The Raven's Child
Ratings1
Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
"Thomas E. Sniegoski has entranced audiences with his exploration of the Batman universe, thrilled fans with his Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, and uncovered the paranormal with his Hellboy spin-off series, B.R.P.D. Now, he introduces readers to a mesmerizing dark world filled with monsters, where humanity's only hope lies in the bravery of one woman. When the Throng came, the human race never stood a chance. The monsters were simply too strong, too numerous. It only took a few months for them to take over and leave the few poor souls who survived cowering in terror for years to come. But even the monsters fear something: the dark goddess known as the Raven's Child. Legend says that she alone is destined to destroy the Throng and free those under their cruel power. And whoever wields her name and image could become the bane of the Throng and an inspiration to humankind even if she were only a young woman, like Carissa Devin, who has vowed to reclaim the world for the human race, no matter what the cost."--
Reviews with the most likes.
I like it, but it's not quite at the I-love-it stage. I could be jaded or something but this graphic novel didn't quite hits the right notes for me.
First off, the art. It's a little on the bland side at times, and the colour scheme is a bit washed out and drab. But interestingly it's quite fitting given the theme and the plot, so no complaints here.
The storyline itself is somewhat cliché. It felted like I've read similar stuff and so it just feels like it's just the details that changed.
Here we are presented with a dystopia, where the Throng had invaded and basically conquered Earth. We're expected to simply accept that we've lost to this hodgepodge soup of weird and indefinable creatures, yet I haven't really seen anything that explains how humanity could've lost. The way it is presented just reminds me of zombie flicks.
The protagonist is interesting, in that it's basically a younger girl who's trained by one of the invaders in order to instil fear into its own people as a way to return to the fold of their religion, which had fallen by the wayside due to a warlord who lists for challenge. The story flows pretty well, leading to a somewhat predictable finale, which was ultimately a bit of disappointment given how much “retribution” was highlighted as one of the tenets of the religion.
There's an underlying message of faith and redemption, and of hope and despair. As I said, I liked the whole package, but its parts didn't quite stand out enough.
