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A review by kandicez
The Cloven: Book One by Matthew Southworth, Garth Stein
2.0
I wanted to like this, I really did. First, the cover seems to be referring to [b:V for Vendetta|5805|V for Vendetta|Alan Moore|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1343668985l/5805._SY75_.jpg|392838] by [a:Alan Moore|3961|Alan Moore|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1304944713p2/3961.jpg], and that simply cannot be an accident! Second, it's written by [b:The Art of Racing in the Rain|3153910|The Art of Racing in the Rain|Garth Stein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377206302l/3153910._SY75_.jpg|3175590], who wrote [a:Garth Stein|194531|Garth Stein|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1229127424p2/194531.jpg], one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and written exquisitely from the POV of a dog. This one is clearly about animals so I was very hopeful.
I didn't like it.
The illustrations were not to my liking, for one. They were very color saturated, which is fine in the right circumstance, but they were also splashy. Not splashy because the content demanded it, but seemingly as an excuse for two and four page splashes that served no purpose and didn't advance the story at all. They simply gave a larger canvas for art that was perfectly contained on a page level.
Then the story. It just wasn't compelling. Not only were ineffective flashbacks used, to at first build a narrative, but later to unravel it, this felt very much like the first issue of 7-9 issue arc. Certainly not the first volume of a saga.
I didn't like it.
The illustrations were not to my liking, for one. They were very color saturated, which is fine in the right circumstance, but they were also splashy. Not splashy because the content demanded it, but seemingly as an excuse for two and four page splashes that served no purpose and didn't advance the story at all. They simply gave a larger canvas for art that was perfectly contained on a page level.
Then the story. It just wasn't compelling. Not only were ineffective flashbacks used, to at first build a narrative, but later to unravel it, this felt very much like the first issue of 7-9 issue arc. Certainly not the first volume of a saga.