 |
| Add to Goodreads Shelf |
Title: Letter 44, Vol. 1: Escape Velocity
Author: Charles Soule
Illustrator: Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque
Genre: Graphic Novel, Science Fiction
Publisher: Oni Press, March 29, 2017*
Length: 144 pages
*The NetGalley publication date differs from the Goodreads date of 2014.
This book was free through NetGalley in return for an honest review
On Inauguration Day, newly elected President Stephen Blades hoped to tackle the most critical issues facing the nation: war, the economy, and a failing health care system. But in a letter penned by the outgoing President, Blades learns the truth that redefines "critical": seven years ago, NASA discovered alien presence in the asteroid belt, and kept it a secret from the world. A stealth mission crewed by nine astronauts was sent to make contact, and they’re getting close - assuming they survive the long journey to reach their destination.
Today, President-elect Blades has become the most powerful man on the planet. This planet.
Description from Goodreads
Part political thriller, part science fiction adventure, part alien invasion story, Letter 44 rockets forward from page 1!
If you'd just been elected President of the United States, you certainly wouldn't believe it if the outgoing President left you a letter stating he had started two foreign wars and driven the economy into the ground to fast track weapons development for an alien invasion. Neither did Stephen Blades. But that's just the start of this fast paced and tense political science fiction graphic novel. For the last half of the book I was literally curled over my computer scrolling through the e-galley as quickly as I could. It was great! And while current president numbers are off by one, starting this book right after the inauguration meant I was starting it almost simultaneously to the events of the book. It definitely gave the story a surreal feel.
If you'd just been elected President of the United States, you certainly wouldn't believe it if the outgoing President left you a letter stating he had started two foreign wars and driven the economy into the ground to fast track weapons development for an alien invasion. Neither did Stephen Blades. But that's just the start of this fast paced and tense political science fiction graphic novel. For the last half of the book I was literally curled over my computer scrolling through the e-galley as quickly as I could. It was great! And while current president numbers are off by one, starting this book right after the inauguration meant I was starting it almost simultaneously to the events of the book. It definitely gave the story a surreal feel.
What I liked
Pace: This story moves, and just when you think it's slowing down it punches you in the face. My e-galley bookmarks are full of things like: "What?", "Whoa!", and "?!?!?!?!?". (My keyboard needs an interrobang.) The story switches between events on Earth and on the spaceship Clarke. The switch was easy to follow, worked well with the story's flow, and really helped to build the tension. I didn't want to switch over to the Clarke, I needed to know what the President was going to do, and vice versa, don't take me from the Clarke, something just went "boom"!
Twists: The pacing of the book made the plot twists very effective and built tension. And I can't talk about any of them because it would totally ruin the surprises.
Characters: Some of the characters are stereotypical, but most are give the illusion of being well rounded. This is just Vol. 1, we don't know a ton about most of the characters, but the situations they've been put in reveal a lot about them. President Blades is a loyal and tough as nails man of action (despite his terrible name), the scientists had individual personalities and the source of most of the book's humor (what little of it there is.) Even the aliens were original and interesting in concept.
Characters: Some of the characters are stereotypical, but most are give the illusion of being well rounded. This is just Vol. 1, we don't know a ton about most of the characters, but the situations they've been put in reveal a lot about them. President Blades is a loyal and tough as nails man of action (despite his terrible name), the scientists had individual personalities and the source of most of the book's humor (what little of it there is.) Even the aliens were original and interesting in concept.
What I'm on the fence about
The art: I'm a bit particular when it comes to my graphic novel art. Letter 44 was well storyboarded and communicated the action wonderfully, but everyone was oddly angular and sometimes the facial features were wonky or covered in weird spidery shadows.Rating: 4.0
Letter 44 was an imaginative blend of political intrigue and intrepid space explorers. I'm not kidding when I say that this book had me curling in closer and closer to the computer screen as the story progressed and the stakes got higher. I've already recommended this to some comic book geek friends and can't wait to get my hands on Vol. 2.
Have you read the Letter 44 series or anything else by Charles Soule? Do you recommend any other action-y political/alien invasion books? Am I being ridiculous to complain about the art? (A friend of mine teases me about this a lot).
0 comments:
Post a Comment