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geekwayne's review
2.0
'Sovereign Volume 1' attempts to tell an epic fantasy story with an interesting world. The problem is that some of the information you might like to have comes late in the book.
The book is comprised of shorter chapters which feature a quote by one of the characters. There are strange characters in masks. There is political intrigue. There are chapters of just exposition with no character dialogue. Strange creatures, explorers, walking dead, and lots of other interesting things going on.
The problem is that you are kind of dumped into the middle of it all and left to founder around to figure out how the world works. Since each chapter at first is another part of the story, these short fragments don't give you much to grasp onto. The book ends with some pages of text relating to the inhabitants of this world and maybe this is where someone should start, but it's dry and uninteresting, and by the time I got to these pages, I was done and ready to move on. The art at times was gorgeous and I loved it, and at other times seemed uneven and I didn't love it. I appreciate the scope of the story being told, and I might try volume 2 if I get a chance, but I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be with this one.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
The book is comprised of shorter chapters which feature a quote by one of the characters. There are strange characters in masks. There is political intrigue. There are chapters of just exposition with no character dialogue. Strange creatures, explorers, walking dead, and lots of other interesting things going on.
The problem is that you are kind of dumped into the middle of it all and left to founder around to figure out how the world works. Since each chapter at first is another part of the story, these short fragments don't give you much to grasp onto. The book ends with some pages of text relating to the inhabitants of this world and maybe this is where someone should start, but it's dry and uninteresting, and by the time I got to these pages, I was done and ready to move on. The art at times was gorgeous and I loved it, and at other times seemed uneven and I didn't love it. I appreciate the scope of the story being told, and I might try volume 2 if I get a chance, but I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be with this one.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
daynpitseleh's review
4.0
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, the artwork is gorgeous. There are a bunch of pages that were so beautiful that I almost want them as prints. The story is very interesting, and the lore and history is fantastic. I look forward to volume 2.
First of all, the artwork is gorgeous. There are a bunch of pages that were so beautiful that I almost want them as prints. The story is very interesting, and the lore and history is fantastic. I look forward to volume 2.
rosseroo's review
3.0
Picked this up because the art looked good when I flipped through it, and it's got a fantasy premise. The story's a bit of a slow burn that kind of dumps the reader straight into a strange world, with three different narrative threads with different characters, and doesn't really start to connect the dots until near the end of this initial volume. Depending on your levels of patience and/or interest in the material, it could be frustrating. It sucked me in enough to keep reading, but just when I was getting a grasp on it all, the book's done and I have to wait to see what's next. Unfortunately, from what I can tell, the author and artist have dropped the series and I'll never find out...
The setting is pretty cool -- kind of a blend of medieval India/Afghanistan/Iran. One thread follows some emissaries from a silent order of outcast priests or something who've come to warn the kind about an imminent threat from demons and the undead. Another thread follows some travelers from a version of England, who are also seeking an audience with the king. The third thread follows the three sons of the king, as they come back to the capital just in time to meet up with the travelers from the other storylines.
There is magic, bloody hand to hand combat, slavers, mashed-up mythology, plenty of imagination, and even a little humor. I liked much of the artwork, but it's kind of uneven. I kept flipping back to the front to verify that it was all the same artist throughout the book. Some parts felt really complex and richly detailed to me, and others seemed really crude and almost like drafts. Overall, I think the best scenes are ones with a lot of people or elements in them, like some of bazaar crowds which are rich in costumes, or cityscapes rich in towers and features. Faces and simpler scenes tend to look less professional or finished. Still, the overall mood works, and the color work is good.
It's good enough for me to want to seek out the next volume, but it doesn't look like there will ever be one, so I'm not sure I can really recommend this.
The setting is pretty cool -- kind of a blend of medieval India/Afghanistan/Iran. One thread follows some emissaries from a silent order of outcast priests or something who've come to warn the kind about an imminent threat from demons and the undead. Another thread follows some travelers from a version of England, who are also seeking an audience with the king. The third thread follows the three sons of the king, as they come back to the capital just in time to meet up with the travelers from the other storylines.
There is magic, bloody hand to hand combat, slavers, mashed-up mythology, plenty of imagination, and even a little humor. I liked much of the artwork, but it's kind of uneven. I kept flipping back to the front to verify that it was all the same artist throughout the book. Some parts felt really complex and richly detailed to me, and others seemed really crude and almost like drafts. Overall, I think the best scenes are ones with a lot of people or elements in them, like some of bazaar crowds which are rich in costumes, or cityscapes rich in towers and features. Faces and simpler scenes tend to look less professional or finished. Still, the overall mood works, and the color work is good.
It's good enough for me to want to seek out the next volume, but it doesn't look like there will ever be one, so I'm not sure I can really recommend this.
ruthsic's review
2.0
Sovereign is set in a fantasy world 'which once knew gods, demons, and magic, and to which all three are returning', and basically is a zombie apocalyptic story set in something like medieval Asia. There are people called adepts (who basically have superpowers) and then some of them are the Luminati (outcasts whose job is disposal of bodies). Set in Khend, where suddenly the bodies of the dead are rising due to demons possessing them, the world of this novel borrows some of it's mythology from Norse as well as Hindu, with some dragons and gods thrown in.
Storyline
While the storyline was good enough, I was lost at the beginning at to who is what. It didn't help that character and world background was at the end of the book. The characters were too many to be invested in one, and besides I don't think there was enough to develop any one. The ending, well, it wasn't exactly surprising.
Artwork
Part of the reason I wasn't so into this book is the artwork. It's terrible, with even characters rendered haphazardly and little to no details in background. The color scheme was good, but with such rudimentary art, the storyline suffered and didn't make for an enjoyable reading experience.
Verdict
Nah, did not like this one.
Received an ARC from Diamond Book Distributors via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Storyline
While the storyline was good enough, I was lost at the beginning at to who is what. It didn't help that character and world background was at the end of the book. The characters were too many to be invested in one, and besides I don't think there was enough to develop any one. The ending, well, it wasn't exactly surprising.
Artwork
Part of the reason I wasn't so into this book is the artwork. It's terrible, with even characters rendered haphazardly and little to no details in background. The color scheme was good, but with such rudimentary art, the storyline suffered and didn't make for an enjoyable reading experience.
Verdict
Nah, did not like this one.
Received an ARC from Diamond Book Distributors via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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