"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" - Jorge Luis Borges

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Reading: FUNGUS AND IRON Vol. 1 - Ayaka Katayama

1st Line: "Area D-18 ... that's where this story takes place."

Review: In a dystopian future, Amigasa rules and runs the world. Everything and everyone is sacrrified for the good of Amigasa, even as a resistance bulds to fight against their all-encompassing rule. Even soldiers within the walls of Area D-18 have been conditioned to readily give their lives to Amigasa ... all except the dyslexic Dante, a young soldier who still finds beauty and humor in his walled-in world, has a tendency to laugh in serious situations, and in short is the oddball who has never fit in with everyone else. Never is this more so than when a troop of soldiers is sent out of the walled encslosure of D-18 to fight the resistance - for most of them, including Dante, this is the first time they've ever even seen the world outside their compound - and all of them wind up dead, some even by their own hand, with the exception of Dante ... who finds not only a weird world full of giant mushrooms outside the wall, but also a young woman name Aoi; the first female he has ever seen. This graphic novel has so much crammed into it - mind control, science fiction fungus monsters, environmental messages, first love pangs, and enough violence to give Quentin Tarantino pause ... and yet with all that, I struggled to get through the book, honestly out of sheer boredom. Long patches of story that seems to go nowhere - or even make that much sense - became grating after awhile, and even a semi-cliffhanger ending couldn't propel me to have much interest in moving onto volume two. Some nice art; otherwise, sadly, a dud.  2/5 stars 

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

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