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A review by atperez
The Fall of the House of West by Paul Pope, J. T. Petty
4.0
I was given this title to review by NetGalley and the publisher First Second in exchange for my honest review.
Daughter of celebrated Haggard West – hero extraordinare of the monster-rampaged Arcopolis – and a hero-in-training herself, 15-year-old Aurora West continues on her quest to find the monster that killed her mother eleven years ago. All signs point to the responsible monster being Coil, Aurora's not-so-imaginary and not-so-friendly childhood companion, who just so happened to disappear from Aurora's life on the night her mother died. Aurora is hot on Coil's trail and ready to exact her revenge but Haggard, desperate not to lose another person he loves to the fight against monsters, is trying (and failing) to keep Aurora on a short leash. In her haste and desperation to rid Arcopolis once and for all of the fiendish Coil, Aurora plays right into the monsters' hands and puts not only her own life but the life of her father in even more danger than she realizes. Pope and Petty crafted a suspenseful and completely engrossing story that artfully explores the dangers of giving in to emotions in the midst of despair. Flawed characters abound – Aurora and her unfettered arrogance, Ms. Grately's well-intentioned secretiveness, Haggard's blind rage and over-protectiveness – bestowing a realistic complexity to an already layered story. Thankfully, the restrained violence is peppered with humor and heart-warming scenes which, alongside the story's breakneck pacing, prevents the dark tone from taking over completely. For his part, Rubín delivers an explosive style that dares the writing to keep up with it. Whether it is the orientation of the panel itself or the scene within, there is no shortage of diagonal lines, which imbues the story with the action and excitement that keeps it moving forward. Put this into the hands of readers who have advanced from Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Space or Ben Hatke's Zita series.
Daughter of celebrated Haggard West – hero extraordinare of the monster-rampaged Arcopolis – and a hero-in-training herself, 15-year-old Aurora West continues on her quest to find the monster that killed her mother eleven years ago. All signs point to the responsible monster being Coil, Aurora's not-so-imaginary and not-so-friendly childhood companion, who just so happened to disappear from Aurora's life on the night her mother died. Aurora is hot on Coil's trail and ready to exact her revenge but Haggard, desperate not to lose another person he loves to the fight against monsters, is trying (and failing) to keep Aurora on a short leash. In her haste and desperation to rid Arcopolis once and for all of the fiendish Coil, Aurora plays right into the monsters' hands and puts not only her own life but the life of her father in even more danger than she realizes. Pope and Petty crafted a suspenseful and completely engrossing story that artfully explores the dangers of giving in to emotions in the midst of despair. Flawed characters abound – Aurora and her unfettered arrogance, Ms. Grately's well-intentioned secretiveness, Haggard's blind rage and over-protectiveness – bestowing a realistic complexity to an already layered story. Thankfully, the restrained violence is peppered with humor and heart-warming scenes which, alongside the story's breakneck pacing, prevents the dark tone from taking over completely. For his part, Rubín delivers an explosive style that dares the writing to keep up with it. Whether it is the orientation of the panel itself or the scene within, there is no shortage of diagonal lines, which imbues the story with the action and excitement that keeps it moving forward. Put this into the hands of readers who have advanced from Mike Maihack's Cleopatra in Space or Ben Hatke's Zita series.