The Battle of Blood and Ink: A Fable of the Flying City

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The Battle of Blood and Ink: A Fable of the Flying City

by Jared Axelrod, Steve Walker (Goodreads Author)

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 64 ratings · 20 reviews

If you’re visiting the flying city of Amperstam without the latest printing of The Lurker’s Guide, you might as well be lost. This one-sheet is written, edited, and printed by Ashe, a girl raised on the streets of the flying city, and is dedicated to revealing its hidden treasures and deepest secrets—including many that the overcontrolling government doesn’t want anyone to...more

Hardcover, 144 pages

Published May 8th 2012 by Tor Books (first published November 8th 2011)

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Jul 15, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

Why did I read this? Because it was on the shelf of new graphic novels the other day when I went to pick up my wife from work at the library.

Would I have read this if it hadn't been for free? No, I had never even heard of it.

Was it a waste of my time to read it? No, it actually helped me kill the time I had (20-30 minutes) while waiting on my wife to get off work.

Is the plot totally incomprehensible? No, not totally. Probably just slightly. the book is heavy on exposition in a couple of places...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Lissibith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-trades, steampunk

I really wish I could recommend this book widely. I really wish I liked it better than I did. I wish we had halves so I could give this a 2.5, because 2 really makes it look like a bad book when really it was just a book that never reached its potential.

Let's start with the art. The lineart is fantastic, and the characters are generally easy to distinguish. However, there are times when the composition of panels makes it really hard to decipher at a glance what's going on, breaking flow. This is...more I really wish I could recommend this book widely. I really wish I liked it better than I did. I wish we had halves so I could give this a 2.5, because 2 really makes it look like a bad book when really it was just a book that never reached its potential.

Let's start with the art. The lineart is fantastic, and the characters are generally easy to distinguish. However, there are times when the composition of panels makes it really hard to decipher at a glance what's going on, breaking flow. This is not helped by a large lack of shading through the whole book. I'd give the art overall a 3/5

Where it falls apart, unfortunately, is the story. The author says in the postscript that he wanted the city to be a character unto itself, like in Transmetropolitan, and it's easy to see the influence of that series on this book. Unfortunately, while in theory it should have been easy to make the city stand out, in practice, it felt like generic steampunk city No. 12. Maybe it works better for people who haven't read steampunk before?

The characters are passable, but fairly one note. the snarky assistant. The posh wanna-be boyfriend. The hard-nosed woman journalist. The dialogue is usually fun to read, but sometimes gets a bit into stand-and-give-speech mode. The overall plot flowed okay and made a reasonable amount of sense.

However it was in that "reasonably amount" that I found myself disappointed. It felt like the author had planned for about 50 more pages than he got, and trimmed in some of the wrong places. Plot points wing in and out without warning, and the whole thing ends up feeling a bit forced and pat. (view spoiler)

Overall, a lot of the plot felt like the author was taking the easy way out. And it's a shame, because its a setting, an idea, even an overall plot that had a ton of potential to be awesome.(less)

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Jun 28, 2012 Dan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, reviewed

I have absolutely no idea why this piece of garbage got published. No idea at all. This graphic novel reminded me a lot of the Phantom Menace in that its plot was highly convoluted, characters were unlikeable and the plot had about the depth of a puddle of rainwater and didn't even make any sense. The only difference between the Episode I and this literary offal is that The Battle of Blood and Ink is mostly definitely even worse- as difficult as that is to stomach. Even fucking Jar-Jar Binks had...more I have absolutely no idea why this piece of garbage got published. No idea at all. This graphic novel reminded me a lot of the Phantom Menace in that its plot was highly convoluted, characters were unlikeable and the plot had about the depth of a puddle of rainwater and didn't even make any sense. The only difference between the Episode I and this literary offal is that The Battle of Blood and Ink is mostly definitely even worse- as difficult as that is to stomach. Even fucking Jar-Jar Binks had more likeability and depth of character than any protagonist or antagonist within the entirety of Blood and Ink. If this doesn't dissuade you from reading this- nothing will and you are truly a lost soul.

The pacing of this work feels incredibly rushed. Furthermore character and plot development are given little if any room to breathe outside of what is otherwise boring and vacuous political dialogue that does little if anything to even flesh these characters out. In addition to the lack of character development, little if any background knowledge is given surrounding this world, the Steampunk-esque town of Amperstan, or even the evidently very important yet completely unexplained rivalry between the Clouddogs and Coppers. From what little I can infer the Clouddogs are some type of romanticized Steampunk/Wild-Western downtrodden dregs of society- and the Coppers (for whatever reason coppers is never capitalized in this work even though it evidently denotes a specific group- they're the antagonists for heck's sake!- and is hence a proper noun. The editor should be shot.), which are basically the corrupt and bloated officials. I guess. I can't really know because nothing is explained at all in this book. In fact, the background knowledge is so sparse, which is an understatement in of itself, I found myself completely unable to care about the characters or the even this flimsy facsimile of a plot.

Just as the characters are unlikable, plastic simulcrums of extremely watered down archetypes- the plot itself is bascially non-existent until it's facticiously fabricated about halfway into the book where it is shoved into our faces. As we readers all know Amperstam is a floating Steampunk city however, at this point in the book it is revealed that it remains afloat through the enslavement of many Clouddogs (I can only speculate- as this isn't explained either) in some type of Matrix-esque enslavement technique but, in the realm of Amperstan, and instead of evil machines, this bondage is achieved through some faux-occult magic (again, this isn't explained either. How did the antagonist achieve this power? How come no one else exercises this power?). Instead of being given any type of explanation for this- the only extra bit of information given concerning this very odd power system is told at the end of this work by the antagonist- that basically her forebearers had utilized this system- and she had no choice but to continue it in order to keep the city afloat. Again- any slight application of reason or basic critical thinking reveals this plot to be COMPLETELY insipid. Why does the town have to stay buoyant anyways? Why didn't she seek out any other solutions? Was she damned through this black magic? Did this magical power corrupt her? Is the land beneath it toxic or otherwise hazardous to human life? While that might seem to be a good explanation- at the very end of this work- it is revealed that at least one (and most likely more) farmer(s) live(s) on the ground- proving otherwise. Nope- Amperstan just needs to remain buoyant JUST 'CAUSE as a plot device. Maybe if some horrific danger or other peril would inflict the town if it would go down- maybe I would care and maybe there would be some tension. But alas, there are none of either.

Following some boring action, mind-numbing dialogue, and some amazingly paltry character development we readers finally get to the end- where the compounding of inanity is so absurd I felt like I had a migraine after reading this garbage. As it happens, Ashe requests the aid of the pirate she saved at the beginning of the work to help her bring an end to the monstrous practice of human enslavement keeping the city afloat. In doing so she is given a floating device- CONVENIENT HUH?- by the pirate JUST 'CAUSE that could ostensibly keep the city afloat otherwise. (As a quick aside this floating device is UNBELIEVEBLY similar to the Cavorite in Alan Moore's masterpiece League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1- if I didn't know any better I'd call this PLAGARISM). Anyways- the human jail is raided (even though we never see the prisoners set free- wouldn't that have been the point?) and Ashe somehow gets some type of Batman-esque flightpack and attempts to put some detonators at the bottom of the floating city. Why? I don't know either. But at this point in the story I stopped asking questions because nothing made any sense and I just kept reading so I could finish this and come on Goodreads to write a scathing review in hopes that no one else wastes their time with this refuse. Anyways- as the bombs are about to be detonated- the character admits to this being a suicide bombing- nope, couldn't make this shit up,(Quote: "You blow them now, you'll get hit in the blast." "I can live with that." You won't live at all." "I can live with that too."). The explosives explode and all the bad people are killed and the Ashe survives because of the psychic energy released by the deaths of the imprisoned minds and thus is able to save herself. This residual energy empowers everyone else in the town too Ashe explains this result, even though this makes no sense either.

Needless to say, The Battle of Blood and Ink is a horrid clusterfuck of awfulness. Character development is essentially non-existent. I don't care at all for the main character. Hell- I can't even really feel any emotion for any of the ancillary characters either since their roles are so dumb and basically unimportant to the plot as a whole. Even when they are being tortured or beaten I jut can't care. Hell, even her sidekick just drinks wine and drops some stupid lines (Why was this character even in the story?!) And speaking of the plot which doesn't exist until about halfway in, because there is no real conflict until then, there is no clear journey to handle the conflict, all the pieces to solve it just seem to fall together in a weirdly arbitrary fashion as the author made it up as he went, instead of the characters figuring it as we would expect in any other narrative. The ending makes no sense, the resolution is equally retarded, and as a reader I'm left with a real sense of vicious emptiness that has gnawed at my brain because nothing in the damn book made any sense. This is simply another example of how far the graphic novel medium has gone down the drain in the past decade or so. Which is a real shame, we've come a long ways since the glory days of Alan Moore and his Watchmen.

Finally, in addition to the aforementioned delinquencies of the authors, the dereliction of the editor, and the myopia of the perverted publishers themselves- there are at least two instances of PLAGARISM. The first being the use of human beings in some sort of mental stasis in order to power the city- a CLEAR ripoff of the Matrix. While the previous example is somewhat arguable, I’ll reluctantly admit, the use of the floating object is so similar to the Cavorite in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (hell it looks like the SAME DAMN THING AND HAS THE SAME FUNCTION). While I will grant that the cavorite is a recurring fictional element in science fiction- the object illustrated looks so unnervingly similar to Alan Moore's one- I would be willing to place bets that the author read Moore's work and filched it. This unequivocally proves that Jared Axelrod is a perfect exemplar of the all too common unoriginal toolbag writer currently working in this medium- lacking any real wit or fresh ideas in a medium that is desperately in need of these values.

2 Big thumbs down!
(less)

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Aug 23, 2012 Kirsten rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, from-library, graphic-novels, spec-fic

Ok, the beginning 3/4 of this book are delightful, and the artwork's a lot of fun -- not always 100% spot-on, anatomically, and sometimes people's faces look a bit misshapen, but overall it looks great. Very Indiana Jones or Prince Valiant-but-better, somehow. The setting's fun: a flying city ruled by an evil woman known as the Provost. And the main character is a spitfire young woman named Ashe who runs an underground newspaper and has a head of red dreadlocks. What's not to love?

Well, the endi...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Melissa Hayden rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, graphic-novel

Impressed! A graphic novel that kept my attention, surprised me as we went and in the end, keeping me in suspense and a kick butt heroine. I LIKE!

*****FULL REVIEW*****
Ashe is riding, while Tolban flies, around the city with other airships around them. Captain Skold is coming in, requesting permission to dock and asylum on the city after the hit his ship has taken by Vrussians getting to Apmerstam. The Provost is ignoring the request! Even with offer of money and supplies from Captain Skold, The...more Impressed! A graphic novel that kept my attention, surprised me as we went and in the end, keeping me in suspense and a kick butt heroine. I LIKE!

*****FULL REVIEW*****
Ashe is riding, while Tolban flies, around the city with other airships around them. Captain Skold is coming in, requesting permission to dock and asylum on the city after the hit his ship has taken by Vrussians getting to Apmerstam. The Provost is ignoring the request! Even with offer of money and supplies from Captain Skold, The Provost still resists. Captain Skold has something The Provost wants more than service and Ashe learns what it is. Ashe smells a story, and something more and dives into the depths of the flying city to find what it is.

The Provost left me skeptical about her in the last of the podcasts, and here we pick up where I don't trust her again. Ashe knows the Provost has done worse than what she's doing now, making slaves, and she is set on proving it and publishing it.

We do get to see the press page that Ashe publishes. The ACTUAL press page as it's published. This is neat to see her put things in her own words, and gives us the overall feel of what we see in the comic images and statements said by the characters.

We see the famous flying city in black and white. At last! It's awesome to see it after listening to the podcasts. Now I get to see all the different areas of the city I learned of in the podcasts as we follow everyone around to these areas. And yes, each section of town is noted so you know where you are. We see many of the characters: Tolban and his flying, Cardor from the hotel in his dress, and many others finally have a face.

The tattoo's on Ashes arms have all ways been a curiosity for me, here we see early in the book a design, created by someone we know, that is close to that on Ashe's arms. It brings the wonder back to the front of my mind with these similar designs and those on Ashe. What are they doing? How did Ashe get them too? Now I am curious with all that we have learned about the dreadful engine and these symbols, and the hints from Hanner Gatling that Ashe's answers are here as well. All is answered here.

The engine room!!! If you've been following my thoughts on the podcast, you know I've become increasingly curious about this room. What powers the engine? What happens to people down here? Well, it's here! It's all put together right here. I love seeing the secrets of the city, and how they might tie to Ashe.

Oh Ashe! We learn more about her past. We also learn the truth of Ashe's tattoos. Ashe has a nose for trouble, and finds it. Trouble and a great story. She finds herself in many scraps, and I love her for it. One tough lady.

We learn a little saying of kids on the flying city. "Through thick and thin, Through blood and ink, Clouddogs rule, And coppers stink!" The saying even has been adjusted to who they want to say stinks as well. Such world and culture growth here threw pictures and words.

I have to say this story still surprised me with happenings to our friends. Then in the end! Yes, it was a shocker to me to see what happened. I really liked that. Didn't know a graphic novel could hold so much suspense and story to tell. I really liked what I learned here, and the story told.

I do hope we get more adventures of Ashe in the future, and of what becomes of the flying city now.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Anila rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-am-x-reviews-behind, reviewed, pretty-pictures

I am a tiny bit addicted to the podcast, even if Axelrod talks about himself more than I'd like. The story is pretty snazzy and steampunky and awesome and Ashe always makes me laugh, so I'll definitely be looking out for the graphic novel.

***

Okay, I'm going to write my review for the podcast novella ("Ashe of the Air") here first, because... well, because I feel like it, alright? And maybe I'll post it on iTunes later.

So, after having had a great positive experience with Writing Excuses, my firs...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novel, junior-high, steampunk, science-fiction

Really not very good, I must have read a good review somewhere but they were wrong. The story (about a floating city kept aloft by the sucking the souls from it's younger citizens) is not very well though out. The main character (an overdone orphan who needs no one, including a rich-handsome playboy who wants to take care of her, starts her own newspaper to uncover the seedy undertakings of her city's politicians). The drawing style left much to be desired. The ending was very contrived.

All in a...more

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Jun 23, 2012 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, graphic-novels

While I don't think this is as bad as some reviews would suggest, as a whole this book has a lot of problems. The artwork displays very precise, albeit very 1980'S inspired, artwork but is often very clumsy in getting the narrative across. Especially in terms of layout.

The writing falls short, not living up to the big concepts of its own ideas. Perhaps if the author had more pages or the story focused more tightly on one character it would work but sadly as is there's just too much missing.

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Aug 26, 2012 Steven Elliott rated it 4 of 5 stars

After listening to the story of Ashe on Jared's podcasts, I was intrigued to read this stand alone story. I was wonderful. It contained all the sharp humor and wit that Jared displays in each of his podcast, just with the beautiful art of Steve Walker. Although I feel it helps to listen to the podcasts, it does stand alone quite well and offers an interesting story of intrigue and humor. Well worth the read and I felt like I wanted to know more stories from the Flying City.

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Jan 12, 2013 M.H. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Well, that escalated quickly. A thin combination of Alistair Reynolds' Terminal World and Ursala K. Le Guin's short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. Moves too fast for the complex world to be comprehensible, or to get to know (or care about) any of the characters. The layout has an oddly claustrophobic feel for a story about a floating city.

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Feb 23, 2013 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: gettin-graphic, ya

Interesting world, sort of steampunk meets western vibe. Art could be a little stronger. Story also seem a little rush and the ending abbreviated. Loved the lead character Ashe. She had spunk.

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Apr 19, 2013 kvon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Graphic novel. A flying city, strange magic/tech, a crusading journalist, a mayor who struggles between power and morals. Kickass female protagonist.

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Sep 07, 2012 Icepick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic-novel, steam-punk

I thought it was a good story, although I may have been influenced by having listened to the fantastic podcast of the prequel.

However, I found the artwork not up to par with the story (or even the cover). The thing I found most disappointing was the lack of consistency frame-to-frame of people's faces. I found I had to look at textual context to figure out who I'm looking at. That was consistently throwing me out of the story.

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May 20, 2012 John added it

Shelves: read-in-2012

Excellently plotted and with a unique visual style, this is good fun. Recommended.

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Jun 25, 2012 April rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, for-review, steampunk

The Battle Of Blood And Ink by Jared Axelrod and Steve Walker is a steampunk graphic novel that takes place on a floating city called Amperstam and is an interesting read to pass the day away with. The Battle Of Blood And Ink explores the freedom of press and the risks of telling the truth in a gilded, brutal world.

Read the rest of my review here link goes live 7/1/12

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Jul 23, 2012 Samra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

a tad slow. would like to see the character's fleshed out more

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Oct 07, 2011 Jared Axelrod rated it 5 of 5 stars

A heart-breaking work of staggering genius. Naturally.

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May 02, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: age-middle-school, graphic-novels, age-high-school, reviewed-professionally, sci-fi-girl-protagonist

Steampunk!

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Apr 15, 2012 Snow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, adult-comics, teen-comics, reviewed

reviewing for ICv2

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Oct 19, 2012 Don rated it 2 of 5 stars

Unrealized potential.

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May 02, 2013 Michelle Graf marked it as to-read

Apr 23, 2013 Tory Young rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

Apr 20, 2013 Lou rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

Apr 13, 2013 Emily Mellon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 12, 2013 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, fantasy, supernatural

Apr 06, 2013 Villain E rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 03, 2013 Heather Marino-stotland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 03, 2013 Shaun Brady rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 28, 2013 Fallenredninja marked it as to-read

Mar 26, 2013 Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

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