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I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
A vivid, one of a kind graphic novel that breathes new life into the well worn narratives of both apocalypse and the Wheetago (Wendigo) in a refreshingly original way.
This book was not what I was expecting based on the cover. The graphic novel’s Hypnagogic storytelling and dream-like visuals take some getting used to the same way moving
in water takes some adjustment from walking around on dry land. Once you’ve acclimated though, the artistic style makes for a one of a kind reading experience. Panels that are at once crisp and misty, detailed in landscape and dynamic in movement, brimming with action and feeling.
Roth is the story you never knew you needed. One that continues the trend of reimagining the tired old apocalypse scenario we’ve all read a hundred times by showing it through a first nation lens à la The Moon of The Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice. After an outbreak of cannibalistic monsters overruns the world, a ragtag group of survivors; including a mother, her child, some escaped convicts, and one of the very monsters they fear, try to live on while also preserving their humanity in this frightening new reality.
This story works on several levels, plot, characters you feel instant kinship to, and a fascinating world building element. Roth also places North America's most famous cannibalistic spirit, the Wheetago, or Wendigo, back in its original context as a creature from a specific culture and history instead of just another monster of the week. However, most importantly to me as a reader, this beautiful story delves into the most fascinating element of the apocalypse narrative, the human impulse to trust and cooperate, even at the end of the world. The desire to retain our humanity and compassion even when the stakes couldn't be higher and trust, either misplaced or earned, is the difference between survival and death at every turn.
Pick up this book, particularly if you’re looking for something more substantive and thoughtful from your end of the world fiction, you won’t regret it.
A vivid, one of a kind graphic novel that breathes new life into the well worn narratives of both apocalypse and the Wheetago (Wendigo) in a refreshingly original way.
This book was not what I was expecting based on the cover. The graphic novel’s Hypnagogic storytelling and dream-like visuals take some getting used to the same way moving
in water takes some adjustment from walking around on dry land. Once you’ve acclimated though, the artistic style makes for a one of a kind reading experience. Panels that are at once crisp and misty, detailed in landscape and dynamic in movement, brimming with action and feeling.
Roth is the story you never knew you needed. One that continues the trend of reimagining the tired old apocalypse scenario we’ve all read a hundred times by showing it through a first nation lens à la The Moon of The Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice. After an outbreak of cannibalistic monsters overruns the world, a ragtag group of survivors; including a mother, her child, some escaped convicts, and one of the very monsters they fear, try to live on while also preserving their humanity in this frightening new reality.
This story works on several levels, plot, characters you feel instant kinship to, and a fascinating world building element. Roth also places North America's most famous cannibalistic spirit, the Wheetago, or Wendigo, back in its original context as a creature from a specific culture and history instead of just another monster of the week. However, most importantly to me as a reader, this beautiful story delves into the most fascinating element of the apocalypse narrative, the human impulse to trust and cooperate, even at the end of the world. The desire to retain our humanity and compassion even when the stakes couldn't be higher and trust, either misplaced or earned, is the difference between survival and death at every turn.
Pick up this book, particularly if you’re looking for something more substantive and thoughtful from your end of the world fiction, you won’t regret it.