The Raven's Child

I like it, but it's not quite at the I-love-it stage. I could be jaded or something but this graphic novel didn't quite hits the right notes for me.

First off, the art. It's a little on the bland side at times, and the colour scheme is a bit washed out and drab. But interestingly it's quite fitting given the theme and the plot, so no complaints here.

The storyline itself is somewhat cliché. It felted like I've read similar stuff and so it just feels like it's just the details that changed.

Here we are presented with a dystopia, where the Throng had invaded and basically conquered Earth. We're expected to simply accept that we've lost to this hodgepodge soup of weird and indefinable creatures, yet I haven't really seen anything that explains how humanity could've lost. The way it is presented just reminds me of zombie flicks.

The protagonist is interesting, in that it's basically a younger girl who's trained by one of the invaders in order to instil fear into its own people as a way to return to the fold of their religion, which had fallen by the wayside due to a warlord who lists for challenge. The story flows pretty well, leading to a somewhat predictable finale, which was ultimately a bit of disappointment given how much “retribution” was highlighted as one of the tenets of the religion.

There's an underlying message of faith and redemption, and of hope and despair. As I said, I liked the whole package, but its parts didn't quite stand out enough.