Reviews

Berlin Book One: City of Stones by Jason Lutes

tsharris's review

5.0

Re-reading this series from the start after the third part was published in 2018. Great story, great art, deeply felt humanism - almost Joycean in how Lutes depicts each character, even minor background characters, going about their lives in a modern European capital.

pearlmorpho's review

4.0

After reading Jar of Fools my expectations for the first part of Lute's Berlin trilogy to be equally dull. I was happily surprised.

The beginning was slow, and the characters all looked the same, but if you can look past that, the story is really quite engaging. I have never read anything set in the Wiemar Republic era before, and it was incredibly depressing. The feeling of economic desolation did not help my current recession-y attitude. But, it was one heck of an emotional reaction, and I am going to request the next book on ILL because I really am invested in these characters (when I can tell who is who).

micku2024's review

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

poubelleboi's review

dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

dkpnw's review

4.0

Every so often there was a set of frames that made me pause, set the book down, pick it back up and reread them, because... wow. They're beautiful! And made me feel feelings.

Other than that... The storytelling? Kinda confusing sometimes. The plot? Not a ton to it (yet?). I'm enamored nonetheless.

germancho's review

5.0

Amazing read. It doesn't start out great, but it gets solid around Chapter 3. I have to admit that it is a little depressing to know beforehand that things are only going to get worse and worse for everybody in the story (except for the you-kno-whos). While beautifully told and poignantly drawn (specially the architecture), I am left with the small complaint that Mr. Lutes's female protagonists are not as nicely drawn as the male are: the girls look either like big boys or like old men. My bitching notwithstanding, this is easily one of my favorite graphic novels ever.

minimoo's review

dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

nessynoname's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

jordyshore's review

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

heartbreaking in a humanity-expanding manner.

nkives's review

4.0

Pretty interesting read. Takes place in about a 6 months span between 1928-1929 in Berlin. Events and the lives of people during the switch of power from the Kaiser and to the Labour party. This was originally supposed to be a 3 books series, but the 3rd never came out, so I'm curious what happened. This takes me back to reading [b:Maus|15195|The Complete Maus|Art Spiegelman|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515jDZ0eQmL._SL75_.jpg|1658562], not sure because of a similar story, but a non-fiction story dealt in a very serious way. Though this deals with much less hardships than Maus did.