Thursday, March 19, 2020

Birthright Volume 8: Live by the Sword (Joshua Williamson)

Birthright Volume 8: Live by the Sword
The Birthright series, Book 8
Joshua Williamson, illustrations by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas
Image Comics
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Graphic Novel
**** (Good)


DESCRIPTION: The Rhodes family has been through a lot - but worse is to come. Now a covert government group wants answers about the strange incidents that are threatening global security, a group that has known about magic since the 1940's. The barrier between Earth and Terranos has become unstable, turning magic on both worlds toxic. Unless the boundaries are rebuilt or removed completely, both planets will die... but one of the last living mages seems determined for that to happen. Three generations of Rhodes men must stand up to the most dangerous enemy, worse than even the Nevermind or the God-King Lore.

REVIEW: The story that started with an innocent boy who failed under the impossible burdens of heroism enters its eighth volume feeling a little stretched, but still moving forward. Mikey still has anger issues to deal with, and his grandfather must face his responsibility in helping create the current disaster (and in neglecting Mickey's father; the failure of parents to understand or bond with their children has done lots of damage to many people in the story.) Meanwhile, Mikey's brother Brennan is still recovering from his addiction to magic and the trauma of being abducted and temporarily turned against his own family. Mastema, the last surviving mage aside from Sameal Rhodes, reveals her ultimate goal, a goal that, like so many things in the story, has been warped by childhood pain that never healed. It starts with plenty of action and bloodshed and ramps up from there to an explosive conclusion, then a cliffhanger. Yes, there's at least one more story in the Birthright arc, though I'm really hoping the next volume wraps it then; as mentioned, the story's feeling a little stretched by now. (I'm also seeing the women, particularly Mikey's mother, and to a degree his lover Rya, getting shunted to the side as Williamson focuses on fathers and sons, or fathers and daughters.)

You Might Also Enjoy:
Casting Shadows (J. Kelly Anderson) - My Review
A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab) - My Review
Birthright Volume 1: Homecoming (Joshua Williamson) - My Review

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