Reviews

Alabaster: Wolves by Steve Lieber, Rachelle Rosenberg, Caitlín R. Kiernan

ellejaoy's review

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4.0

I really enjoyed the characterisations in this short & speedy graphic novel. The artwork was lovely and while I thought the plot jumped around a little, it was easy enough to follow and enjoyable. I felt like I could read a lot more of Dancy and was attached to even Maisie by the end of the novel.

jmbz38's review

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tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

ellejayz's review

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4.0

I really enjoyed the characterisations in this short & speedy graphic novel. The artwork was lovely and while I thought the plot jumped around a little, it was easy enough to follow and enjoyable. I felt like I could read a lot more of Dancy and was attached to even Maisie by the end of the novel.

anastasiaadamov's review

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3.0

I expected more...

trike's review

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3.0

An albino girl tasked with dealing out holy justice encounters a town full of ancient evil. The origin story is hinted at as we’re dropped in media res. I found Dancy Flammarion’s abilities to be wildly inconsistent, which is a complaint I’ve had about Kiernan’s characters before. Sometimes Dancy’s a Buffy-level badass, sometimes she’s a normal girl.

This is in the same general story space as [b:Preacher, Volume 1: Gone to Texas|95431|Preacher, Volume 1 Gone to Texas|Garth Ennis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309914494s/95431.jpg|1433215] and [b:American Gods|30165203|American Gods|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462924585s/30165203.jpg|1970226] although not as dense or intense. At one point I was reminded VERY strongly of Johnny Cash’s song “The Man Comes Around” (https://youtu.be/k9IfHDi-2EA) and there was a note at the end of that chapter that it was written with Cash playing in the background. It’s almost a transcription of the song.

This is neither bad nor great. It is what it is.

jrug's review

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4.0

My first encounter with Dancy Flammarion was in Caitlin Kiernan's short story collection Alabaster. I mostly enjoyed those stories, but they were a bit too...determinedly odd for my taste to really land with me. This comic solves a lot of the problems I had connecting with the prose narratives.

Kiernan's words and the visual art mesh very smoothly. Dancy and her world are well-realized, and I got a sense of emotional involvement in the action that I didn't always have when reading the short stories. I'm happy to see that we'll be getting more of Alabaster in comic form.

lobodepapel's review

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4.0

Lobos, brujas, maldiciones, pueblos freakys, más lobos, fantasmas y una overpowered Buffy en versión albina que sigue las órdenes de un serafín desquiciado.

¿Qué puede salir mal? :3

barb4ry1's review

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3.0

There's more to Dancy Flammarion than meets the eye. She used to be the seraph, the hand of God. And now? Now she's an albino lunatic slaying monsters and accompanied by a disagreeable and foul-mouthed blackbird.

It's gory and violent and the art looks terrific. The writing didn't awe me but I'll pick up the next vol.

knewms's review

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4.0

Story and art worked perfectly together. Added bonus- at the end if each issue, the album that was played during writing and illustrating was named. I played the album while reading along. Brought it to an entirely different level.

mackle13's review

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2.0

2.5

First thing that's good to know is that this comic follows from earlier novels in the series - Threshold, where Dancy is introduced, and then Alabaster and Alabaster: Pale Horse, a short story collection. I had read the novels previously, so I'm familiar with the character and the setting - but, if you're not, this book sort of just dumps you into the story without giving much in the way of background.


This entry into the world is ok. The story suffers a bit, I think, from the lack of Kiernan's haunting prose, which really adds something to her stories. It's still there in snippets, but it's not the same at all. I thought this story might work better in comic form, but I found myself missing the lyricalness of the language I've come to expect from these stories.

Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the art, which is nowhere near as cool/detailed as the cover pictures.

Mostly, though, I just found this a so-so story, mostly because Dancy kept getting her ass kicked and having to be saved. She's always something of an underdog character, but, in this, she seemed almost secondary to
Spoilerthe ghost of a werewolf girl (that she did kill, in fairness).


I did like the smart alecky bird, though...


That said, I did like the ending - the way that
SpoilerDancy defied her angel and is now more her own person, and now she's absorbed all that dark power
- so, I'm still onboard for continuing the series as I'm curious as to where it'll head next.