Publisher: Insight Comics
Release Date: September 27, 2017
Price: $24.99
Creator: Nilah Magruder
Format: 128 pgs., Full-Color, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-6838-3004-7
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This is a quirky adventure story which began as a webcomic. It has artistic influences both from the anime/manga styles and the European graphic album styles, the former in the character close-ups and the latter in things like the opening desert sequence. The cover was immediately intriguing, and raises so many questions that it draws the reader in.
This is the first volume of a series, and as such much of the story is to set things up for the later adventures. As such, only small plot points are resolved in this first volume, and many unanswered questions arise. The most important one is "how did this world get this way," which will probably be part of later volumes.
A town in the desert is isolated, poor, and victimized by wandering bandits, but the unusual thing is that these bandits have super powers. Those with such powers are called Parasai, and are supposed to be the equivalent of knights, defending the people, but a bunch of them have just become wandering thieves and bullies. None of them ride three times around the well in the center of town, but yes, clichéd outlaws with a power-up. A wandering stranger rides her bird into town, and wearing what are apparently hearing aids [okay, so it’s not a total cliché that way, either]. So, a post-apocalyptic western of sorts, but with apparent magic or super-powers, prehistoric birds, and several other oddities.
The intended audience isn’t entirely clear, but nothing in this volume would make it unsuitable for ages 10+. Minor issues of language and violence, along with a complex story line, keep it from being all-ages.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
