EDEN, VOLUME 2 – graphic novel | Looking For a Good Book

I am fortunate that I have a wide variety of books available to me for review … and currently have a tremendous back-log of books that I’ve thought looked interesting and are sitting in my ‘to-read’ queue. And because of this, I select books that for one reason or another look interesting to me and that I think I might enjoy (which is why I believe I give more favorable reviews than less favorable reviews). Once in awhile, however, I make a poor choice. This was just such a case.

I don’t even know where to begin with this book as I couldn’t find anything appealing here. There is no listing on Goodreads for this Volume 2 (Volume 1 has an average rating of 1.8 from 20 reviews) but Amazon describes the book:

Mysterious beings that do not belong in our world known as angels are looking for a village that exists in-between space and time. But, the village is also searching for something – a boy named Touru. When they find him a war breaks out and the angels are determined to exterminate the villagers. What is the secret the village holds and why must they find Touru? This is a story of fate. This is a story of epic fantasy. GEN presents Eden, an all-new epic series.

I do think that there are mysterious beings in the story, and there is a village looking for Touru, but why anyone should care – if they can even follow along – is beyond me.

The art is manga/anime … a style I do not care for (I can’t imagine I knew it was manga when I requested the book). But I could deal with the style of art if there were a story that was compelling. This story is confusing. The angels don’t appear to be ‘good’ but what their goal is isn’t clear. Touru is an even bigger enigma. He plays with a dwarf named Towen who looks a lot like ‘Dobby’ from the Harry Potter movies and has a guardian angel named Reggins who looks like a cross between a Brontosaurus and a circus stilt-walker.

Angels, dwarfs, and a humanoid Brontosaurus? This should be a can’t-miss thrill ride. Instead it’s a hot mess not worth the effort.

Looking for a good book? Only ardent fans of all things Manga might enjoy Eden, Volume 2.