Started: 22/04/20
Finished: 25/04/20
Spoilers: No
A very easy five stars.
Saga has been my favourite graphic novel series for quite some time now, but fuck me sideways if East of West isn’t a hot rival for my top spot. I’m obsessed. OBSESSED!
I finished this volume and immediately bought volume 2. Yes, I’m on a book buying ban because my TBR is unmanageable. No, I don’t regret it.
(Don’t judge me.)
I bought volume 1 last year, wanting to try something new and thought it sounded pretty cool – I’m kind of a sucker for anything to do with the Four Horsemen. It then sat on my shelf for quite a while going unread. By the time I picked it up, I’d completely forgotten it was about the Four Horsemen. I didn’t bother reading a synopsis. I already owned it, so I was going to read it whatever.
I went into this completely blind and it blew away.
I’d recommend to everyone, don’t look for a synopsis. Don’t look for spoilers. Just go in blind, it makes the plot twists infinitely more satisfying.
The short of it is: this graphic novel is fucking wonderful and everything I didn’t realise I wanted. It’s a futuristic, sci-fi western about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but Death has gone rogue, and that’s basically all your need to know.
Death is obviously my favourite character. And his witches. They’re all savage and amazing and I can’t get enough of this trio.
The artwork and colour pallet used for this novel is just stunning and so visually appealing that I found myself just staring at the artwork before looking for the captions. And while we’re onto the captions, I’ve never read a graphic novel (besides Saga) that utilises the captions so well. Within just a couple of pages, and so few words, the entire history of the world is explained to the point where I fully grasped what was going on and how it had shaped the future. The dialogue was excellent. Believable and slick.
The writing was clever and had me smiling in amazement at just how clever it was. It made for smart characterisation and they all felt incredibly three-dimensional. And the story itself is action-packed, violent, and fun, with high stakes and a lot of heart.
I’m so excited to read volume two. It’s books like these that remind me why I love reading so much.
Please don't make my mistakes. Don't sleep on this one.
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