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trin's review
4.0
Beautiful and strange. I desperately want to spend more time in this world. Part of that is because this book races through its storyline -- I would happily have lingered on any one element much, much longer, and instead this is almost an outline. But I'm really impressed by the way Ríos and Lim tell a non-chronological story so that its many, many pieces still click together in a satisfying way.
But still: both personally and editorially, I want more!!
But still: both personally and editorially, I want more!!
arf88's review
2.0
The art in this is really pretty, however often the style hindered the storytelling.
The story itself is pretty simple. Humans create animal hybrids who then turn on their creators. Lots of typical "humans bad" tropes that get somewhat turned on their head towards the end. What makes this a bit more interesting is that the meat of the story has already happened in the past. The non-linear storytelling could be confusing, but I found it helped keep my attention.
Overall I found this to be pretty mediocre. I'll read the next volume as there's only the one, but I'm not eager to go out looking for more work by this writer.
The story itself is pretty simple. Humans create animal hybrids who then turn on their creators. Lots of typical "humans bad" tropes that get somewhat turned on their head towards the end. What makes this a bit more interesting is that the meat of the story has already happened in the past. The non-linear storytelling could be confusing, but I found it helped keep my attention.
Overall I found this to be pretty mediocre. I'll read the next volume as there's only the one, but I'm not eager to go out looking for more work by this writer.
bengriffin's review
4.0
I came to this after loving Emma Rios' work with Kelly-Sue on Pretty Deadly. I initially tried reading it as singles but stopped after issue one because I wasn't sure about it. The story hadn't really grabbed me, the panelling was a little confusing, an anthropomorphic dog was sleeping with a human, and I figured I needed to read it as a trade to give it a fair chance. Thankfully, picking up the trade was worth it. The story, whilst still not always being completely clear, does make sense here and is easy enough to follow. The writing is lyrical and suffused with elegiac beauty and sadness telling a tale of ecological disaster and sacrifice with both a sci-fi and fantasy slant. The artwork is my favourite thing here though bringing a beautiful Eastern watercolour style and feeling light and airy whilst still capturing the melancholy tone of the story. There's some interesting panelling too that adds fluidity to the action and amplifies the theme of transience in both the visuals and the narrative. It's not an essential read, but its beautiful, haunting and philosophical musings are likely to stay with me for a good while, and if it carries on I'll be interested to see where it goes.
caitcoy's review
4.0
Mirror: The Mountain is an interesting fantasy comic by Image Comics that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys the more philosophical fantasy stories. The artwork has a strong watercolor, dreamy feel to it and the story asks all kinds of interesting questions about humanity's tendency towards both cruelty and kindness.
Full review here
Full review here
moirwyn's review
5.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2017/08/25/mirror-the-mountain-by-emma-rios-and-hwei-lim/
Mirror: The Mountain is a graphic novel created by Emma Rios and illustrated by Hwei Lim. The story set on an asteroid that has been terraformed by the mage scientists of Synchronia. When the mage scientists sent down animals as test subjects, the sentient asteroid gifted those animals with human-like capabilities.
Mirror: The Mountain starts out as a story of colonialism and slavery. The animals are now able to advocate for their own wants and needs, and they don’t want to be test subjects. They don’t want to be second class to the mages. They want freedom, and to be able to determine their own destiny. And so some of the animals escape, and begin an uprising.
Meanwhile, the sentient asteroid realizes that it has made a mistake. It is tired of all of the problems that humans have caused, and wants to wipe out all life and start with a clean slate. This upends the conflict between the humans and the animals, as now the two groups need to cooperate to ensure survival, and members of each group start to realize how interconnected and similar they really are.
The artwork is comprised of pastel watercolors that manage to capture the essence of each of the characters, showing not just what they look like but what’s in their soul. It is truly breathtaking, and gave the story an ethereal quality.
When I started reading the book, I expected to quickly be able to identify good guys and bad guys, as in most comics, but Mirror: The Mountain is different. The characters are complex, and nobody is perfect, but nobody is worthy of hatred either. There are cultural and social dynamics at work, and characters who I thought were the antagonists weren’t really in the end. And the entire story feels like a small glimpse of a much larger universe that has plenty of issues of its own.
Mirror: The Mountain was beautiful and dreamlike, and I’d highly recommend it.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2017/08/25/mirror-the-mountain-by-emma-rios-and-hwei-lim/
Mirror: The Mountain is a graphic novel created by Emma Rios and illustrated by Hwei Lim. The story set on an asteroid that has been terraformed by the mage scientists of Synchronia. When the mage scientists sent down animals as test subjects, the sentient asteroid gifted those animals with human-like capabilities.
Mirror: The Mountain starts out as a story of colonialism and slavery. The animals are now able to advocate for their own wants and needs, and they don’t want to be test subjects. They don’t want to be second class to the mages. They want freedom, and to be able to determine their own destiny. And so some of the animals escape, and begin an uprising.
Meanwhile, the sentient asteroid realizes that it has made a mistake. It is tired of all of the problems that humans have caused, and wants to wipe out all life and start with a clean slate. This upends the conflict between the humans and the animals, as now the two groups need to cooperate to ensure survival, and members of each group start to realize how interconnected and similar they really are.
The artwork is comprised of pastel watercolors that manage to capture the essence of each of the characters, showing not just what they look like but what’s in their soul. It is truly breathtaking, and gave the story an ethereal quality.
When I started reading the book, I expected to quickly be able to identify good guys and bad guys, as in most comics, but Mirror: The Mountain is different. The characters are complex, and nobody is perfect, but nobody is worthy of hatred either. There are cultural and social dynamics at work, and characters who I thought were the antagonists weren’t really in the end. And the entire story feels like a small glimpse of a much larger universe that has plenty of issues of its own.
Mirror: The Mountain was beautiful and dreamlike, and I’d highly recommend it.
driedfrogpills's review
3.0
The non-linear format definitely takes some getting used to in keeping the story straight. But according to the blurb this is the first part of the arc, so hopefully the next will help clear up any confusion I had reading this.
ericawrites's review
4.0
Interesting sci-fi eco-fiction with beautiful art, but the story is a little hard to follow at times.
kaliann's review
3.0
Lovely art, but the mixed up timelines made the story hard to follow. And the humans were frequently hard to tell apart. There's a balance when you're dropped in the middle of a story. Too little information can be frustrating. Too much feels like an exposition dump. Overall, I didn't feel it was compelling enough to justify rereading the whole first two issues, and that's probably what would have been necessary.
By the end I found it enjoyable but not particularly deep.
By the end I found it enjoyable but not particularly deep.
wbforeman999's review
This is another one that I didn’t finish, the art in it is gorgeous but I just couldn’t follow the story
farihaimami's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. Tried really hard to like this book. The art is beautiful. The premise is super interesting. But alas it was just a confusing mess. I will still give next volume a try in hopes that it improves. But this unfortunately was a huge miss for me.