Today's review is of a comic trade that is very popular and one that I read at the end of 2014. Saga is a well known comic series that has gotten great reviews all over the internet. I have quite a few things to say about this first volume of the series and so I thought I would a full review for you all this week. Let's get into it!
Title: Saga - Volume OneAuthor: Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
First Publication Year: 2012
Publisher: Image Comics
Goodreads Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15704307-saga-volume-1
Plot Summary: Described as "Star Wars" meets "Game Of Thrones", Saga follows the story of Alana and Marko who meet as soldiers on opposite sides of an enormous galactic war. Though the two come from feuding homes, they still manage to fall in love. Now targeted by their own people to stop them from running away together, the star-crossed lovers with their newly born child are determined to start a fresh new life away their dangerous world.
Full Review: I first heard about this series on Youtube by a few different booktubers. Honestly when I first heard what the series was about, I wasn’t all that interested in reading it but after a few more reviews I figured I should probably check it out to see what all the fuss was about. Also at the time of finally picking up this series, I was actually in a huge graphic novels mood and was reading quite a few trades in a day which definitely helped in making me more keen to start it.
This series is totally not what I expected it to be even just from this first volume. Before I say anything more about my thoughts, I would just like to state that there is quite a bit a mature content in this book and so be sure you are comfortable with that type of material before deciding to pick it up. Anyways back to the review. The plot is about a couple of species that fall in love and have a child together but they come from places that are at war. I’m not a huge fan of stories that take place in space as I've never been able to get into the science fiction genre but I did quite enjoy this book despite having some minor issues.
This first volume felt like it was mainly created to establish the atmosphere of the story and build the extensive world that it takes place in. It is a very action packed story that wastes no time, even in the very beginning to get straight into the plot. Though there are a lot of great things about this series so far, I did have a couple of problems while reading this first book.
One of these issues was the violence within the story. I, myself am not a huge fan of gore or large amounts of action and so at times I did find some of the scenes to be disturbing. Like I said before there is a lot of mature content in this book and that includes the amount of guts that appear throughout the book. I was aware before reading this trade, that the series did contain graphic scenes but I really didn't expect the amount that ended up appearing. I do realise this is a personal preference and can understand how some people can love it but for me it just wasn't what I’m looking for in a book. The other issue I had was the multiple perspectives that are presented throughout each issue. It was interesting to see from the eyes of other people in the war and how they felt about Alana and Marko’s relationship but I also found it to be very confusing. Like I previously mentioned, I haven’t really gotten into space books before and so this book definitely tested my patience for the genre as I jumped to different characters in this galactic world and had to be introduced to their stories as well as figure out their connection to the main characters. This I guess was both a negative and a positive for me as I did at times find it quite interesting how the people connected but also found it hard to keep track of.
Despite these couple of issues that I had, there were quite a few things I also loved about this book. The first of this things were the beautiful illustrations that were created by Fiona Staples. I found her art to be very detailed especially in the features of each of the character as it helped display their emotions in each scene more clearly. I also enjoyed her use of colour as she used quite a bit of colour throughout her illustrations but not too much of it that she was still able to maintain the dark and serious environment that established through the text. It was amazing how you could really see what the story was about simply through the images alone.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the personalities of some of the characters such as the main character Alana. Though at times I was annoyed but Marko, I always seemed to enjoy the scenes that were in the couple’s perspective more than the others. I particularly liked Alana as she had a strong and kick-ass attitude but also displayed a loving as well as humorous side to her character. Another character I loved was Izabel who despite being a ghost was wonderful to read about. She seemed to lighten the mood of the story which was just what I needed once I already reached half way through this book. One of the things that I liked most about this book was the little commentary that is provided throughout the story that is told from the perspective of the child. While this story takes place when she was first born, the side remarks by her establish that she may be the one telling this story from the future. I really liked reading from her perspective as it was interesting to see this story through the eyes of an innocent child.
Overall, despite the issues I had, I still really enjoyed reading this first volume and will be continuing on with the series. I did attempt to get straight into the second volume once I had finished this one but for some reason wasn't able to get fully into it. I would love to see where this story goes and learn more about their characters and hopefully hear more from the child. Though this genre isn't normally my type of read, I can truly see why so many people love it so much. This was definitely an interesting introduction into a story that is like nothing I've ever read before. I only expect this series to get better in the next volumes and I also look forward to checking out more work from these two creators.
Hope you are all having a wonderful day!
~Louise
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