Seven to Eternity, Vol. 4: The Springs of Zhal

Seven to Eternity #4

by Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña (Artist), Matt Hollingsworth (Artist)

Adam and the Mud King's journey comes to an end at the fabled Springs of Zhal, which promise to cure the fallen Mosak knight of his fatal affliction and fulfill the promise the God of Whispers owes him. Is it a ruse or salvation? Will it be worth the sacrifices Adam has made?

RICK REMENDER and JEROME OPE"A bring their ethereal fantasy epic to a stunning conclusion.

Collecting Seven to Eternity #14-17

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Science Fiction, Dystopia

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2022

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[Benji Glaab · Rating 5 out of 5]

That's how you end an epic story for sure. Avalanche of emotions and front to back conflict ensuing all to the tune of Opena's outstanding pencils, and Hollingsworth's colour work. Honestly this is one of the most impressive looking series I've read to date. I love the high fantasy writing/narrative style Remender went for. The plotting and dialogue really tied this amazing world together.

I've been at this series for a couple of years. Now that it's complete I'll definitely be giving it a re-read.

[Jedi JC Daquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as great as the previous volume, yet the Springs of Zhal delivers a great epilogue to a story that sadly doesn't have the original number of avid readers during the time when the first issue was published five years ago.

I have reread all the way from issue one to prepare myself for the last volume. Seven to Eternity is a wild ride that explores themes of choice (and the illusion of having one), true desires, and the great lengths and risks one is willing to take for such desires to come into fruition. That, and the ridiculously good artwork by Jerome Opena makes Seven to Eternity a memorable read and an almost instant classic.

I strongly believe that the story itself is solid, with the characters well-written. The character interactions, especially between Garils and Adam Osidis are believable and relatable. The ending isn't something new but very much fitting to the overall message Seven to Eternity wants to convey to its readers.

While the literal material itself is outstanding, it is the publication schedule that has hugely affected my reception towards Seven to Eternity. Readers have waited for so long just to see the end of the series. I have almost lost my interest reading the series.

Overall, Seven to Eternity is still a great read, I highly recommend this to dark fantasy junkies who either want some good old entertainment or a philosophically-driven plot line.

[Benji's Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an ending to a great fantasy series!

[CS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bullet Review:

Gorrammit, Remender, you did it! You really did it, you old fool! Well done!

This is the type of story a reader starts, thinking "I don't know but I'll keep going, maybe it gets better". And you keep going, keep going and then you get to that final chapter, paragraph, issue and bam.

Well played, Remender! I have a whole helluva lot of respect for you for that ending.

[Trinity9bi · Rating 4 out of 5]

El dibujo mejora sustancialmente con el paso de los números, aunque sigue teniendo escenas en las que no entiendo lo que se muestra hasta pasados unos segundos de observación. A pesar de eso, hay algunas viñetas a doble página maravillosas. El mundo y la ambientación me han gustado mucho, no tanto los pasajes del diario del protagonista y tanta reflexión del mismo una y otra vez sobre lo mismo. Probablemente la historia podria haberse acortado bastante sin tanta reflexión repetitiva.

[Bookwraiths]

I lost my way with this, will finish it another time.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All struggles end in death. All love erodes and dies. But not for us"
....it's ended, after 5 years, and it was a villains tale.....

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a dark, depressing, downbeat ending...I loved it. If only I'd cared about the other characters surrounding Adam Osidis, this might have been one for the ages. As is, I'm somewhat amazed that Remender was able to follow through on his story like this. As usual, the artwork is glorious. This has been an excellent series and with just a bit more effort, it could have been a true classic.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without spoilers:

The first 3 books were average, but the ending of the last book made it worth reading.

*SPOILERS*

This is a review of the entire series, not just the last book. I'm going to spoil the ending, so please don't read this review if you haven't read the book.

Excluding the story, the comic book was very average. Paneling was fine, art was good, writing was decent with a few great parts, and the pacing was rough from time to time.

With that out of the way, let's talk about the story. The first few books take Adam on a trip to rid the world of the Mud King. Along the way you are never really sure of what the King's motivations are, and I think that is done really well. Watching Garils slowly kill off his children and gain Adam's trust was done really nicely. The only thing I was sure about during the entire first 3 books, was that Adam, the main character, truly was a selfish person full of betrayal.

He only cares about saving his own life, covering up that fact by saying what he is doing is for his family, however he turns his back on the people who could actually help his family and cheats on his wife with his childhood love as soon as they are alone. It is made clear that Adam is not a great guy. He even kills Goblin, the only person that trusted him and forgives him. After that, Adam is willing to betray the Mud King, his only friend left, because being friends with him is no longer beneficial once Adam is healed.

The book does a great job of slowly developing Adam and Garils relationship. Adam slowly uses less harsh of a tone against the Mud King and eventually trusts him. It is interesting looking back and seeing how the Mud King manipulated Adam and ended up getting exactly what he wanted. I think this part of the book is amazing, watching them together. However, I don't much care for the stories of the other characters. I did not find the side adventures of Katie, Goblin, and their friends interesting, and simply waited to get back to Adam and the King.

All in all, the book had a slow burn. Ending with Adam becoming the type of king he was raised hating was really satisfying and made the most sense for his selfish character. The book was a really good example of how to make a not great person the main character, I especially liked how Adam kept pushing the blame onto other people, partially convincing the audience that he was making the best decision.

In the end, instead of doing the heroic fiction trope of sacrificing his own life for his family/people, Adam did the more realistic/selfish thing of saving his own life without thinking of all the consequences.

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4 of 5 for the finale of this interesting story)
7toE continues to twist and turn, heading for its end. All and all, it's a great story. It starts quite widely so it's hard to get a grip, but later it gets going very well. And vice versa, the end is a bit too narrow, but it has its kick. But to me, it felt a bit bland. And after all the twists, another one, not unexpected, is just another drop in the sea.
7toE has its qualities. It also felt a bit rough around the edges sometimes. It felt to me like Remender wouldn't know how long this will be, so he pitched widely and then tried to steer it along the shore to be in the position where he could quickly disembark the end. And the end ad especially the "afterword" felt that way.

[Matty Dub · Rating 5 out of 5]

StE is such a big story set in a huge world filled with amazingly complex characters driven by such human ideals and impulses… there’s no protagonist or antagonist because everyone is so damn relatable, I loved it.

A thoughtful and touching comic with a perfect ending.

5/5

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Osidis finally makes it to the end to finally get what he wants - in spite of himself.

Rick Remender is one of those modern writers that I believe will go down as one of the greats. His versatility to be able to tell a small story that is personal and relatable and also a huge story spanning galaxies populated by a myriad of alien creatures - and also make that personal and relatable is pretty amazing. He definitely has the ability to hone in on some of the deep dark feelings and themes about the human condition that are sometimes ugly to look at, but compelling as a storytelling device none the less.

Here, in the final volume of Seven to Eternity, we see Adam Osidis wrestle with the themes of love, betrayal, truth, selfishness, and much more. It's a meditation on what it is to believe you are someone, and find out that you're something else entirely. An origin story for a villain, this book is able to slowly and carefully peel back layers while the journey moves on towards its inevitable ending. Because while the reasons that one does the things they do may be for a noble and just cause, those things are still not noble and not just. I think this is Remender's "Breaking Bad", but on a much bigger and less obvious scale.

I would be remiss to not mention the art by Jerome Opena. I didn't think he could get any better than he already was, but man, he gets better every time. This volume has some great visuals in it, and its all handled masterfully by Opena and the rest of the art crew. I gave a book an extra star just because of the art.

I think this is a series that I will read again in the future. The break between volume 3 and 4 did hinder my enjoyment of it a bit, as I had to remember the story and more importantly, the emotional resonance from the previous ones. But this is one of Remender's best books, and I look forward to reading it again all in one go in the future.

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't want to tell you the clincher that made me love this so much. The thing that pushed it over the edge into 5-star territory for me, because it's the big spoiler at the end of this, the last, volume.

Suffice to say: 7toE is a gripping tale that examines morality and moral fibre, whether intent really matters for a given action, and whether people can be trusted to govern themselves. Sinister right?

And all of that in a high-fantasy setting, a world of concepts like the Well, the Swamp, and the Excellent Librarian.

The rough premise is that we have a devil-like character (everything you desire, in exchange for your mind) who is captured by our eponymous seven. The plan is to take him to a magician who can decouple his mind from everyone who has heard his offer (signed the devil's book, if you like), so that he can be destroyed without harming them.
But the Seven are as prone to the devil's corruption as any other and right from the start we know it will be a twisty road to reach this resolution.
So the story is that journey, narrated from one character's perspective.

There are a couple of weaknesses, here and there. It's a short run so some of teh characters don't get very fleshed out. Sometimes the pacing feels off. My biggest qualm though is the title. It should have been called "Compromise". Or maybe: "Compromise?". But I guess 7toE clearly signposts the Western-crossed-with-Fantasy that the book contains.

I can't get over the world building, the art, and the delivery. So happy with this book. Is it time to check out some other Rick Remender?

[Will Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending definitely feels sudden thanks to the time jump at the end (I imagine it felt more sudden for folks who read this after the 2 year publishing delay), but I enjoy the resolution the more I think about it. Without spoiling anything, it makes total sense Adam ends up where he does by the end of the book and The Mud King is now one of my all time favorite antagonists for the lengths he will go to to satisfy his pettiness. I’m genuinely considering a re-read of this series to see all the small moments I missed. In case it’s not obvious, recommended.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

With every character being of a unique and unnamed race with no historical background the story turned into more of a philosophical discussion about life, death, betrayal, acceptance, and family.

[Paul S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited for this with great anticipation. I think it's my first "I can't wait for that comic" comic.
Turns out I don't remember many of the finer details of where the plot left me hanging and I need to re-read the series to get all the juice from this peach.
That said, it's the conclusion to an epic tale of personal erosion and social decay.
The ending seemed rushed but it did its thing. Final acts are tough.
A beautiful, thoughtful, horrifying tale.
Clap clap.

[Mendousse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dernier tome de cette superbe série. Une fin on ne peut plus dark, Remender sait terminer ses histoires.
Au final, une vraie réussite.

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot write objectively about this comic. The art takes me in so completely; the themes translating perfectly from script to image; a myriad little details to look at; the weirdness, so strange and yet so oddly familiar; the social commentary...

And then, the titular climax - why this comic is named so; the weight and misconception of prophecy; the vicious cycle and its breaking.

I cannot really say anything more without spoiling this comic. It is everything it should be, even if I would have liked a few more explanations about the workings of this world that Remender and Opena built.

Bonus credit: this will definitely appeal to fans of the old Dark Sun setting for AD&D.

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this book first started I thought it was amazing. It was amazing. Such a great premise and it hooked me immediately. The art was awesome. Really awesome art. But after volume 2 I just felt like it had lost it's touch. It didn't feel like a tight story with a purpose to me anymore. You may feel differently. At this point you've read the first 3 volumes anyway so might as well get it over with. 3 stars.

[M.i. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had enough time to sit with my feelings on this, and whilst I thought this was a good conclusion to this fantastic series, I do not think it was the best. Almost pedestrian type goals of the main characters, was a bit of a letdown. Almost too predictably they reverted to cliche tropes.

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This'll serve as a review for the series as a whole. The starting premise is that we have a fantasy world where many members of it each have indivdualized powers. In particular, one person has ascended in recent years into a sort of fantasy Dark Lord: the God of Whispers, whose thing is that he can see through the eyes of anyone who makes a deal with him, and if he dies, all those who have made pacts with him die as well. Our main character Adam Osidis is from a family who was exiled because his father spoke out against the God of Whispers as he ascended, and is shunned by both the God's people, and those who later rebelled against the God, as the father then kept them out of the fight. Adam goes to the God of Whispers, obstentiably to save his family from the GoW's wrath, but in the middle of the discussion, a band of rebels capture the God and begin a long journey to take him to the magical McGuffin place where the god's connection to those bound to him can be severed, and he can be killed without killing them.

That's about the first two and a half issues. By this final volume, the story is some place else--some place ultimately worth reading, but wow what a place to end it all. Spoilers abound after this.

Remender and Opena here offer a pretty sophisticated fantasy world; there's a lot going on here, in terms of character and faction, and a lot that's more implied than stated. Opena's art is amazing; in a fantasy world where virtually all significant characters have a unique power, visual distinction becomes important, and his character design and environmental design is impeccable, throughout. (When James Harren takes over for a few issues in volume 2, you definitely notice a difference.) The tone of the book reminds me a lot of Hickman's East of West, in terms of being immersive speculative fiction, and being on the fairly bleak side, but where East of West is the collision of multiple factions, this is more a closing circuit. It starts with a focus on Adam, and ends with a look at him that's so close up there's not much room for anything else.

I'll stop dancing about it: this is a bleak ending to the series. It choreographed this direction pretty clearly long in advance, but it's still kind of breathtaking on how dire the story is at its end. It's a little too epic in execution to be considered grimdark proper, but Adam Osidis is absolutely a grimdark protagonist. The story, in that sense, is about masculinity and the banality--or maybe pettiness--of evil. The actions of others and Adam's father's pride clearly traumatized Adam, and this story is the slow unfolding of his desire to protect ultimately himself at the cost of all else. And "all else" is more literally everything than I'd usually mean it. Remender has created a very thorough fantasy world to essentially make a point about toxic masculinity; Adam shares a lot with Walter White. I enjoyed it, though I think it maybe didn't quite need to draw out the point so much.
(As a final aside, it did make me consider going back to re-read the end of Black Science again; read in conjunction with this, that ending too may be more bleak than a first glance may suggest.)

[Joshua Castleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vol 1: 4 stars
The art is fantastic throughout. Incredibly imaginative and detailed. There were deep, dynamic themes introduced that had a lot of room for exploration. Tons of action that held weight. Interesting characters. And a mad dash escape to close it out. It starts with a bang, then continues to slam the pedal to the metal, and I was there for it.

Vol 2: 3 stars
Continued a lot of great story threads but overall was heavier and less enjoyable for it. Some people died I had hoped wouldn’t, and some characters made decisions I wasn’t thrilled about.

Vol 3: 4 stars
The story continued to explore the nuance of the opening themes and story threads. So many elements hang balanced on a knife’s edge. At this point, it felt things could topple into nihilistic (or at least existential) but it felt just as poised for some huge character growth and surprises. (Well, no matter what, there would be surprises in store. So many story threads and characters racing full speed on a collision course.)

Vol 4: 2 stars
I hated this ending. It felt like it really went off the rails.

***Spoilers***
Remender chose the immature, nihilistic path. Very disappointing but not entirely surprising unfortunately. He teased it/left it open the whole time. I just hoped he would be more mature than that.

Basically a lot of the story plays out along a knife’s edge where it could quickly chain reaction to a lot of good triumphing and characters growing and learning to trust and hope and see good, or cascade the other way into betrayal and corruption and everyone is an a-hole! The writers did a great job of stringing that along, although it slowly started to list the wrong way but still in a way that was like ‘ok, not all is lost, that could have just been a terrible decision made in the heat of a desperate moment.’ … until boom, within the span of a few pages, everything just goes to 💩💩💩

Like everyone had a hand of cards they’re holding close to the chest, and each card played could be read either way. In the final battle royale, they lay their hands on the table and it could’ve been all ‘yeah I actually was a decent human who had your back and did the best I could with faulty material’ but instead it was ‘we’re all a bunch of bastards screwing each other because we’re petty.’

The reason I also call it immature: there was one element that came out of left field; the main character, despite constantly talking about saving his family and making all these sacrifices and compromises for them apparently all along actually loved another woman or some crap, and he just wanted to stay alive to be with her. Or something. It was a super cheap ‘pile on the 💩’ tack on.

Any time the story closes with the protagonist basically taking the place of the Big Bad, that is a waste of my time. Very disappointing ending.

[Seth Cordle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spoiler free review for the entire series.

I read the first volume of Seven to Eternity when it first came out. It didn’t really stick with me, so I didn’t consider the other volumes a priority when they were released. I owned volume two already for some reason and I bought volumes three & four when I saw them recommended to me on Amazon. Boy, I’m glad I did!

Remender is my favorite comic book writer of all time. I’m used to his writing style. However, StE doesn’t fit quite into my expectations for him.

I’m used to Rick writing very character heavy books. Fear Agent & Deadly Class will both sit on my top five list until the end of time for that very reason. However, I think this series really highlights Remender’s ability at worldbuilding.

But this story that started out a testament to worldbuilding quickly became a character study for a hero & a villain that were both more than meets the eye. Neither likable, but both understandable. All other character simply existing as plot devices, these two became sentient beings that simply drew on your curiosities.

The worldbuilding, the character studies, & the incredible art by Opeña (Seriously, somebody get this man on a Green Lantern book ASAP!) make this for a very worthwhile read!

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a thorough, chaotic, devastating, and action-packed conclusion. This thing's one of the few times a climax delivers answers, secrets, betrayals, wisdoms, and an epilogue of sorts with rapid-fire or overlapping succession. From start to finish, it layers all the threads that have been woven into a tapestry of everything from waging a war on the inherent loneliness of being alive to vanquishing the most monstrous villain there is, Self-Interest. You're beaten down every day with each breath you take from the air, possibly from someone else even, and yet you will do anything to maintain the rhythm. You are sick and tired of living, and you will do everything in your power, whether you believe it true or not, to keep on. This is such a colorful, fanciful world filled with every sort of wildcard creature and character, but it's arguably one of the most realistic and relatable tales I've read about being human. Hell of a finale; I loved the way this book ran the truth into the ground as if a supervillain were driving a superhero straight into the planet's core. Stay uncompromised, beloved. It's the only path to salvation. Every other road is damned.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

El rey del lodo ciego del todo, pero forzándose a cumplir con su promesa, mientras Osidis sigue en esa espiral de lamentos y llantos de lo injusto que es la vida con el.

LO BUENO: Los 03 tomos anteriores eran entretenidos, pero solo eran un prefacio de lo que es este tomo...VIOLENCIA,TRAICIÓN, FANTASIA, SCI-FI !!!, es un cierre perfecto, dando lo mejor de toda la saga, todo cierra bien y de una manera en que te sientes muy satisfecho, con unos giros argumentales que aplaudes y con un final épico, de esos que casi no se ven. ¿posiblemente lo mejor de Rick Remender?, no lo se, porque al tiempo, estaba recogiendo mis ojos derretidos al ver la maravilla del arte de Jerome Opeña, que se deja la vida en cada panel, en cada diseño, y nos regala unas splash pages y paginas dobles que te dan ganas de llorar y mandarlas a enmarcar en gigante y ponerlas en cada pared de tu casa.

LO MALO: Que se pierdan paginas en negro, cuando podíamos ver mas arte de Jerome Opeña.

[Brendan Mckillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very satisfying and entertaining end to Remender’s and Opena’s fantasy epic. It felt a bit rushed at times, but that might have been a reflection of my own desire not for this series to end. I was enjoying my time in this world too much.

Remender delivers some great quotable dialogue and a story twist that I didn’t see coming. This story was actually a villain’s tale. Though if I had been closer attention, I should have seen all of this coming.

Opena’s artwork is gorgeous. It’s been consistently gorgeous through out the entire series. I could randomly pick any page and would love to see it hanging framed on my wall at home.

A fantastic series that is deserving of a re-read now that I have all 4 volumes together.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What an ending. I will confess I was nervous about how this was going to go. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions so they say but fiction is full of last minute weak swerves into redemptions arms. I was very pleased to see that Remender brought off the ending with aplomb. Also the entire book I have been trying to understand the weird but intriguing title of the book. I admit along with the art made me pick up the book in the first place but after volume 1 it’s meaning had me stumped. The meaning revealed at last is the triumph of the finale. I don’t think I have given Opeña’s art enough credit is really is quite stunning all of the time. Stellar stuff a four star book (all volumes) with a five star ending.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that the series is over, I still don't know how I feel about it. I never liked the narration in the book, and the ending kind of makes it better, but it also doesn't. The last issue needed to be longer and probably would have been better as two distinct issues to give the ending time to breathe. For a book that took its time, the ending is quite rushed. It is a fascinating world, and I would love to see what it was like before the Mud King. A book about the Mosak back when they were doing what they were supposed to be doing would be great.
Overall the series was an exciting idea that doesn't feel like it lives up to its promise.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Adam Osidis and the Mud King ends here. This has not been your typical fantasy tale, and Rick Remender weaves a very original tale, that might not be for everyone but i think he aced it. The artwork by Jerome Opeňa is breathtaking and with the very colorfull style of Matt Hollingsworth stunning. I let my girlfriend read this comic and she loved it alot, its cool to geek out with her  and discuss how multi layered this story is, a story i will definitely will revisit in the future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a book an what and ending to this series. This volume completely threw me for a loop and I didn't see what was coming at all. Remender did such a good job of manipulating my point of view to completely catch me off guard.

This series had great action, great world building, an outstanding villain, nice art and some morals and real world allusions along the way.

Being my first step into Remender's work, he has definitely hooked me in and I'm sure I'll enjoy his other stories just as much.