale, existe un orphelinat où sont admis des enfants qui ont survécu au contact d'un mystérieux virus transformant les gens en monstres. L'arrivée d'une nouvelle pensionnaire, Sarah, une petite fille de 10 ans, va mettre en lumière les secrets que renferment les vieux murs de ce lieu que ses pensionnaires nomment le manoir des murmures.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published August 24, 2011
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
David Muñoz
195 books6 followersGuionista. Cine (The Devil's Backbone, No mires a los ojos), cómic (15, Sordo, Infectado, Abandonados) y TV. Profesor. Autor de Escribir con viñetas.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 9, 2022
A very good if somewhat open ended conclusion. Nicely done.
August 7, 2020
The ending was a bit abrupt I wanted more of the story to understand the world better one more comic should have done it but still an interesting coming.
November 7, 2022
What is it with endings in series? Just what is it that makes a brilliant story fall at the last hurdle time and again?
It’s the trying too hard syndrome.
There was no real need for the sudden introduction of a personal love story feud between the leaders of the druids and of the vampires. There was no need to bring in the “baddie kills the love of the goodie’s life” element for extra needle between the two. There already was enough just by being who they were. However, the authors needed a personal obsession to bring in and attempt to justify … a whopping Deus Ex Machina of course, as they had clearly run out of ideas.
There was no need for a secret plot by the leader of the druids to develop a world-dominating revenge-pursuing super-vampire army so that our cutesy protagonist could take the extra drug and become an even more overpowered supervillain to squish the overpowered villain in a titanic punch fest (spectacular as it was, I must say).
This sudden switch to a climactic - but by implication inevitably one-sided - fight for glory goes completely against all the build-up so far.
The druids’ known motivations were sufficient, moving from a history of monster hunting to misguidedly trying to develop a vaccine for monster prevention. Why go over the top with a secret super-army?
Destroying the vaccine was clearly motivation enough for the vampires’ actions as they didn’t know about the Deus Ex Machina, and it was motivation enough - critically - to abuse their allies in their pursuit of victory at any cost. There was no need for them to be squished by a supervillain in order to unexpectedly fail in the moment of their greatest triumph. Enough fractures within their own ranks had been shown up to this point for the other monster species to rebel when their vampire leaders showed their true colours and sacrificed other monsters to their ends. Their mutual enemy being defeated, their inner rivalries could have come to the fore. A classic end for bad guys. That would have tied in beautifully with the themes of belonging, loyalty, and personal choice I had praised so much in my comment on volume two.
Frustratingly, the authors still had those classic themes present, as the plot provided for double-cross after double-cross, betrayal after betrayal, and lie after lie, all the way to the end. Bringing in the Deus Ex Machina actually makes all the double-crosses fall over each other: the multiple traitor just runs out of plausible motivations for his convenient actions, so much so he’s just dropped out of the story in the end.
The elements of a good, emotionally satisfying and twisty ending were nevertheless all there, but they had to be overshadowed by all those completely unnecessary supervillain duel fireworks.
Why go for the stale old face-off?
The undercurrent of lies and more lies gives much more emotional punch than the Hollywood style “you killed my woman yes I did muah ha ha” utter drivel the authors resorted to in order to try to justify an “I can punch you harder than you can punch me” ending. Just as the druids’ forces fell apart with drama and pathos, the vampires’ forces could have been wrenched apart by their own hubris. That could have been spectacular too. And it would have set up any number of possible sequels as well.
Nope, they had to try too hard. They had to out-Hollywood Hollywood. To out-Marvel Marvel. Go for the special effects and forget the story. Abandon all the threads that had been coiling so well around deep emotions.
That makes me angry, let alone disappointed.
Anyway. I read the French edition of this book but only the English one is listed on Goodreads. Both editions are available on kindle unlimited.
It’s the trying too hard syndrome.
There was no real need for the sudden introduction of a personal love story feud between the leaders of the druids and of the vampires. There was no need to bring in the “baddie kills the love of the goodie’s life” element for extra needle between the two. There already was enough just by being who they were. However, the authors needed a personal obsession to bring in and attempt to justify … a whopping Deus Ex Machina of course, as they had clearly run out of ideas.
There was no need for a secret plot by the leader of the druids to develop a world-dominating revenge-pursuing super-vampire army so that our cutesy protagonist could take the extra drug and become an even more overpowered supervillain to squish the overpowered villain in a titanic punch fest (spectacular as it was, I must say).
This sudden switch to a climactic - but by implication inevitably one-sided - fight for glory goes completely against all the build-up so far.
The druids’ known motivations were sufficient, moving from a history of monster hunting to misguidedly trying to develop a vaccine for monster prevention. Why go over the top with a secret super-army?
Destroying the vaccine was clearly motivation enough for the vampires’ actions as they didn’t know about the Deus Ex Machina, and it was motivation enough - critically - to abuse their allies in their pursuit of victory at any cost. There was no need for them to be squished by a supervillain in order to unexpectedly fail in the moment of their greatest triumph. Enough fractures within their own ranks had been shown up to this point for the other monster species to rebel when their vampire leaders showed their true colours and sacrificed other monsters to their ends. Their mutual enemy being defeated, their inner rivalries could have come to the fore. A classic end for bad guys. That would have tied in beautifully with the themes of belonging, loyalty, and personal choice I had praised so much in my comment on volume two.
Frustratingly, the authors still had those classic themes present, as the plot provided for double-cross after double-cross, betrayal after betrayal, and lie after lie, all the way to the end. Bringing in the Deus Ex Machina actually makes all the double-crosses fall over each other: the multiple traitor just runs out of plausible motivations for his convenient actions, so much so he’s just dropped out of the story in the end.
The elements of a good, emotionally satisfying and twisty ending were nevertheless all there, but they had to be overshadowed by all those completely unnecessary supervillain duel fireworks.
Why go for the stale old face-off?
The undercurrent of lies and more lies gives much more emotional punch than the Hollywood style “you killed my woman yes I did muah ha ha” utter drivel the authors resorted to in order to try to justify an “I can punch you harder than you can punch me” ending. Just as the druids’ forces fell apart with drama and pathos, the vampires’ forces could have been wrenched apart by their own hubris. That could have been spectacular too. And it would have set up any number of possible sequels as well.
Nope, they had to try too hard. They had to out-Hollywood Hollywood. To out-Marvel Marvel. Go for the special effects and forget the story. Abandon all the threads that had been coiling so well around deep emotions.
That makes me angry, let alone disappointed.
Anyway. I read the French edition of this book but only the English one is listed on Goodreads. Both editions are available on kindle unlimited.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2020
Lecture sympa mais sans plus
J’ai cependant bcp aimé les dessins et l’ambiance mais je n’ai pas plus que ça accroché à l’histoire
En soit, ce premier cycle (je ne sais pas s’il y en aura un autre) permet de passer le temps et de se changer les idées entre 2 lectures !
J’ai cependant bcp aimé les dessins et l’ambiance mais je n’ai pas plus que ça accroché à l’histoire
En soit, ce premier cycle (je ne sais pas s’il y en aura un autre) permet de passer le temps et de se changer les idées entre 2 lectures !
March 18, 2016
Ce dernier tome tourne complètement en eau de boudin. Je n'ai pas vraiment accroché à cette série : cela manque vraiment de développement sur les tenants et les aboutissants de cette guerre entre druides et monstres... Comment ça a commencé, pourquoi ça continue ?! Aucune réponse...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews