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Square Eyes
by
Look – anyone who invents something really great has a moment where they think it's going to destroy the world.
For the first time in her life, Fin is off the network. A few months ago, she was the inventor of a programme so powerful, so unusual that she was untouchable.
Until she wasn't.
Meanwhile, people have started disappearing from the streets of the city and the ...more
For the first time in her life, Fin is off the network. A few months ago, she was the inventor of a programme so powerful, so unusual that she was untouchable.
Until she wasn't.
Meanwhile, people have started disappearing from the streets of the city and the ...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
October 4th 2018
by Jonathan Cape
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Community Reviews
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Start your review of Square Eyes
You know the expression “all dressed up and nowhere to go” – it can be applied to so many books and movies, the ones that look great, have style to burn, grace and wit and charm, but they don’t have a thing to say, and nowhere they want to get to, they just set right there looking so pretty, and Square Eyes is one of those but SO pretty and SO charming that it is still a five star spectacular and RECOMMENDED for all graphic novelly fans out there in goodreadsland; & for the rest of you, next
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(2.5) I'm afraid this book has to go on the 'beautiful art, incomprehensible story' shelf, where it will sit alongside My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Reminiscent of anime such as Ghost in the Shell, the visual world of Square Eyes is gorgeous and multilayered; you could easily spend hours studying every detail of each panel. If that (and that alone) sounds appealing, this book might be for you. If a comprehensible and interesting plot matters too, skip it.
Square Eyes takes place in a world where ...more
Square Eyes takes place in a world where ...more
070419: riley found this on his trip to france though i guess we are supposed to find it on the internet. graphics stores did not have it. i had read very positive review in guardian months ago, was ready for disappointment, and first thing r said was it’s not that good, he didn’t like it. he gave it to me, added, but you’ll like it... r knows me well. i loved it. new favoritegraphic. also characterizes exactly our differences in art/graphics and lit/story... this is not action, not character,
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The artwork in the book is stunningly beautiful; you could put every page in a frame. In fact I really just wanted to hold it, flick through the pages, stroke the cover a little bit, sit with it on my lap and then have another flick through. I got a real sense of the love and effort that had gone into creating it.
However, I think to try to create a believable alternate reality in so few words is always going to be challenging. I am a fan of a dystopia but ultimately I found the whole idea of a ...more
However, I think to try to create a believable alternate reality in so few words is always going to be challenging. I am a fan of a dystopia but ultimately I found the whole idea of a ...more
Jul 17, 2019
Anna
rated it
liked it
Recommended to Anna by:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...
The distinctive art and topic of saturation in social media and advertising attracted me to this graphic novel. As it turns out, the beautiful art was the best thing about it. The use of colour to denote the presence or otherwise of augmented reality is especially great. There is relatively little dialogue and what there is blends into the imagery, which makes it quite difficult to follow. Certainly the strangeness of being out of step with a digitally mediated reality is conveyed very well.
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Beautifully drawn. It takes great concentration to read this, and look deeply at all of the details in this graphic novel. It is set in a dystopic future in which "boundaries between memory, dreams and data have begun dangerously to blur." (Rachel Cooke, The Guardian)
Extended reality, the matrix, Phillip K Dick swirled into a visual tour de force.
Cooke's review has a great plot description:
"Fin, a brilliant young woman celebrated for her advances in augmented reality, is off the network and in ...more
Extended reality, the matrix, Phillip K Dick swirled into a visual tour de force.
Cooke's review has a great plot description:
"Fin, a brilliant young woman celebrated for her advances in augmented reality, is off the network and in ...more
5 stars for the beautiful artwork and fascinating world. 1 star if you are interested in a well told story. There were many places where simpler artwork and composition would have offered a clearer narrative. Confusion is written into the story-line (as it deals with blurring lines of reality), and I appreciate not being spoon-fed a plot, but I was overall disappointed with the experience. For graphic novel or sci-fi fans, worth picking up for the gorgeous art and as an introduction to a very
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A pretty book, but very hard to work out what is going on at all. I couldn't relate to the characters because they didn't say much at all. Lovely drawings and cool concepts cannot mask a disappointing story.
Square Eyes is an exceptionally well crafted graphic novel with an unfortunately vague and wandering narrative. It has both some of my favourite graphic-storytelling in recent years as well moments of intense frustration.
Anna Mill’s approach to graphic storytelling is less to try to literally portray what is happening in the story, and instead focus on the emotional and minute details that draw its characters attention. Movement will be represented by the flexing of an ankle, or a brief panel ...more
Anna Mill’s approach to graphic storytelling is less to try to literally portray what is happening in the story, and instead focus on the emotional and minute details that draw its characters attention. Movement will be represented by the flexing of an ankle, or a brief panel ...more
Incredible to look at; a plot would have been nice.
Picked this up as a present to myself on my birthday and absolutely loved it.
The art is just gorgeous which is normally the reason I don't buy graphic novels is that I don't like the art style but this one feels as if it is an art book as well as a story. I also loved how the different styles of colouring meant different things. The story was also fascinating I would sit down and find I had read 50 pages without realising that I had been reading for that long. Just read the last 100 pages in one ...more
The art is just gorgeous which is normally the reason I don't buy graphic novels is that I don't like the art style but this one feels as if it is an art book as well as a story. I also loved how the different styles of colouring meant different things. The story was also fascinating I would sit down and find I had read 50 pages without realising that I had been reading for that long. Just read the last 100 pages in one ...more
Okay, so, plot-wise, reading Square Eyes is like watching an episode of Black Mirror over a terrible streaming connection where you only hear about 30 seconds of dialogue every 15 minutes. It's never really clear what's going on, and - in the case of this graphic novel, rather than BM - you have the sneaking suspicion that what's going on doesn't add up to much anyway. But it's utterly gorgeous to look at: one of the most beautiful and striking graphic novels I've ever read. I could spend days
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A visual feast, hallucinatory, mesmerising, truly beautiful. This must’ve taken years to draw. Years. I appreciate the art so much. Anna Mill is a gifted illustrator. That’s what I’ll say about the ‘graphic’ part. As for the story or ‘novel’ part ... frankly, it was like reading a Philip K. Dick book under the influence of bleach. I like my sci-fi, but fuck me did I struggle to follow this one. To quote one of the characters: “It’s hard to explain ... It’s all sort of scrambled.”
An interesting futuristic story that feels incredibly black mirror that is accompanied by beautiful drawings throughout. The plot did feel somewhat confusing and it was as if there had been chunks of dialogue missing from one character to the next. A beautiful book and good read that could have ended triumphantly.
Objectively beautiful art and an excellent study of how brutalistic architecture can be as awe inspiring and poignant as any other scene-setting. It also plays with the comic format in some interesting ways that synthesis story and art. It's a shame the story itself is somewhat meandering and feels a bit rushed at the end, but otherwise it's a good time.
The art style is fantastic and this book is an incredible blend of Black Mirror, The Matrix, Spirited Away, among other incredible dystopian media. I feel like I need to re read it to comprehend everything it has to offer, slightly murky plot but contains some great themes. So beautiful.
I was stunned by the graphics and really wanted to purchase this but the narrative felt cold and didn’t draw me in at all. All in all, the sequential was really confusing to me but perhaps I just didn’t get it...?
Whoa! Hi-tech nightmare warning! This dystopian graphic novel with its imaginative storyline and fabulous illustrations immerses the reader in a society controlled by virtual systems, which have gone haywire. Powerful, scary stuff.
Whats not to love about digital dystopia. The artwork is gorgeous and very original. Towards the end I seemed to lose the thread of the story. I wanted to give this five stars so badly but I cant quite grasp the ending.
The artwork is amazing, some of the best of any graphic novel I have ever read. And so much detail, atmosphere and variety of styles... but... the story is vague and hard to follow, the dialogue is hard to read and there is no real resolution or ending. Would make a great coffee table book I guess.
The artwork is exquisite. I'm a sucker for near-future SF, tech, architecture, cyberpunk and this one pretty much has it all. Easily my favourite graphic novel of the year and an all-time favourite.
Stunning. But I struggled to understand the plot...!
Visually, wow - just effin' wow. Story, interesting and no - I didn't get the ending, yet. But no bother, just wow.
The artwork is exquisite and is alone worth the price of admission but I could not help but wish that the story, which centres on an intriguing concept, had been developed better.
Astonishingly beautiful artwork. I could just stare at these pages all day.
The story was alright. But it takes full points for the illustration! Great artwork!
It looks absolutely beautiful, but sadly the story doesn’t live up to the illustration.
4 stars are for the gorgeous artwork. Unfortunately I was much less enamoured with the story
Strange tale based around developments in augmented reality. The layered artwork is gorgeous but I didn't really feel it got to grips with the subject matter, and I wasn't convinced by the ending.
Gorgeous illustrations and an interesting storyline but somehow it already feels too dated in terms of the whole technology versus human nature trope.
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