Graphic Novel Review – The Golden Age, Book 1 by Roxanne Moreil, Cyril Pedrosa (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level:Young Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Length: 224 pages
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: February 11, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1250237941
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Golden Age series
Source: Christmas Gift
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“In the kingdom of Lantrevers, suffering is a way of life―unless you’re a member of the ruling class. Princess Tilda plans to change all that.
As the rightful heir of late King Ronan, Tilda wants to deliver her people from famine and strife. But on the eve of her coronation, her younger brother, backed by a cabal of power-hungry lords, usurps her throne and casts her into exile.
Now Tilda is on the run. With the help of her last remaining allies, Tankred and Bertil, she travels in secret through the hinterland of her kingdom. Wherever she goes, the common folk whisper of a legendary bygone era when all men lived freely. There are those who want to return to this golden age―at any cost. In the midst of revolution, how can Tilda reclaim her throne?.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first volume in The Golden Age. I got a copy of this as a gift for Christmas.
Story (3/5): This wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. It’s more of an epic fantasy in graphic novel format than an outright fantasy. The storyline is fairly typical of epic fantasies. Tilda is outcast from her kingdom by her younger brother (and some power-hungry nobles) the night after her father’s death. She journeys the kingdom trying to get support to win back her father’s throne. It’s a pretty tired storyline and it’s ambitious to try to do it in a graphic novel format. In the end it was okay; nothing all that exciting or unique but decently done.
Characters (3/5): A lot of characters and names are introduced quickly and they can be rather confusing to keep track of. The characters are distinctly drawn, so that helps. Tilda was the most interesting character and is forced to make some rather morally grey decisions in order to work on getting herself put back in power.. for what she sees as the greater good. Most of the other characters kind of blend into the background. There are parts where we follow three peasants and I didn’t really understand the point of those characters by the end of the story.
Setting (4/5): This was a typical fantasy setting but I really enjoyed the illustration style and how things were pictured.
Writing/Drawing Style (3/5): The high point of this book for me was the unique and beautiful drawing style. This is a large format graphic novel and is a hefty book. The writing style I didn’t enjoy quite as much. We jumped around a lot and there were parts that didn’t add much to the story for me. Too many characters introduced and too much happening at once; especially at the beginning of the book. It’s an ambitious task to make a classic epic fantasy story in graphic novel format and there were some hits and misses here.
My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was okay. I liked some things about it and disliked others. The drawing style was creative and well done. I also liked some aspects of Tilda’s character. I also felt like this was just such a predictable and typical epic fantasy plot, there just wasn’t a lot to intrigue me and pull me into the story. I don’t plan on continuing this series.
