Hellisen’s work is shot through with mordant, often wry humor, especially from Aleks. This does leaven and lighten the mood and tone at points and primes the reader for the next dark twist and turn.
If one wanted to characterize the high concept of this audio drama as “an audio version of World War Z, except dragons instead of zombies” you would have the general gist of what Proehl is going for, here.
My favorite stories from September and October featured aliens, impossibilities, migration, and death, in varying combinations.
For anyone who enjoys Westerns with a strong science-fiction background, or vice versa, with compelling characters and an intriguing plot, and a lot to say about memory and how someone is remembered, this will be great.
It’s a book full of anxiety, dread, and suspense, but also a thoughtful exploration of war, negotiation, and potential ways of being.
The keen sense of visual design contrasts the childlike aspects of the character art. That’s not due to a lack of skill; this is clearly deliberate. There really is a striking degree of intentionality, here. The level of detail and the superabundance of decoration in the art and the page layouts makes that very clear.
