Looking For a Good Book

I don’t know what to make of this. I loved it. I was confused by it. I was bored. I was fascinated. I was … at some point I ran through just about every possible reaction to this.

How to describe this slightly off-beat (in a good way), unusual, sci-fi/fi fantasy….

A race of bi-pedal, primitive aliens, known as Fluters are a nomadic group just trying to survive. This is getting harder and harder to do with changes happening to the river Ata. Their numbers are on the decline, with only one child born in the past year – a girl who is named Vattu. Not everyone is happy with the birth of a girl, and when the Fluters encounter a more aggressive race from the Empire of Sahta who demand their tax. Having nothing, they give them Vattu, promising them that Vattu is a boy and will prove to be a strong slave.

Vattu is accompanied (and looked after) by a faceless, voiceless warrior from still another race. While the warrior would appear more dangerous, he submits to beatings and punishment without pause.

Within the walls of the Empire, Vattu encounters another Fluter (from a different tribe) who’s been indentured for years who tries to explain how things work to Vattu. But Vattu wants to find the faceless warrior. And the chess-like board game she found may hold some very important secrets that the Sahta would like to have explained.

I haven’t really read a graphic novel quite like this.  It is very different and unique in its characters (well, sort of … while the Fluters are quite unique, the Sahta look like dogs) and the story so far feels pretty universal.

It is this, the universality of the story, that has me a bit unsure about this. This feels very allegorical. Are we supposed to be making such a strong association with early humans? It’s a bit too obvious.

The relationship between Vattu and her clan will come into play at some point, I suspect, and the relationship between Vattu and the faceless warrior is most interesting. I have some strong suspicions as to what’s going to happen, but so far the warrior comes across as paternal.

The book uses dialog sparingly and the concept of a graphic novel is done to great effect here – the art tells the story with the dialog and not just as emphasis to the dialog. I really like this style. I’m a bit of a speed reader but I actually slow down when there’s less dialog to make sure I understand what’s happening.

Evan Dahm is both writer and illustrator and both work very well here.

This is book one of four and as such, it is not a complete story. I find that frustrating – to spend time and money and energy to read something but then not get to finish it until I spend more money and time, then more, and still more, just to complete the story. I expect that when buying a monthly comic book, but not in a collected graphic novel.  I knock off one star when a book isn’t a complete book, which brings this down to something between 3 and 3-1/2 stars.

Looking for a good book? Vattu Book 1: The Name & The Mark is a graphic novel by Evan Dahm is a unique and creative allegorical fantasy. Graphic novel fans should definitely consider adding this to their shelves. But be forewarned – you’ll need to invest in four books to complete the story.

I received a digital preview copy of this book, direct from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

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Vattu Book 1: The Name & The Mark

author: Evan Dahm

artist: Evan Dahm

publisher: Iron Circus Comics

ISBN: 9781638991557

paperback, 270 pages