Rating: 
Summary: Serious, fantastic fiction
Review: A well crafted, cautionary tale set in a contemporary time utilizing the concept of real gods, of various faiths walking the Earth and interacting with their believers. So, utopia at last? No, more like Hell on Earth. This story is well crafted from the prose by SF author David Brin, to the sequential art (with excellent color choices) by the artist/illustrator Scott Hampton. The story has a large scope with global coverage as well as a compelling tale of one man's fight to save humanity from itself by demonstrating the reasons we strive for something better, something mortal. All the usual standards, such as, "if we had the gods on our side we will win our wars" are revealed to be more than a little dubious. Even renegade gods have something up their sleeve. The very reason for their existence is a high price to pay. The first act shows how the Norse gods help Germany win WWII. This is alternative history with a cosmic twist.Once I started reading this I couldn't put this graphic novel down.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip it!
Review: Could have been a good book...should have been a good book...started out as a good book...and then, the author took a hard left turn. :(This book had tons of potential, but halfway through, the author turned it into an anti-religion screed. Yeah, outlaw the cross. Good idea. And even worse, it's a lousy screed! You can make a good story that subtly puts your message across, but that takes a lot of talent. Brin just drops into preach mode, and -most unforgivable of all!- he simply terminates the story without an end! Do yourself a favor, don't waste your money on this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good...very worthwhile read
Review: David Brin has always been one of my favorite authors. Startide Rising was the first of his books that I read and I worked my way through the entire Uplift Series and enjoyed the heck out of them. Great Stuff. Other novels of his that I thought were terrific included Earth and (my favorite) Heart of the Comet with Benford. This graphic novel is the second gn of his that I've read. The first was a Star Trek story that, while good, was derivative. The origins of this story come from one of David's short stories and it kind of shows. The story is very good and the artwork is well done. The story, while a little disjointed, is a fascinating easy read with ideas that make you think. What were the Nazis up to really? All the religious mumbo jumbo...was there a plan? David, if you're reading this, please consider applying the graphic novel treatment to your Uplift Series. Uplift is terrific and vital and while I would imagine you have other ideas in mind for your next books, they cry out for adaptation.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good...very worthwhile read
Review: David Brin has always been one of my favorite authors. Startide Rising was the first of his books that I read and I worked my way through the entire Uplift Series and enjoyed the heck out of them. Great Stuff. Other novels of his that I thought were terrific included Earth and (my favorite) Heart of the Comet with Benford. This graphic novel is the second gn of his that I've read. The first was a Star Trek story that, while good, was derivative. The origins of this story come from one of David's short stories and it kind of shows. The story is very good and the artwork is well done. The story, while a little disjointed, is a fascinating easy read with ideas that make you think. What were the Nazis up to really? All the religious mumbo jumbo...was there a plan? David, if you're reading this, please consider applying the graphic novel treatment to your Uplift Series. Uplift is terrific and vital and while I would imagine you have other ideas in mind for your next books, they cry out for adaptation.
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I am not a big fan of graphic novels but a friend convinced me this was one I should try. Well a good choice it was. I can say I really enjoyed the story and the art work. I've only read a few of Brin's novels but of those I woud say the style is most in line with The Postman.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: I've really liked the art work coming out of DC lately and this is no exception. I would rank it in the top ten GNs of the year. The story get's a 9 and the art work gets a 10. I'd say it's well worth your time, even if you aren't a big comic fan, the David Brin story is worth the price alone.
Rating:
Summary: Very well done
Review: I've really liked the art work coming out of DC lately and this is no exception. I would rank it in the top ten GNs of the year. The story get's a 9 and the art work gets a 10. I'd say it's well worth your time, even if you aren't a big comic fan, the David Brin story is worth the price alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but far from great
Review: It's 1962, and the American military is putting all its might into a gamble - perhaps the last chance to win World War 2! Indeed, in 1944, just as the tide of war seemed to be pushing the war towards an inevitable conclusion, the unthinkable happened and the Norse gods intervened on the side of the Germans. But, who are these gods and what do they want? Can men make war on gods? This is a hard book to review. Part One of the book is spectacular, with lots of action and a fascinating story. Loki is playing the trickster, keeping everyone off balance. In Part Two, the storyline shifts and men try to understand who the various gods are and what are they up to; Loki's role diminishes and becomes much more hazy. In Part Three, men learn what the gods are, and how to fight them. As David Brin makes clear in the Afterword, this book is intended as an anti-religion polemic. However, a small problem is that in weaving the argument into his story, the author drops both. In real life, religion can lead to bad ends, but the godly intervention in this book doesn't go very far in making that point. Also, to make the argument, the author moves away from the action and adventure, which is simply wonderful in Part One, and into preaching by two-dimensional characters introduced for that purpose. Overall, I thought that this was a good book, whereas it might have been a great polemic, or a great action-adventure graphic novel. It couldn't be both, and it isn't.
Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and well visualized world...
Review: Other people have dabbled around with some of the elements of the story that David Brin develops, but none that I've seen have ever done so with quite the same desire to tackle this new world head on the way he has. The world is a radically different place after the old Norse gods return to champion the Nazi cause. The early part of the story is especially captivating as this new world unfolds. The blending of mythology and technology is also handled very well. The graphics are well done. The later part of the book seems to lose a little of this magic in its drive to create the ending, and there is a definite agenda to the storyline. Having an agenda isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the way the theme is handled may come across a little heavy handed for some readers. (An aside comment with regards to an earlier review-- I think that David's reference where he is somewhat critical of the cross and the idea of redemption was blown way out of proportion. It's one little somewhat obscure frame. Agree or disagree, unless you're the type of individual that can't stand for anyone else to think for themselves, I don't think that you'll have a big problem. As a christian who believes in the fall and in redemption, I didn't. Besides, it's fiction anyway. Keep some perspective.) Although the book may fall down just a little in the second half, I think that it's still not to be missed. I enjoyed it tremendously and recommend it to anyone with a love of history, "alternate history", or David Brin's other books. Give it a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Great promise, not completely delivered
Review: The book has been described as "Thor meets Captain America" and is worth your time if only for the original and intriguing idea put forward by the author on the true objective behind the nazi holocaust in World War II. In the Life Eaters, the readers are introduced to an alternate reality where the allies mounting advantages culminating in D-Day on June 6 1944 suffer a complete reversal of fortune when no less than the ancient gods of the Norse appear to side with Nazi Germany. A very interesting and novel idea that for the first chapter was told very well and had me entralled. However, the remaining parts of the book deteriorates into mediocrity and culminates in a "war of the gods" scenario that to me, greatly spoils whatever promise the idea originally had. Of course, a big part of any graphic novel is the art itself: A great cover painting, but the art within is good in parts but mostly average. In summary, a promising and very original idea, but the story and art does not completely deliver. It really could have been much better.
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