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Over the Wall by Peter Wartman
Over the Wall
is a short, simple graphic novel about a girl searching for her brother. The idea that “no one may enter the mysterious city” is a little misleading, in that every year, every boy who reaches adulthood has to prove their manliness by going into the “abandoned” city, which is less abandoned and more crawling with giant, memory-eating demons.
The girl’s brother is the only one who didn’t come back with the others, so she goes after him. Not only does she have to navigate the maze of ruins without getting eaten by mega-sized monsters, something about what the demons do to their victims means she doesn’t even remember her brother’s name, or what he looks like. If she had waited any longer, she would have forgotten he ever existed. So, yeah. That’s terrifying. The good news is it’s a really cute buddy story! The girl manages to talk a smaller, less hungry demon into acting as her guide. He’s the hilarious voice of reason to her noble stubbornness. Over the Wall is short and sweet, while also managing to give us a world rich in strife, magic, and clashing histories and ideologies. To top it off, the culture is based on Mesoamerican art and history, which gives us something new and uniquely beautiful. The coloring is very basic: white, black, and purple for shadows, making everything stark and mysterious. Also, the creator lives in Minneapolis. Just like me! Minnesota writer powers activate! :D Welcome, Over the Wall , to my Favorites list!
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With an excerpt from her upcoming novel Incantation
This week, the blog is being taken over by author and blogger Stephanie Barr. Last week she was kind enough to invite me onto her blog
Rockets and Dragons
for a post about
Sovadron
. So today, we’re going to be talking about the book Stephanie wrote with Mirren Hogan:
Incantation
. Including an excerpt from the novel itself!
Sure, you love magic and intrigue and, y'know, dragons. But there are plenty of reasons NOT to read the book I, Stephanie Barr, wrote with Mirren Hogan,
Incantation
:
Not to mention the fact that you can only find it in the book bundle
Rite to Reign
, which is a steal for 99 cents, because you also get more than twenty other great books by best-selling and award-winning authors.
And if you preorder it, you can get fifteen books and a custom spell book written by the authors. #ritetoreign And hey, here's an excerpt: "I have just want you need." She ran to a large trunk in the back and began rummaging through it throwing this and that out over her shoulder. Some of the items were recognizable but plenty were a mystery. "This!" She trotted back, a carved crystal bottle between her withered hands. "What is it?" "Elixir of regeneration. One sip, and your magic will replenish. But only take one. If you take a second one in less than a month, you'll likely explode with the power." David reached for it. "That will be twenty-five gold. Elixir doesn't come cheap you know." David scrounged in his pocket and had to fish a few extra pieces from his other pocket. She handed him the bottle with a flourish, then turned her beady little eyes on Henry. "Now, for you." He took a step back. "I don't know. I think maybe I'm fine after all." He didn't feel like exploding from using something wrong. He could endanger himself perfectly well without help. "Come, come, the price has already been paid. You need only choose a card." Henry sighed, but turned his face and tugged a card free. "It better not be the death card." He knew enough about tarot to know it only meant change, not literal death, but he still didn't want to see it. "Strength," she said, her eyes brightening. "Aren't you the hidden treasure? Well, well." She gripped his hand before he could return the card. "Yes, yes, I feel it. So much strength. You only need the key. The key!" She tossed his hand aside and fetched an ornate jewelry box off the shelf, cackling to herself. Henry wound a hand in the air near his ear, gesturing to David that he thought maybe she was at least a little bit crazy. They might be too, for listening to her. "What kind of key?" he asked, not bothering to try to sound like he bought it. "Well," David whispered to him, "she did know control is one of my weak spots." "A-ha!" she exulted, swinging a silver chain over her head. "It's here," she said with great portent. "The key." And there it was, a tiny silver key on a long thick silver chain. "Well it's a key," Henry replied. "What does it do?" It looked like the kind which opened a child's diary, not a magical artifact of any actual use. She ignored his reluctance and slipped the chain over his neck. "When the time is right," she said in a whisper with a blast of smoky breath, "it will let you open up the heart of your power." "How much," said David, fishing the last of the coins from his pocket. She waved a hand. "You've been such good customers. Call it a bonus." Henry shrugged. “Thanks, I guess.” It probably wouldn’t do anything anyway. “We should get going.” David nodded, but thanked the creepy old woman a little too warmly. Then, just before he left, he said, "Hey, do you know what unicorns eat? Is it the same as regular horses?" "Of course not. Unicorns eat shit. They like cow and horse shit, but nothing makes them happier than dragon dung." "Really?" David said before he was jerked out the front door. "I think she was full of shit," Henry said, once they were out of earshot. "Who ever heard so much rubbish?" -- So, if you want to read more, despite all the reasons not to, you can find it here . And, if you do, don't forget your freebies: https://www.subscribepage.com/RitetoReignGift
We are still moving at a snail's pace with this series. Right now we only have the first few pages polished and done. So rather than publish little pamphlets on Amazon, I've instead decided to publish the series on my Patreon page for my patrons. Once we have enough for a whole chapter,
then
it'll hit Amazon Kindle.
For now, click the button below to join my army of patrons and enjoy Sovadron as it unfolds. The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel
Is there anything better in life than free books? My roommate is a fan of the podcast, bought the graphic novel, and ended up giving it to me for...I don’t know. Friendship? Fun? A poor attempt at bribing me to do the dishes? One of the three.
I found this graphic novel hilarious for two reasons. The first is that I myself will be publishing a graphic novel series loosely based on my own family’s Dungeons & Dragons adventures (see, Sovadron ), so seeing someone else take that very same premise in a completely different direction is just good fun. The second reason this book is so funny is because it is legitimately funny. I admit, the modern tone and swearing coming from characters in a medieval-ish setting threw me off a few times. And several of the jokes and at least one scene would not make sense to someone who is unfamiliar with roleplaying games. Especially the first battle, where Magnus hesitates for five whole minutes and debates with the DM on how exactly to kill the goblin. In the real world, of course, Magnus would be dead. But for D&D players, we are all intimately familiar with pausing the game while we try to figure out the best way to commit murder. Pacing-wise, the story starts a bit slow. The characters had to find their footing and get properly motivated to go on an actual quest. But once it picks up, it's lightning quick. A related note on tone: while about 75% of the story is funny, every now and then it takes an unexpectedly dark turn. There are several characters who die (for good reasons as well as stupid ones), and we’re dealing with Merle’s fucked-up family, including his very straight-laced cousin. If they were aiming for something like Cable from Deadpool 2 , they missed by about a mile, namely because Cable at least lets Deadpool play off of him while the funnier Adventure Zone characters don’t really manage it. But that’s honestly my only complaint about the story: exclusive humor with occasional sharp turns into grimdark territory. The plot is cohesive and gripping: there’s a large mystery that all falls neatly into place in the end (on a cliffhanger, of course, because they want us to buy volume two in 2019). While we know very little about the three main characters’ backstory, we are still very invested in them not getting stabbed, mutilated, or set on fire. The whole thing is just an excellent homage to Dungeons and Dragons and all of its fans.
I read this book in two large settings. It’s one of those reads where once you finish the last page, the only viable response is “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!”
*ahem* Anyway, it was great. There is a love triangle ( groan ), but it’s handled very well and is actually relevant and useful to the plot. Mare is the “standard” YA protagonist, in that she’s a poor girl from an oppressed class thrown into the deep end of the privileged class and has to balance her compassion with her desire to bring justice and the ultimate bloodbath that it will cause. It's thinly-veiled racism in a fantasy world and good social commentary on our real world. While there is racism (bloodism?), there is surprisingly no sexism. Not even in the subtext. The main character (Mare) is a girl, as is the leader of the Scarlet Guard. The men--Reds and Silvers--treat the women as their equals. And the fighters are all co-ed! There's a scene where Mare is learning to use her gift with the Silvers in the training room, and ends up fighting Cal's fiancee, who's basically Magneto with an unhealthy obsession with knives. You could argue that Aveyard, who's obviously trying to do a social commentary on oppression with her book, fails to talk about intersectionality, the overlap of social identities and all the privileges and oppressions associated therein. And to a certain extent, she does. At least in Red Queen , racism and classism are interchangeable (when in truth, they are not) and the LGBTQ+ community isn't present at all. But in terms of women being able to fight, rule, and be otherwise kickass without being questioned at every turn, it's a nice breath of fresh air. One of my favorite aspects of the book is the grayness--the moral ambiguity--of the characters. The love triangle Mare finds herself in is, of course, between the two prince brothers: Cal and Maven. Maven is like Mare, believing that there needs to be change now , that radical action is needed to bring equality between Reds and Silvers. On the other hand, Cal ultimately agrees that while the injustice done to Reds cannot stand, he takes a more moderate approach. He points out that the other countries would likely punish them for bringing equality and that moving too fast will bring far more violence and chaos than they’re prepared to handle. And then there are characters like Maven's mom, the queen, who's just an all-out bitch. The pace is breakneck speed. I mentioned earlier that I read this in two settings, and that's just because I couldn't put it down. It's not like the slow burn of Lord of the Rings where you can casually pick it up, read a few pages, put it back down to return to cooking dinner, and then pick it up again while you're baking cookies. No, Red Queen is the kind of story where you don't want anything else going on around you. If you pick this up while you're cooking or baking, your food is going to burn and probably take a large chunk of the kitchen with it. The book is first person POV, told entirely through Mare's eyes. Which means we learn everything about the world of the Silvers right along with her. As such, m ost of the book is dedicated to exposition. It’s kind of like Harry Potter : book one is an introduction, the end of which includes the gauntlet being thrown and the Big Bad Guy being revealed. The biggest difference between Red Queen and Harry Potter is that while Rowling kind of eased us into the character deaths and injustices, Aveyard cracks out the angst right away, while still leaving us with a hopeful ending. The next books are Glass Sword , Cruel Crown , King’s Cage , and finally War Storm . So, if you’ll excuse me, I now have to raid a bookstore. Want more? Become a patron!
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What's This?The first Dragons, Zombies and Aliens blog was started in 2015. Somewhere between college coursework, paying rent with door-to-door sales, and keeping up with my sorority sisters, I wrote reviews, rants and commentaries on books, TV shows, and movies. Now, this blog has moved, improved, and the sky's the limit! Categories
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