1193 ( )

I love it! I've read Wilson's lighter superhero work in Ms. Marvel, and her heavier fantasy novel Alif the Unseen, and Air falls somewhere in between. It's light, but it's serious. It's realistic, but fantastical. Really the word is "dreamlike." It's a little bit steampunk, plus some Aztec mythology, an an adventure romance. It's got major female characters who don't come off as stereotypes of "strong women," and I always love how Wilson incorporates a variety of ethnicities, not just one. ( )

I'm still in love with Zayn. This series is everything Grant Morrison ever tried to do, but so much better; graphic novels in which the map is the territory, because how we draw the map affects reality. ( )

Air jumps through so many genres that, in truth, I'm not quite sure what to think about it. And that, in a nutshell, is both the book's greatest strength and greatest weakness.

A strength, because the skillful ways in which it negotiates existing as both fantasy and science fiction, spy thriller and romance, makes it a wonderfully exciting read, where one doesn't know whether to expect a character to pull out a gun or a flower. The drawback, unfortunately, is that the whole book, as a result, feels rushed.

Characters are introduced quickly, and Blythe's opinions about them change so rapidly that the reader is left wondering what exactly we're supposed to believe. The Etesian's, in particular, seem simultaneously all-powerful and inept, while Blythe seems alternately capable, naive, and cynical.

My criticisms aside, the premise of the book is intriguing and unique. I can't wait for the second volume.

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One of the better first volumes I've picked up this year. The guy at Travelling Man compared it to the Invisibles, the first volume of which I found slightly too whacky earlier this year, but this, so far, has been just the right level of whacky. Planning to buy Volume 2 when I get back to Newcastle.

Bechdel: Totally pass. Awesome. ( )