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A review by siavahda
Sera and the Royal Stars Vol. 2 by Jon Tsuei
2.0
Last year I devoured the first volume of Sera and the Royal Stars, and I was so excited to get my hands on volume two. But although the art was just as beautiful, this time around the storytelling suffered. The plot felt incredibly disjointed to me, and at the same time, conflicts and problems were resolved incredibly quickly and simply. We're meant to feel that Sera and the other characters have struggled and strived to succeed, and I guess they have, but - not for very long?
Maybe this is normal for comics; I don't normally read them. Or maybe it would feel different if I'd read each issue individually and had to wait for the next, rather than reading them all at once in a collected volume. But for all that the ending was Hollywood-perfect, there was no true tension, and very little to emotionally engage with - even the deaths of two characters happened so quickly that I couldn't feel anything about them, especially since one character had just been introduced, so I hadn't had a chance to get to know them.
It was all very pat and simplified. Super disappointing, although as I said, the art is still beautiful, and I still adore the worldbuilding as well. But I would have been happier if this story were stretched over at least one more full volume, so there'd been room to add all the complexity missing here.
Maybe this is normal for comics; I don't normally read them. Or maybe it would feel different if I'd read each issue individually and had to wait for the next, rather than reading them all at once in a collected volume. But for all that the ending was Hollywood-perfect, there was no true tension, and very little to emotionally engage with - even the deaths of two characters happened so quickly that I couldn't feel anything about them, especially since one character had just been introduced, so I hadn't had a chance to get to know them.
It was all very pat and simplified. Super disappointing, although as I said, the art is still beautiful, and I still adore the worldbuilding as well. But I would have been happier if this story were stretched over at least one more full volume, so there'd been room to add all the complexity missing here.