Artesia

Rating:
Summary: awesome!
Review: If you like fantasy combined with mythology, Artesia is definitely your book. It has a rich and complex story, with terrific artwork, that will capture you throughout the book. Also Artesia portrays the spirit and character of a beatiful and interesting woman who is willing to fight for her beliefs. you must have this book in your collection!

Rating:
Summary: Bold, complex, and stirring!
Review: It's really hard to take this book on its own, being that's it's intended to be part of a 22-book series (which, by now, has seen 3 books finished). Smylie's art obviously evolves during the series, starting with pencils and ending with a combination of (more) watercolors and (less) pencils. Truthfully, the art is not the book's strongest feature, though most of it stands above the majority of today's titles. Additionally, it's obvious Smylie has put in a lot of work researching armor, weapons, etc.

It's the world that captivates though. Smylie has come up with a mythology at once original and familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of the Celtic and Judeo-Christian religions. As the story progresses (and this becomes more evident when one reads the second and third books after this one), one also gets to travel through the broader world Smylie has constructed. You get to see different, realistic cultures--many reminiscent of our own--with different (and often conflicting) views on life and morality.

There are "good" guys and "bad" guys, but, mercifully, Smylie avoids the cliche generalization of "good" and "bad" countries, focusing instead on individual virtue, honor, and merits. Artesia herself is larger than life to the Daradjans allied to her, but is in turn viewed as less than virtuous to their neighbors.

Best of all, the book is written intelligently. The dialogue is layed out in the same way that people speak. The characters assume that you have become familiar enough with them that (after their introduction) they don't necessarily exclaim each others' names every other sentence. Also, the author assumes that you read the nice essays on the mythos, history, religion, etc., so that when a character invokes a deity or a historical figure, he does so in a matter befitting his person, and not in a way that obviously caters to an invisible audience.

I would reccommend this book to someone who wants to invest some time in following a long-lasting story. If you are not familiar at all with Artesia, the collected trade paperbacks are a great way to catch up and to read the story as I truly think they were meant to be. Unless this is definitely not your cup of tea (and I don't think you'd be dropping $25 if this was the case), you'll probably find yourself waiting for the next collection to arrive as well.

A trully engrossing read and well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Original and captivating.
Review: It's really hard to take this book on its own, being that's it's intended to be part of a 22-book series (which, by now, has seen 3 books finished). Smylie's art obviously evolves during the series, starting with pencils and ending with a combination of (more) watercolors and (less) pencils. Truthfully, the art is not the book's strongest feature, though most of it stands above the majority of today's titles. Additionally, it's obvious Smylie has put in a lot of work researching armor, weapons, etc.

It's the world that captivates though. Smylie has come up with a mythology at once original and familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of the Celtic and Judeo-Christian religions. As the story progresses (and this becomes more evident when one reads the second and third books after this one), one also gets to travel through the broader world Smylie has constructed. You get to see different, realistic cultures--many reminiscent of our own--with different (and often conflicting) views on life and morality.

There are "good" guys and "bad" guys, but, mercifully, Smylie avoids the cliche generalization of "good" and "bad" countries, focusing instead on individual virtue, honor, and merits. Artesia herself is larger than life to the Daradjans allied to her, but is in turn viewed as less than virtuous to their neighbors.

Best of all, the book is written intelligently. The dialogue is layed out in the same way that people speak. The characters assume that you have become familiar enough with them that (after their introduction) they don't necessarily exclaim each others' names every other sentence. Also, the author assumes that you read the nice essays on the mythos, history, religion, etc., so that when a character invokes a deity or a historical figure, he does so in a matter befitting his person, and not in a way that obviously caters to an invisible audience.

I would reccommend this book to someone who wants to invest some time in following a long-lasting story. If you are not familiar at all with Artesia, the collected trade paperbacks are a great way to catch up and to read the story as I truly think they were meant to be. Unless this is definitely not your cup of tea (and I don't think you'd be dropping $25 if this was the case), you'll probably find yourself waiting for the next collection to arrive as well.

A trully engrossing read and well worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous
Review: Mark Smylie does what few in fantasy dare. He builds a world, peoples it with well rounded characters, ditches the stereotypes, creates economies, religions, political structures, and myths. What he doesn't do is offer up hack-work fantasy. You feel that the world and the people that live there have a purpose and a life beyond the page. This is no lifeless, racially pure, pseudo-historical, Tolkien wanna-bee. You want that find yourself 100 on the shelves right know. The writing is solid, and doesn't draw attention to itself with hipster, overly heavy, staccato Bendis-nonsense.

Rating:
Summary: Bold, complex, and stirring!
Review: Perhaps "complex" should have been listed first in the title. I first read Artesia in the singles format, waiting a month or more for each issue to come out. The story was so complex, the characters so numerous, that I found it difficult to follow. I loved the art, though... and each issue left me intrigued to continue buying it. Once all six issues had been released, I read them together and things became more clear: characters stood out, I began remembering what they looked like. On the third read (the trade paperback version, which I'm reviewing here), I was very comfortable with the material and enjoyed it immensely. I was able to find depth and meaning on several layers, with each read showing me more than I had caught previously.

For the story and setting, I originally thought that this series reminded me of the movie Braveheart. Certainly, the setting is a fantasy world that is similar to the Middle Ages. Power is obtained, and kept, through force. This translates to lots of medieval combat, which personally, is not my forte. But on further reads, things became clearer and I started picking up on the politics, magic/religion, and spirituality of the series. Artesia herself is a strong female character, and yet sensual when she wants to be. The magic is low key, consisting mostly of blessings and runes/sigils, and not pyrotechnics. This is obviously not Dungeons & Dragons.

The writing is intelligent, and it's here that I really began to enjoy the book. Characters are written with motives, not as good or evil. In Artesia's fully-developed world, there is political conflict not only due to physical boundaries (such as land disputes, or relations with other kingdoms), but also due to belief systems (old beliefs vs. newer ones). Characters plot and scheme and it leaves me with the feelings that this could easily be real.

Visually, I immediately loved the painted landscapes and the details of the character's armor and heraldry. It is simply beautiful and amazing. I can't imagine what it takes to draw & paint such art. The more I became familiar with the characters, the more I appreciated the way the faces & bodies of the characters were drawn as well. (Originally, I thought their features only mediocre.) I also appreciate the way magic effcts are handled; I almost didn't notice them.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys "realistic" fantasy novels, as this is as close as you can get to a novel and yet remain a work of graphical fiction. If you like medieval warfare, there is plenty for you here; if you like the scheming and politics of kings & queens, then you'll also be happy. Artesia is a book you can read several times and find new things each time.

Rating:
Summary: Over hyped.
Review: The story is banal, and lacks the epic scope of Tolkien and the females pale in contrast to Dune's alluring, but powerful Bene Gesserit, and it smacks of a narrow minded Western feminist concept of women. Implying that simply by replacing 'He' with 'She' or even in some cases "It", in terms of religion is the magic bullet that will cure the ills of women all over. Anyone of Asian and/or Indian descent can attest otherwise to this silly notion.
Politics, aside the story itself lack any sort of depth and does not give the main character a real, tangible personality even as an 'anti- hero', and secondary characters are given even less attention as the book only runs just under 200 pages. The villains do not exude any sort of threat towards Artesia, you never once believe she's in any sort of danger, and the ending borders almost on deus ex machina, also the 'revelation' in the middle of the book hardly comes as a surprise. The artwork, while unique with the author showing some considerable skill with the brush, is still amteurish and lacks refinement and further into the series it becomes very hard to distinguish characters, unless they have different hair.
Bad writing, bad dialogue, and pretentious.
You're better off, reading Jinx by Bendis if you want story, and any sort of depth to the lead.