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Book Review: Troll Bridge

Troll Bridge by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran

Dark Horse, 2016

ISBN-13: 9781506700083

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

Troll Bridge, a graphic novel based on Gaiman’s short story from Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, follows Jack from child to adulthood, and his reluctant relationship with a lone bridge troll. As a child, he is frightened by ghosts, ghouls, and witches, but this does not stop him from his curiosity about the world around him. He meets a lurking, hungry troll during one of his wanderings across the uninhabited lands of his hometown. He is able to fend off the beast by promising to bring him a heartier meal when he’s older. When he tries to deliver as a teenager, the troll refuses his offering off a teenage girl, indicating he would not eat an innocent. Jack, again, is able to convince the troll that he would come back with a something better for him to dine on later in his life, and again, the troll acquiesces. Jack’s adult life is a cycle of trouble, and culminates in his wife taking their child and leaving him after she tires of his poor decision making and harmful actions. Wandering in unfamiliar territory, he finds himself in front of the old archway of the troll bridge, and finds the troll after much searching. What happens upon his return to the troll is unexpected.

Doran’s rich art style lends a haunting quality to Gaiman’s short story. Every page is haunting. Just as Jack’s life changes, so does the landscape of his hometown and the relationships he develops and just as easily destroy. Even the bridge troll himself is significantly different as the story takes shape. Gaiman and Dorman’s efforts with Troll Bridge not only prove the short story is a significant piece of art, but also that the graphic novel format isn’t simply a picture book. It can be the perfect medium for a solid piece of literature. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Editor’s note: Other works of Gaiman’s that have been made into graphic novels include his short story “Harlequin Valentine” and his novels Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book, and Coraline.

Posted on October 29, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: By Summer’s Last Twilight by Robert J. Stava

By Summer’s Last Twilight by Robert J. Stava

Deathwatch Books, 2015

ISBN-13: 978-1515150749

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition

 

This is a rip-roaring story, combining elements of action, mystery and horror with a coming-of-age story: think of Stand By Me, Jack Reacher, and Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom.  The story begins in a town in the Hudson River Valley, where the grandson of Aleister Crowley, the notorious occultist, magician and libertine of the early 20th century, plots to create a new age and open a portal into another dimension of dark forces.

A group of teenagers, an English-born detective, and a small group of men who are descendants of townspeople who battled the dark forces in the previous generation, face off against Crowley’s grandson, other clandestine occultists in the town and mercenaries led by a mysterious mastermind, called the Weatherman.  The detective, the Weatherman and some other characters appeared in Stava’s previous books in his Hudson Horror series (The Feast of St. Anne and At Van Eyckmann’s Request).

Stava adeptly creates a mood of suspense and dread in which nature itself seems to embody danger and evil.  The heroes slowly come together as they learn the enormity of the threat and power of their adversaries.  Each of them must use their special abilities to fight their human enemies and hideous monsters, in a dramatic, hair-raising showdown.

Stava’s characters tend to be one-dimensional.  Heroes are sympathetic, and villains are despicable.  Sexual scenes are mild.  Violence is graphic, but not gory.  There are more than forty misspellings and grammatical errors that interrupt the reader’s concentration.  These errors were probably missed by a spell/grammar-checking algorithm, but would not have been missed by a human editor.  I would recommend this book for adults if the errors were corrected.

Contains: Sexual situations, graphic violence.

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee

Posted on October 28, 2016 by , Reply

Book Review: Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu, artwork by Sana Takeda

Monstress, Volume 1 written by Marjorie Liu, artwork by Sana Takeda

Image Comics, 2016

ISBN: 9951632157096

Available: Kindle ebook, print

Monstress, Volume 1 collects issues 1-6 of a fantastic comic written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda. The story is set in an alternate vision of 1900’s Asia, and includes elements of steampunk, kaiju, and horror fiction. The world includes humans, monsters, and magical creatures, existing in a constant state of struggle and war. The animal-hybrid Arcanics and the Cumea witch-nuns are at the center of this war. The Cumea capture, auction, or buy Arcanics for reprehensible experiments, slavery, or worse. The story opens with Maika Halfwolf, a teenage girl who is discovering her mysterious past, up for auction. A high ranking member of the Cumea takes her, and a few other Arcanics, back to her mistress’s palace. The sorceress doesn’t know it, but the taking of Maika will turn out to be a deadly mistake for her captors. Upon her escape, Maika rescues the tiny, skittish, fox girl, Kippa. They are joined by the ever-present badass of a cat, Master Ren.

I love horror comics, and Monstress has quickly become my favorite comic series for this genre. Liu has created a rich, dark world, and characters are fascinating. Maika, throughout the story, remains stalwart and aloof, despite her class status in this world. This manages to be a strength as much as a weakness. She’s cold and calculating, even when such a demeanor is not warranted, and puts her at odds with her “betters.” Since Kippa is a child, she exudes innocence and cuteness. Maika does her best to be patient with her, which is to say she isn’t. No matter how badly Maika treats her, Kippa doesn’t give up on her. Master Ren is a talking cat, who seems to appear when he is needed the most. He’s protective and mysterious, and knows more than he communicates.

Takeda’s artwork is, in a word, exquisite. There is so much detail in the panels, and every page is in full color. The book took me three times as it normally takes me to get through a comic because I just wanted to drink in the artwork. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

I can’t get enough of this series. Highly recommended.

Contains: blood, violence

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker


Posted on October 26, 2016 by , 1 comment
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