Romain Benassaya

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[First off, I didn't realize this was the first volume of a series. I thought it was going to be a stand-alone graphic novel. This isn't really a qualm about the story, more so of an annoyance that the book isn't properly tagged.]

Earth is dying, and several ships have fled to the stars. This fleet of colony ships is destined for a far-off planet named Leonis, where they plan to completely start over. The passengers of Arka III, the third ship in the fleet, wake up in a place that is not Leonis, but instead, a mysterious place where there are no stars. They also discover that they have been asleep far longer than the two hundred years that they expected. The crew then sets out to explore the strange place that they are now in, only to discover the environment is a bit more hostile than they first realized. There are elements of this that were far more mind-bendy than I expected, a bit reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The world-building in this novel is very interesting, as are the technologies. The plot pacing was a bit off, however. It goes from moving fairly slowly in the beginning, only to do a sudden 180 and take off at Mach eighty. The overall story is interesting, plot issues non withstanding. The character's desire to keep exploring, to find the truth of where they ended up, and to find a way to leave, is something that the reader also wants. You want them to keep going and keep exploring, because you want to know the truth of this mysterious place that they are in. It's clearly an almost otherworldly place, but how did it come to be? The way characters are developed feels a bit odd. It's like they've been given set traits, but then never have the characters expanded on. Some characters do make some VERY odd decisions, that made me pause and go "But...why would you do that? That's so out of the blue?". The art style is interesting. It's done in a painted style, which is very pretty. But the character's faces barely make expressions, and constantly look blank-faced. The action scenes are also just eh. This honestly makes me want to read the original novel to see if the same issues with the plot pacing exist there, or it if was getting turned into a graphic novel that caused these issues. I will be seeking out the second volume, mostly because I want to know the truth myself.… (meer)