Critical Role: The Tales of Exandria Volume 1 --The Bright Queen

Critical Role: The Tales of Exandria – The Bright Queen #1-4

by Darcy Van Poelgeest, CoupleOfKooks (Illustrator), Cris Peter (Illustrator)

Game Master Matthew Mercer joins Eisner Award-winning writer Darcy van Poelgeest (LittleBird) and fan-favorite artist CoupleofKooks in a brand new Critical Role story from the mighty Kryn Dynasty, collected in a trade paperback and ready to take its place in your Critical Role library.

Could the fabled Luxon be the downfall of the Kryn Dynasty?

Leylas Kryn, the Bright Queen, has spent multiple lives in pursuit of assembling the otherworldly Luxon. So when another piece appears nearby, Leylas sends her eternal lover Quana to collect it...with consequences that may threaten the entire Dynasty! Hope for the future clashes with darkness from the past in a stellar new story from the world of Critical Role!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, LGBT, Dungeons and Dragons, Fiction, Queer

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2022

About the author

Darcy is a multi-award winning writer and director living in Vancouver, B.C. His film work has screened internationally at festivals, broadcast on TV, shown in galleries, and become a best seller on iTunes. His debut comic series LITTLE BIRD (2019) is out now from Image Comics & Glènat Editions.

Reviews

[lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m gonna try to forget that I read this lol. getting to spend time with leylas kryn <33 was not worth how much i hate the lore it canonizes. it affects such a wide region of exandria, and it’s set in stone a decade in the future, which feels like a very weird fence to the progress of campaign 3. like why?

i wanted to see epic ancient lesbians be happily mystical in rosohna, my favorite exandrian city, but no. no no no. mirthlessly grotesque. why would u put her through that, matthew?

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic piece of Mercer's mythos. While I wasn't sure if the other Mighty Nein comics could be enjoyed by people who don't know about Critical Role, this one certainly can. Eerie, romantic, and grand.

[Patrice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this with no knowledge of Exandria which was probably a mistake.

The color choices made the story look washed out, diminishing my appreciation of the art style which was neither bad nor good and the whole thing is just so much time lapse and exposition and not enough actually going on. I feel like this was more a piece of work building than storytelling and had to push through to finish it, despite how brief it was.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Critical Role but I didn't watch Campaign two till half way through so maybe I missed a bit of information about the Bright Queen. Interesting story to pick up but I felt a little lost at first. The panels were hard to place in order sometimes too but that could be a me issue.

Still interested in picking up the next volume though!

[Susanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but I really can't handle large spiders and the Spider Queen was a huge part of it.

[Maja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I— 👁👄👁 this was SICK. The bright queen really didn’t lie when she said she’s seen some shit 💀

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool to learn more about the world of critical role. I look forward to reading more in future.

[Sivert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read. I was surprised How attached i became towards the characters

[DaniLanglie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a lot of the ideas here, and I think it's so cool to expand the world of Exandria, exploring all the different elements of its society from different angles. The Bright Queen is certainly an interesting subject for a story, too.

But I don't know, I guess I'm just a little underwhelmed by this. I wanted to understand Quana and Leylas more as people, whereas here they were rendered basically as figures in a distant myth. Even though that's not the case - there should have been more immediacy to them. Also, more of a sense of how living so long side by side would change their bond from the typical.

Still, if they decide to do more of these Tales of Exandria comics, I'll be excited to check them out, and expand my understanding of this fascinating fictional world all the more!

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

You likely need more background in the realm to appreciate this more.

[Adam M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the Critical Role books I've read, this was by far the densest. This character also represents an entire population, religion and more. This was a lot of world building for those who wanted more expanded Exandria. This doesn't breeze by the way some of the other tales have, but it also gives us a lot of story that wasn't covered during game play. I wish the color pallet was a little more varied as this felt sort of one-note, but the art itself was fine. This is not a good jumping on point for new readers/listeners, etc, but if you were looking for more Exandrian content this should scratch that itch.

[fannousa · Rating 3 out of 5]

couple of things,, first this only made me more confused about how dunamancy works,
second i was so sure this was going to be bright queen + quana backstory but instead its rhis weird story that apparently takes place between campaigns,, and after the second i got really tired of them switching back and forth which one was “dead”/mia and they way it kept being presented as a twist. overall pretty disappointing but the art was so pretty,,,, i hope hope hope they do another one thats pre-campaign 2

[Mirjam Schreurs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this so much! Especially after finishing campaign 2 it is nice to return shortly to the Kryn Dynasty and it’s history. The story is very interesting and heartbreaking at times, as we all know and love from Critical Role’s books. The art is super impressive and amazing to look at, made me fall in love with Exandria all over again.

[Kalliah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is cool because you don't know the story yet. And it's a good story, you can read it with no prior knowledge of critical role and be like, "wow, that was weird but I liked it" frankly that's all a comic book can ask for

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Without any other knowledge on the Bright Queen, it was a bit hard to understand. Lovely art, although a bit low in contrast at times and nice story, but I probably didn't get the full picture here.

[Em · Rating 3 out of 5]

Women are soooo powerful, I love them <333

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very different take on dark elves. I like the concept of the spirit beacons.

[Tamás Sisák · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but absolutely captivating story worth more than one read-through!

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, one of my favorites they've put out. I loved the art style! And the plot was definitely interesting. Though it probably helped that I have been curious about the Kryn Dynasty since it was introduced in the show.

And the beginning? Please give me all lore drops and histories in beautifully illustrated, simple language books. It was so beautifully put together.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful art, but a hard to follow plot at points. I understand the story due to watching the critical roll DnD campaign, otherwise it would not have been as comprehensible. Overall, a nice expansion into the world of Exandria with very spooky visuals and a bittersweet ending.

[Emily (emilykatereads)]

While I enjoyed all the origins graphic novels without having watched Critical Role.. I think this one would benefit from knowing more context.

[Ville-Markus Nevalainen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like others have said, you might get something out of the comic if you are already familiar with the world of Critical Role and its characters and you want to know even more, or just explore it in a new format - but unlike others who somewhat suggest that it might be their fault, I believe it to be the books fault.

The tale of the Bright Queen is messy and unsatisfying. It has some great things going for it - some of the character designs are great, the old sage, the queen and the mysterious dark force, and there is a real sense of grandeur in the cyclical world and the tragedy that takes place in it - but none of these things are made so well that they could be seen as pros for it. Instead, they are reminders of what this could have been and now only infuriate further when you begin to see how great it could have been.

There's not lot I can say about the story, it is not only short but it is told in such a way that it's difficult to even grasp it. I struggle to paraphrase its contents and what it set out to tell.

But, personally, the art style was the books greatest fault. Half of comic books is the art style and I found the one seen here grating and unsatisfying. The best I can sum it up is a poor web comic - the characters pop out from the scenery like they've been copy pasted from somewhere else, there is no sense of movement or emotion on any character and it all looks incredibly bland and lifeless. Had the art had been spectacular, I think it would have given the grand storytelling hopes a chance, but now the experience left me disappointed and frustrated.

[Hélène · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the beautiful Dark Horse version of this comic.

Super interesting overall, LOVED the opening sequence and how it was written. Wasn't sure when it took place in terms of CR continuity so I had to look it up. I really like how it expanded on familiar concepts, and how gritty it felt (also always a fan of the Spider Queen doing Spider Queen things, but given what happens in the C3 finale, I guess this should be considered a weird AU?)

For how much was happening, the story felt a bit... rushed? Exposition and story were working in tandem but it got confusing at times. Also, as others noted, the darker palette makes things harder to decipher sometimes.

But I still love spending time with Leylas and Quana! The Kryns and the Luxons are parts of the CR lore I love most <3

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss

I was kind of worried about this one just because despite watching many *many* hours of Critical Role I am absolutely hopeless at like ...remembering absolutely any details about the world that are not immediately related to the player characters so I couldn't remember literally anything about the Bright Queen at all but that didn't stop me from enjoying this story at all. I really think you could read this easily with no prior knowledge of Critical Role and simply enjoy it for the excellent well-rounded characters and beautiful artwork. Definitely recommend this one!

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of all the Critical Role comics that have come out, I think this is the best one by far. The games are so centered around the player characters (and rightfully so) that to see a story layed out that only exists in Mercer's mind is incredible. The world that Mercer has created is so fascinating, and to see the motivations of Leylas and Quana, the devotion to the Luxon and to the family they've created be torn from them by the Spider Queen is heartbreaking, but the hope that comes from the beacons really makes the story. The art is stellar as well. I'm so looking forward to any other Tales from Exandria comics where we get a peek into the NPCs of Critical Role.

[Ameema S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really compelling concept, but unfortunately, it is a bit confusing (or at least was for me, especially at the start). I have a very minimal knowledge of Critical Role’s second campaign, and I do think more knowledge would have helped, but wasn’t mandatory. You can still find this dark and conceptual story of star-crossed lovers compelling without the context of Critical Role. I love the concept, but the execution still felt a bit confusing and cluttered to me, so my rating is a bit lower, as it took me a while to really get into the story, and just let myself enjoy it (as opposed to trying to figure out what was happening).

[Ezekiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a Christmas present. Im only currently on Campaign 1, I haven’t listened to Campaign 2 quite yet. From what I know about it already and from what I’ve garnered from this book, I am going to love it.

This book is beautiful and sad and just makes me love the Bright Queen and Quana so much. (They both need extensive therapy now, thanks Matt).

I don’t know where this stands in the canon timeline so be aware of that if you are going into this without having any knowledge of Exandria or the lore surrounding Critical Role and the campaigns. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a good read full of tension, high stakes, and sad lesbians this is it.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story of love lost and tarnished featuring a few prominet non-player characters from the world of Critical Role. It takes on the shape of a tale with a tale, something I’m particularly fond of. (Hey, I’ve done it myself.) The Bright Queen becomes a layered, tragic character, flexing her might and wisdom, even as she’s caught in the webs of other queens that surface. It’s a fascinating addition to the lore of Tal’Dorei for those wishing to see more of the Kryn Dynasty, the Beacons, and the conundrum they present. If any of this interests you, check it out.

[Bret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I... I don't know what to say.

I am giving it 4 stars because it's mostly well written and beautifully drawn. But, and I feel like a broken record here, this is another story that feels rushed. All of these stories could easily double in issue size and tell a much more complete story. I don't know if this is a failure on the writer's part, a tight restriction by the publisher, or some other reason. What I do know is that it is a great disservice again and again with all these limited run comics and Graphic Novels.

[Wes · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I would consider myself amongst the target audience for Critical Role materials, outside of a couple of episodes of the animated series on Prime, I have not watched/ listened to/ read much of their content.

This trade paperback collects a four (?) issue mini-series that functions as both backstory and mythology. It tells a cohesive story that, despite my unfamiliarity with the base material, I was able to follow, and enjoy.