Review: This is a review of the graphic novel - haven't watched the Netflix anime series yet - and the story itself is about Jack, a young boy from Earth whose parents are killed by an assassin (creature?) from another dimension, who himself is about to dispatch of Jack in the same way before the boy is rescued in the nick of time, taken away by a pair of young rebels and hidden away from harm in another realm. In time, Jack realizes he is caught in the middle of a war over Idhun, a magical world under threat of being taken over by some very, very bad guys, and though hotheaded and quick to act emotionally, Jack undergoes training to help the fight, everyone secure in the knowledge that there is something within Jack that may be the key to winning the war.
The art is really nice here, but rarely have I read a graphic word so overpopulated with text, it actually overshadows the art. Sadly, the plot here is almost all tell and no show, past conflicts depicted in a panel or two if that, otherwise told by one character to another in huge passages of dialogue that bring both story and interest to a crawl. At only about 120 pages the book seems twice as long to slog through with all the dialogue (the book could have easily been longer, depicting conflict via art instead of text, and it would have been a much more exciting read), and by the end of the book it was disappointing to realize I was relieved to be done more than anything else. Hopefully the anime actually plays out most of the action on-screen, so will give it a go, but the graphic novel was a disappointing bust for me. 1.5/5 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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