Terrible Means

Ismyre #2

by B. Mure

In the city of Ismyre, something is stirring...

An aristocratic businessman reveals the latest must have: a pillar of crystals that when placed within a home allows for the creation of beautiful illusions and more powerful spells to be performed. At the same time, Henriett, a disgraced biological professor now studying botany in a town far away, feels the disquiet in the air as specimens she has studied for years begin inexplicably dying out.

On travelling to Ismyre, to warn the current Prime Minister and council of an imbalance within the world’s ecosystem and magic, she encounters a young magician called Niklas who is there for a very different reason. Alongside a crew of ex-academics and inhabitants of smaller surrounding villages, Henriett and Niklas work together to uncover the strange imbalance being created in the world.

Set years prior to B. Mure’s first graphic novella in this series 'Ismyre', 'Terrible Means' explores the motives and back story of the mysterious eco- anarchist wizards and their terroristic, floral tendencies.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

100 pages, Paperback

Published May 14, 2019

Reviews

[Stacie]

The lovely watercolors mixed with a fantasy setting was a feast for the eyes. However, the story itself fell somewhat flat. To be fair, this is a prequel to a series that I have not read, so I don't have full context to the overall story or characters. But, I did think that this volume in particular was a bit bare bones in terms of world building and character work. I'm still glad that I read it though. The art alone was worth a thumb through.

[A Fan of Comics]

Beautiful!

A quick story about the the dangers of mining. That's right! This elegant, artsy, little book is an environmental mystery full of cute animals and magical capitalism. Its pretty good. It is a short read so I don't want to give too much away, but I really enjoyed the art of this book. Particularly the coloring. The way its done makes it feel a bit homemade but more personal because of it. Only complaint; I do wish there was one of two more panels to slow done the ending a little

[Rod Brown]

A simple, short and not very interesting fantasy story about the rich exploiting the environment while marginalized people fight back to stop the damage. Well, I say people, but they are anthropomorphic lizards and rabbits and such.

[D.T. Henderson]

2.5

[Kathryn Kania]

Beautiful watercolors, environmental message, really nice. Wish there was a touch more delving into the world mechanics and magic

[Izzy Facey]

Short and sweet book to start the year and looking forward to reading the rest of the series

[Wendle]

While the first book in the series was mostly beautiful, quiet moments between characters and minimal plot, this book was mostly plot with a few significant moments between a whole new cast of characters. It was different, but also the same.

The art has the same dreamy quality, with the simple colour palette blending together and stark contrasts in turn, creating such a variety of moods. And the line work keeps the same casual almost haphazard style while also being incredibly detailed. I remain in awe of the art and any frame or page would look gorgeous framed and hung.

A slightly longer review can be read on my book blog: Marvel at Words.

[Amory Blaine]

This made me want to draw/paint, which is some of the highest praise I can think of for a graphic novel. The colors and lineart are absolutely stunning! I like the concept of the story too, but for whatever reason I found it hard to get into, hard to navigate the characters, hard to relate to their minimal relationships. The back cover mentions this is a prequel to a larger series, so maybe I'd be more invested in the characters and world building if I read that.

[Nicole]

Beautiful colors throughout

[Carol Tilley]

3.5 - beautiful watercolors and ink.

[Kenna]

I picked this book up on a whim at the library when scanning the graphic novels section- the cover and the watercolor-esque art style when flipping through it caught my eye. I was delighted to see so many ecological themes and a main character who was a botanist, which was fun!

I felt like the characters and ideas were introduced very well, which can be a challenge for books with fantasy sounding characters, place names, and world-specific mechanics. The whimsical characters and art made me want to jump into the world the artist created and delight in the villages and go on walks with the botanist. I loved the use of color, and how it was used to differentiate scene transitions.

I also liked how this book for being how short it was wasn't completely predictable (even though there were some predictable ideas)- I felt like I was on the edge of my seat and wanting to keep flipping pages to see what would happen- but stopping myself to admire the art.

The ending felt rushed to me- suddenly there was a bunch of action that was hard to follow, a new ghost character (or maybe it wasn't a ghost?) introduced that I was confused about, and the story wrapped up really quickly. I would have loved for this section to be fleshed out a little more, and given more panels to tell the story. I was left feeling a bit confused at the end, which was sad since I was so engaged with the first like 5/6ths of the book!

But absolutely here for the woodland ecology and academia vibes! Good themes and parallels to our world right now.

[David Allison]

A perfect development of Mure's previous book Ismyre, to which this serves as a prequel.

Working back towards the origins of that book's eco terrorists, who are themselves working back to their own motivations, Terrible Means gives fresh purpose to Mure's art - the book practically seems to vibrate in your hands in its attempts to convince you to eat the rich.

Best do what it says before it's too late.

[Akiva ꙮ]

The art is the most extraordinary part of this; the story is competent but a bit compressed. It also doesn't 100% work on a biology and geology level - how do they know that the plant is afflicted vs regular causes of plant disease and death? How is the upstream of the river black but not the downstream? I guess "magic" but that's unsatisfying. (Hi, I'm a nerd.)

[Kristen Wunder]

I wanted to like this because the art work was lovely...but I couldn't always make out what exactly was happening in the pictures. I just felt like I was missing something. Maybe if the illustrations had been a bit larger it would have been easier to understand? It was a disappointment.

[Daniel]

The art and whimsical story take you away to a magical world in such a short period of time that you're left wanting more from this new world

[Kate]

This book is wonderful; great characters, lovely pacing, each page absolutely beautiful. The work that has gone into this series is so evident and I cannot wait for the next one.

[Dean Simons]

Comparatively more centred and linear to the last book. The art is much “cleaner” (though I rather enjoyed the rather chaotic look of the previous book). Enjoyed.

[Pluva]

I likes the different way it has been drawn even if i had ro get used to it in the begining. I liked the story and the concept of it.

[Thetillybird]

Gorgeous art. Feels very timely.

[Esmé J]

This series reminds me of Over The Garden Wall, but more political

[Loz]

A world that demands more exploration, though very sparse in this volume of actual info. Gorgeous sketchy art and great hints of character and magic and conflict.

[forest !!!]

SUCH A CUTE LITTLE BOOK ! i wish it was a lot longer but i rlly loved the art so so much and it was such a good story ! recommend this little read !

[Kevin Douglas]

Love the artwork and story!

[Greg Mackay]

Good story but the art style and font choices make it kinda hard to read

[zoe]

sweet and short. beautiful coloring + landscapes specifically

[Nicole]

Ismyre - my safe place. B. Mure’s art is so evocative and original. A really wonderful and elegant story, with some fantastic new characters (Berwick!) Lovely and moving as always.

[Zoë]

The colours are beautiful

[Kaya Perry]

i’d rather live fighting than die having never tried!!!!

[Maryam M.Gh]

با جان بخشی به اشیا و خیلی جورج اورول طور، کتاب استعاره ای بود از سو استفاده ای که آدم های سودجو و کمپانی ها از طبیعت میکنن و بهش ضربه میزنن.