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Walled City Trilogy #2
Trilogie de la citadelle 2: Rives d'automne
Nocturne, the second book in the Walled City Trilogy, takes place in two eras. One during the day, the other in complete darkness.
In Nocturne, the slippery shapes of darkness, the long shadows, they envelope the Walled City of Kowloon, and also shape the characters who came of age during His Dream of the Skyland.
The illustrations reflect the deeper wells and caverns of the narrative. Lush Asian hues, ever deepening layers of imagery, which create a prismatic, delicious and beautiful read.
In Nocturne, the slippery shapes of darkness, the long shadows, they envelope the Walled City of Kowloon, and also shape the characters who came of age during His Dream of the Skyland.
The illustrations reflect the deeper wells and caverns of the narrative. Lush Asian hues, ever deepening layers of imagery, which create a prismatic, delicious and beautiful read.
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
462 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 4, 2020
This is my review of the first volume of this massive labyrinthine trilogy with a cast of dozens of characters:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nocturne is the second volume, even larger, 450 pages, even as we anticipate the third and final volume, Listening to the Hundredfold Notes of the Avowed Nightingales, from Anne Opotowsky and a different (from the first volume) but equally stunning artist Angie Hoffmeister.
The tale, or set of intersecting tales, was inspired by author Opotowsky’s viewing a 1920s photograph of the (demolished in 1994) Walled City of Kowloon, Hong Kong, once the densest place on the planet, a kind of microcosm of the world itself and also very much a well-researched historical place and time. Teenager Song Lu is their main character, with his friends Yubo and magician/acrobat Xi as sidekicks. Song is very much connected to various lively women in a brothel who in a sense raise him, and in this second volume as he grows up he remains close to this female family in various ways.
What else happens? Poverty, juggling, magic, music, food, opium wars, British colonialism meets Chinese cultures, child theft, dead letters, love, murder. There's--just to say--a central love story featuring Song that develops with lots of drama and joy and misery.
The long story of its getting published, re-released by Top Shelf, and still tragically under-read today is itself a kind of roller-coaster in itself. But the story is complex and multi-layered, epic in scope and ambition and yet intimate in its depiction of the "ghetto" there, enhanced by the gorgeous graywash and ink and selective coloration is pretty amazing. Free on Hoopla in my library system, but at tome point I hope to buy the whole trilogy.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nocturne is the second volume, even larger, 450 pages, even as we anticipate the third and final volume, Listening to the Hundredfold Notes of the Avowed Nightingales, from Anne Opotowsky and a different (from the first volume) but equally stunning artist Angie Hoffmeister.
The tale, or set of intersecting tales, was inspired by author Opotowsky’s viewing a 1920s photograph of the (demolished in 1994) Walled City of Kowloon, Hong Kong, once the densest place on the planet, a kind of microcosm of the world itself and also very much a well-researched historical place and time. Teenager Song Lu is their main character, with his friends Yubo and magician/acrobat Xi as sidekicks. Song is very much connected to various lively women in a brothel who in a sense raise him, and in this second volume as he grows up he remains close to this female family in various ways.
What else happens? Poverty, juggling, magic, music, food, opium wars, British colonialism meets Chinese cultures, child theft, dead letters, love, murder. There's--just to say--a central love story featuring Song that develops with lots of drama and joy and misery.
The long story of its getting published, re-released by Top Shelf, and still tragically under-read today is itself a kind of roller-coaster in itself. But the story is complex and multi-layered, epic in scope and ambition and yet intimate in its depiction of the "ghetto" there, enhanced by the gorgeous graywash and ink and selective coloration is pretty amazing. Free on Hoopla in my library system, but at tome point I hope to buy the whole trilogy.
February 16, 2020
As with the first Walled City book, His Dream of the Skyland, Nocturne is a rich and immersive experience. Opotowsky and Hoffmeister’s vision of early 20th century Hong Kong is at once strange and familiar. It's not so much a book to read as a place to visit. The artwork is gorgeous, the characters intriguing.
This is one of those series where I’ll want to go back and read it again once all three volumes are available. There's a large cast and many story threads, and letting so much time lapse between volumes doesn't help in allowing me to keep everything straight in my head. But these books are too compelling and fascinating to resist reading immediately. Highly recommended!
This is one of those series where I’ll want to go back and read it again once all three volumes are available. There's a large cast and many story threads, and letting so much time lapse between volumes doesn't help in allowing me to keep everything straight in my head. But these books are too compelling and fascinating to resist reading immediately. Highly recommended!
July 22, 2018
A masterpiece for many reasons, that needs to be read very slowly.
It does not rush, and the story unfolds and tells it's messages in riddles.
It's a shame this 450 page illustrated novel has become increidbily rare with very scarce reviews.
I wonder if Part 3 is coming, given the much needed closure.
Well worth the read - even if it took 3 shots before I was able to get in sync with it.
It does not rush, and the story unfolds and tells it's messages in riddles.
It's a shame this 450 page illustrated novel has become increidbily rare with very scarce reviews.
I wonder if Part 3 is coming, given the much needed closure.
Well worth the read - even if it took 3 shots before I was able to get in sync with it.
May 27, 2021
Despite basically being written for me and hitting on all my interested, I was ultimately very disappointed with volume 1 and really hoped that volume 2 would bring be back in. Unfortunately it was nothing doing. This one was longer and more expansive but still left me as disappointed as the first.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews