Not what I had expected from something appearing to be soy fiction, but the mismatched expectations helped the fiction overall, I think. I’m not sure if it’s intentionally subversive. Ideologically it certainly seems to be when compared to a typical spy/thriller style book.

The book is written as though the main character is leaving the story of her life for her young children, jumping back and forth from her young life to more current events, and why she is leaving her children in the first place and leaving her story behind.

It’s a fairly slow story with not much action. But it was interesting throughout. The most interesting part was her perspective in the FBI/ CIA/ American ideologies, in general—especially as it is executed abroad.

The world, and Elric himself, are stuffed with some of the most imaginative and evocative elements I’ve read. The structure also works to subvert reader expectations. The only problem with these subversions was—at least for me—that they were only successful in so far as I am vaguely familiar with fantasy and cliches about the world. Loved the anti-hero angle and the fact that even at the end he still doesn’t listen to people who were consistently right about what he should do and it’ll all probably end terribly.

The subversions decoupled what I knew about that stuff so didn’t know the rules of the world enough to appreciate some of what was going on, probably. Both the villain and Elric’s love interest felt a bit one dimensional because they mostly were in service to irony and subversion that made the characters kinda meh.

Even tighter than the first one. More interesting murder mystery in the town. Might be disappointing for people who want more romance because the mystery and suspense is front and centre this time, but I liked that. Couple new characters, everyone has more character development. Starts out strong and does a good job never letting up, plus the twists and turns are even more satisfying this go around.

It’s almost maddening how these books could have been amazing. As it is I think 4 stars is pretty generous if you were to be critical of the text. A lot of it is just the fast pacing getting to the very imaginative and interesting moments.

The writing can’t be said to be that great, though the authorial voice is good. The plotting resolved the overarching bits about law and chaos but other things were pushed aside, making those parts feel contrived.

For instance, *spoiler filled rant* when he leaves to go to the his castle without any explanation right after he told his companions that the plan was to literally go there and slay everyone save the people he goes and visits RIGHT THEN. Cymoril is, again, sleeping based on sorcery and he is discovered and has to fuck off. Then he goes back and they attack anyways but she’s awake and it’s a trap and tanglebones is killed despite the fact that we know he is the best swordsman; in fact he trained Elric himself. Then she’s awake long enough to say she’ll die too and then she does. Everything is just so in service to that moment in the book that you question things you otherwise wouldn’t. Like... just don’t fucking go there to alert the bad guy first for literally no reason, right? It’s never explained at all why he does it. And that kind of shit happens a few times per book.
*end spoiler rant*

Anyways, it’s essentially just a lot of cool shit that makes this stuff work and it’s enjoyable for that reason when you accept it for what it is. It just could have been really incredible, is all.

Warning: mild spoilers regarding the overall premise of the comic The Private Eye. All images are from the comic and can be purchased here.

The Private Eye is a unique experiment in many ways. A thought experiment, a unique format, hell, Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente elect to diverge from how the medium is even sold. PANELSYNDICATE has every issue and both volumes of the comic available to the masses in a pay-what-you-want format. Every single thing about this comic book from the opening pages tells you that this is no ordinary experience, or book.

And it's right.

In this cyberpunk future, Paparazzi are still despised and hunted...but not for the same reason we know today, there's a twist. The comic follows a young P.I who works to get at the truth behind the facade people put on, "literally". You see in this future there is no Internet, none at all. The ramifications are really interesting.

People have real-life avatars, of a sort. If you're "low brow" you'll essentially be wearing a costume; if you're rolling in dough, you might have a hologram, instead of a mask, covering your face. Everyone is obsessed with their privacy and people are not messing around. If you want to find anyone who is old enough to drink, you'll need a P.I; the paparazzi. Who chases them? The Press!

In a wonderful inversion, the people who dole out justice are the people who write and fight for inches and columns. The F.B.I? You mean the national news, of course. There is bad journalism and good, but what really matters is the statement that the truth is synonymous with reporting. Something sorely missing, here and now. Justice is something you have to see with your own eyes, electronic surveillance is a bust. It doesn't exist. People live multiple lives, present multiple avatars, appearances, and have multiple identities (in terms of government issued I.D).

Humanity's need to define itself has spilled out onto the streets, in order words. Because the Internet is gone, this alternate future went a different way. Still filling the cracks and holes we find in our online world now, though. It makes for an extremely interesting setting. And it begs the question: what the heck happened?

The ramifications of the cloud being globally disseminated are felt throughout the story, though not fully explained.

We follow P.I who has a series of flashbacks from time to time, fleshing out the world some more, along with his life and his fundamental motivations. But the real effectiveness of portraying the world full of secrets by showing the avatars being lived in folks while also never having more than the broad strokes of what happened expounded upon, Is the tension. What fun are masks, avatars, and cyphers when the fear of being unmasked isn't online anymore; it's present. And from time to time people mention the event that changed everything, simply referred to as "The Flood." Things aren't peachy. Figures.

We don't even learn the actual name of P.I for some time in the comic. But we do know he's subversive. It's depicted In his choices of what he imbibes, his reading list, his choice of profession; everything, really. He won't even get a drivers license. And in this freedom for himself and his identity, comes his weakness: the reliance upon others who are integrated into the system. He needs a wheel-woman to get around. He needs his clients to survive. He needs them happy, too.

He's just out there trying to earn a living, unmasking folks by word-of-mouth business practices and keeping the lights on.

So when a client that hires him to dig up dirt on them in order to be vetted for a high ranking position ends up dead, P.I is forced to go on the run and try to uncover the mystery himself, lest he be charged with the crime himself.

The world isn't that different, either. The largest changes from our society are shown right away but as we read more, society really seems fairly similar. This is effective at creating an ever-present sense of the uncanny in the book, leaning into the noir roots.

The commentary on technology is nothing new for cyberpunk but the presentation, along with the reshuffling of certain aspects of society, is perhaps the most elegant way to be provocative. The hunger of humanity to take and never be satiated did not come from the Internet it was inserted into it because we created it. And that hunger merely takes a different form without it present. The fact that your kink can be your mask still does not make it OK, in the eyes of society. The need to connect with others, desperately, as the technology that makes our lives easier stands in for the real work we ought to be doing, results in an untenable situation; always. The Internet was never the problem. And of course, we already know this.

In addition to these cyberpunk themes, ever present. We also get to enjoy a noir tale, a coming-of-age story, and some solarpunk ideological stances—all mixed into one. It lays bare some fundamental questions and extends questions about our relationship to the Internet in some fairly terrifyingly effective ways while remaining morally grey; ultimately tasking us with providing answers. This book tells you what it's about when it shows you, before it tells you, that what P.I consumes, he is. From then on you'll find no comfort in these pages—and I wouldn't have it any other way.