Remender and Opena spin a gorgeous looking tale of mistrust, paranoia and the legacy of family in a story that has aged like fine wine. The book's central conflict arises entirely out of rumor, lies and mistrust, egged on by an nearly omniscient Mud King. The Mud King, a powerful mosak, makes simple offers: whatever your heart desires, and in exchange you let the Mud King into your head, giving him a permanent look at what you see and what you hear.

The book really does a great job fleshing out the Mud King and his poisonous effect on the world of Zhal, making nearly perfect parallels to real life that are hard to ignore. I love how hard Remender leans into it too. I mean there's really no mincing words as to which orange tyrant he's alluding to here:

"Then the whispers began to spread, the lies, the hate. Regular men, who'd become suddenly wealthy, began holding public assemblies, selling themselves as the common voice. They gave validation to the people's darkest subconscious fears and secret prejudices by blaming all misfortunes on minorities."

Remender does get dangerously close to well-trodden territory with his main protagonist Adam Osidis, who shares similarities with some of Remender's other lead characters. Thankfully, the deft world building and strong family history laid out in the story does a lot to help Adam stand out, as more than just a man who just wants to protect his family. He comes off as super relatable and the between-a-rock-and-hard-place spot he finds himself in was compelling to read.

Finally, I can't say enough about the strong character design and impressive fight choreography laid out by Jerome Opena. His pencils really bring these characters to life and make the fantasy world of Zhal feel like nothing else out there. Just really great stuff all around.

7 Art
8 Writing