Mia White was an ordinary high school girl with ordinary high school problems. That all changed the day she was given her grandfather’s mysterious journal and an even more mysterious antique ring -- one that transports her to another world!
Now this ordinary girl finds herself in an extraordinary realm filled with airships, flying serpents and clockwork cities! But her biggest challenge may come in the form of handsome, aloof (and downright infuriating) mage Crimson Rhen...
Shadowbinders: Book One collects the first six chapters of the popular YA web comic into a graphic novel format.
Set sail for steampunk, fantasy... and romantic comedy!
very anime and manga like i have the crowdfunded version i feel like this was writen for teen girls mostly and would recomend it for such however i really enjoyed it
I've been going back and reviewing the graphic novels I own. The edition of this I have, is not on Good Reads for some reason. I have the hardback edition they crowdfunded in 2018. I did not crowdfund it, I bought it earlier this summer, well after the fact.
I actually read this back in August 2022, and my impression of it was, it is enough. This is not spectacular or particularly special. But it's compelling enough that it did suck me in. It's written well enough that I actually am interested in the characters and want to know where it goes. The art is good enough that I enjoy it and it doesn't turn me off. What I originally posted on social media about it was...
Finished volume 1 and so far the verdict is, it's enough. Nothing about this stands out as spectacular. But the story is good enough that I'm at least somewhat interested and invested. The art is good enough that I enjoy it. The characters are good enough that I give half a shit about them.
On a side note, they are about to launch an Indiegogo campaign to make a prequal story to this. Also, You don't need to spend fifty bucks to get the two latest editions here. I think the it's still up on at a few places as it was ordinally a free web comic. Also seems like it's free if you have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
My biggest complaint with Shadowbinders is that I'm impatient for more. :-)
Book One is an exciting romp but you can tell the story is only getting warmed up. The cast of characters is quite an eclectic and fascinating bunch. I particularly love seeing the evolution of the relationship between Rhen and Mia.
The art is a great fit to the story, with vivid colors and lots of fun steampunk detailing.
I am eager for future installments, as I'm sure dark secrets about Rhen's world will be revealed!
I've known of this web comic for years, but I had a hard time getting into the storytelling style of web-comics, so when it was collected like this, I had to support it.
The story itself was fine, nothing amazing, but a few good moments mostly surrounding Winston. I believe some of my issues with the book revolved around it being adapted from the web series, since some of the dialogue seemed choppy or disjointed at times. I'm also not a fan of "thought balloons" unless it's only one character (I'm the same way w/ prose writing).
However, the story is a light read, perfect for what it's primary way of telling the story.
I like the steampunk art style, but the story didn't grip me as much as I'd hoped. It begins as a very standard magical girl portal story right down to stock bullies. Once we got rolling in the other world, the story picked up a little, but so far it's a little too familiar for me. I'll probably keep going with the series a bit to see if the story gets a bit more developed now that the intro arc is over.
It's been a while since I've read a graphic novel, so this was really fun.
While the idea (girl gets magical object, finds herself transported to a different world, etc., etc., etc.) isn't original, it's done well.
Two complaints. The first one is that the 6th chapter is really all about back story. I didn't feel like much happened there. The other is about Mia. She's kinda ditzy, and a flake, and she just bugged me.