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Penultimate Quest #1-3
Penultimate Quest
Far across the Western Ocean on a mist-shrouded island guarded by giant sea monsters, heroes come to explore the mysterious dungeons that lie below the surface. None have yet to reach the bottom and return to tell the tale. Each party gathers daily for a new round of potion-making, sword-sharpening, armor-buying, and dungeon-crawling, and after hours of leveling up in dangerous battles with monstrous creatures from the depths, they rest and try again the next day when everything repeats. That is, until one adventurer stops to ask why. Is it endlessly exciting, or simply endless?
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 4, 2020
3 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Lars Brown
10 books10 followersBorn in California in 1983 I now make my home in Spokane, WA, a city that most artists run away from.
I work in an office, draw comics, and would like to write and draw more.
North-World is my Plain clothes fantasy webcomic. It is published by Oni Press. I have been self-publishing my own work for several years and have recently seen several short stories published in anthologies.
I have lately been very interested in Christian Apologetics, and will most likely write about such.
I work in an office, draw comics, and would like to write and draw more.
North-World is my Plain clothes fantasy webcomic. It is published by Oni Press. I have been self-publishing my own work for several years and have recently seen several short stories published in anthologies.
I have lately been very interested in Christian Apologetics, and will most likely write about such.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
November 13, 2020
This graphic novel embodies the infinite dungeon crawl. It starts off by riffing on RPG-style dungeon games, but it soon reveals itself to be a meditation on meaning, meaninglessness, purpose, creation, and destruction.
The title is perfect for this book. The penultimate quest is always the quest currently undertaken because the ultimate quest never arrives. The characters set themselves to work, just as we readers set ourselves to work daily, and we toil toward an endless series of tasks. There is always work to be done, and goals that are set (like reaching the next level of the dungeon, or finishing off that tough boss, etc.) are merely excuses to pursue the goal that follows. And that goal is an excuse to move onto the next goal. And so on.
Drink up, lads and lasses, humans and humanoids, warriors and whelps, for there is another dungeon to explore.
Cracking open the surface, it is revealed that the world is but a veneer. What lies beneath is the struggle that follows every person, the quest for meaning and purpose.
We fought well, comrades, but it is time to fight again! Gather up your weapons, your supplies, your courage, and your strength. For tonight, we delve deeper into the depths of the dungeon!
It seems that the world forms around us. As we set one foot down toward a path of our choosing, everything conforms, all falls into place, and we move through as planned. Until the unexpected occurs. Until the monkeywrench jams into the gears. What then do we do? We try again. We reimagine. We choose a new path, a new journey, a new goal. Or we overcome. We press through and onward, for nothing can dislodge us from our destiny. In either case, though, are we not choosing for ourselves? Is it destiny then in one case but not in the other? What difference does it make?
This is a tale of purgatory. Fighting inner demons. Dining with inner demons. Running from inner demons. This is a tale of comradery and isolation. This is a tale of our interconnectedness and of our individuality. For a time, we may have companions, but no one can tell us what to do, why we are here, what we are trying to achieve. We may have adversaries, betrayers of our trust, lovers who leave, worlds that forsake, rebuke, and forgive us.
Turn the page to see what comes next. Turn the page again to see what was. Turn the page again to see what can be, what could have been, what will never come to pass. There is struggle here, poured out as ink, trapped within lines drawn by a thinking mind. A mind that, like God, creates. And so can it destroy. Creation and destruction, intellect and madness, focus and obsession, all bound together into a single essence that expresses everything and nothing at once.
Don't break. Never break. Sure, lose yourself once in a while, but come back. Never leave. Stay here. Stay together. Let us build something. And if we don't like it, we'll build again. And again. And again. Please stay.
The trouble is deciding what to make of this book. Is it deep? Is it shallow? Is it trying but not quite succeeding? Am I understanding its message correctly? Why do I feel so unsure? Why is there so much doubt? Am I to continue the story myself? Should I set my own pen to paper and draw the next chapter? The next chapters?
Are you understanding me, reader? Do you see what I mean? Because that's this whole fucking book. It jumps back and forth so fucking much, I'd forget what just happened or which character I was following, or where the fuck in time I was, or whether this was real or that was real or if any of it mattered to be real or not. I think what's here is admirable, I really do. I think the authors thought a lot about this, and I think they did their best to capture so many feelings in one story, but they lost hold of it a bit. The end result is something of a confusing mess. Fun, yes. Deep even, yes. But something suffers from the incoherence, from the grandiosity that doesn't buttress itself in a stable enough way. Given that this was released in parts, it may be that the idea evolved a bit from volume to volume such that it lost some level of internal consistency. Jeff Smith is mentioned at one point, and his Bone saga too changed dramatically as it went on. I don't think this meant to follow suit, but it seems to have anyway.
I liked it though. Overall, it is enjoyable, relatable, and fun. But it is too uneven. Too up its own ass sometimes. I think it was a novel concept, and I think they did pretty well realizing it on paper. I'd give it a soft recommendation because I imagine it's not up everyone's alley. It's already a pretty nerdy baseline with the dungeon crawling aspect alone, let alone all the philosophical navel gazing it devolves into. But I mostly liked it. So I give it three outta five. Fin.
The title is perfect for this book. The penultimate quest is always the quest currently undertaken because the ultimate quest never arrives. The characters set themselves to work, just as we readers set ourselves to work daily, and we toil toward an endless series of tasks. There is always work to be done, and goals that are set (like reaching the next level of the dungeon, or finishing off that tough boss, etc.) are merely excuses to pursue the goal that follows. And that goal is an excuse to move onto the next goal. And so on.
Drink up, lads and lasses, humans and humanoids, warriors and whelps, for there is another dungeon to explore.
Cracking open the surface, it is revealed that the world is but a veneer. What lies beneath is the struggle that follows every person, the quest for meaning and purpose.
We fought well, comrades, but it is time to fight again! Gather up your weapons, your supplies, your courage, and your strength. For tonight, we delve deeper into the depths of the dungeon!
It seems that the world forms around us. As we set one foot down toward a path of our choosing, everything conforms, all falls into place, and we move through as planned. Until the unexpected occurs. Until the monkeywrench jams into the gears. What then do we do? We try again. We reimagine. We choose a new path, a new journey, a new goal. Or we overcome. We press through and onward, for nothing can dislodge us from our destiny. In either case, though, are we not choosing for ourselves? Is it destiny then in one case but not in the other? What difference does it make?
This is a tale of purgatory. Fighting inner demons. Dining with inner demons. Running from inner demons. This is a tale of comradery and isolation. This is a tale of our interconnectedness and of our individuality. For a time, we may have companions, but no one can tell us what to do, why we are here, what we are trying to achieve. We may have adversaries, betrayers of our trust, lovers who leave, worlds that forsake, rebuke, and forgive us.
Turn the page to see what comes next. Turn the page again to see what was. Turn the page again to see what can be, what could have been, what will never come to pass. There is struggle here, poured out as ink, trapped within lines drawn by a thinking mind. A mind that, like God, creates. And so can it destroy. Creation and destruction, intellect and madness, focus and obsession, all bound together into a single essence that expresses everything and nothing at once.
Don't break. Never break. Sure, lose yourself once in a while, but come back. Never leave. Stay here. Stay together. Let us build something. And if we don't like it, we'll build again. And again. And again. Please stay.
The trouble is deciding what to make of this book. Is it deep? Is it shallow? Is it trying but not quite succeeding? Am I understanding its message correctly? Why do I feel so unsure? Why is there so much doubt? Am I to continue the story myself? Should I set my own pen to paper and draw the next chapter? The next chapters?
Are you understanding me, reader? Do you see what I mean? Because that's this whole fucking book. It jumps back and forth so fucking much, I'd forget what just happened or which character I was following, or where the fuck in time I was, or whether this was real or that was real or if any of it mattered to be real or not. I think what's here is admirable, I really do. I think the authors thought a lot about this, and I think they did their best to capture so many feelings in one story, but they lost hold of it a bit. The end result is something of a confusing mess. Fun, yes. Deep even, yes. But something suffers from the incoherence, from the grandiosity that doesn't buttress itself in a stable enough way. Given that this was released in parts, it may be that the idea evolved a bit from volume to volume such that it lost some level of internal consistency. Jeff Smith is mentioned at one point, and his Bone saga too changed dramatically as it went on. I don't think this meant to follow suit, but it seems to have anyway.
I liked it though. Overall, it is enjoyable, relatable, and fun. But it is too uneven. Too up its own ass sometimes. I think it was a novel concept, and I think they did pretty well realizing it on paper. I'd give it a soft recommendation because I imagine it's not up everyone's alley. It's already a pretty nerdy baseline with the dungeon crawling aspect alone, let alone all the philosophical navel gazing it devolves into. But I mostly liked it. So I give it three outta five. Fin.
May 28, 2024
Charming art but a story that takes itself waaaay too seriously. I have a feeling that this was a web comic that started off being a gag parody of DnD and video games, but like most web comics, began to take its characters and stories way too seriously and upped the ante too much.
The story deals with themes of depression, thoughts of suicide, hope and hopelessness, life and death, but it also feels thematical shallow, and while full of emotion, also seems to be lead by a group of characters that are just generally unlikable (with the exception of one). The portrayal of the only female character too, felt a bit problematic for me. While having some cool magic, she seems to be the both the archetype of the 'manic pixel fairy' and also the matron, basically a female character who's goal it is to save and protect the men in her life, both of which seem to actually have original goals of themselves. I wished there was more for her to do, and more individualism given to her character.
One of the reasons this feels like a webcomic to me is because it feels like there is a long history between the three main protagonists, but none of that is rarely explored here. It seems like you should come into this story with that knowledge before you attempt to read it. Maybe that's why this story felt so shallow to me, because there's all these big character moments but without proper context or history, it just felt empty.
I do want to point out the artist that did the work from pages 170-185, I believe (from the description of their work in the back) it might be Bex Glendining, and her artwork was superb. It was very anime inspired and it just popped so well. I loved how she also framed the action and how she inked her art.
I'll have to look into this more to see if it is indeed an ongoing series that was revamped as something more 'serious'. But unfortunately I went into this expecting something fun and interesting, and left disappointed.
The story deals with themes of depression, thoughts of suicide, hope and hopelessness, life and death, but it also feels thematical shallow, and while full of emotion, also seems to be lead by a group of characters that are just generally unlikable (with the exception of one). The portrayal of the only female character too, felt a bit problematic for me. While having some cool magic, she seems to be the both the archetype of the 'manic pixel fairy' and also the matron, basically a female character who's goal it is to save and protect the men in her life, both of which seem to actually have original goals of themselves. I wished there was more for her to do, and more individualism given to her character.
One of the reasons this feels like a webcomic to me is because it feels like there is a long history between the three main protagonists, but none of that is rarely explored here. It seems like you should come into this story with that knowledge before you attempt to read it. Maybe that's why this story felt so shallow to me, because there's all these big character moments but without proper context or history, it just felt empty.
I do want to point out the artist that did the work from pages 170-185, I believe (from the description of their work in the back) it might be Bex Glendining, and her artwork was superb. It was very anime inspired and it just popped so well. I loved how she also framed the action and how she inked her art.
I'll have to look into this more to see if it is indeed an ongoing series that was revamped as something more 'serious'. But unfortunately I went into this expecting something fun and interesting, and left disappointed.
October 18, 2020
'Penultimate Quest' by Lars Brown is a large graphic novel of quests for treasure and meaning and meaninglessness.
A group of adventurers are compelled to look for treasure in a never ending dungeon. If they get killed, they respawn and do it all over again with little or no knowledge of what happened previously. Some of the people look for answers to why they are on this odd island and how do they stop the never ending cycle. Some pursue higher things like study and designing cathedrals. Others are content to keep killing monsters and finding what seem like amazing treasures.
I really liked this graphic novel, but I'm not sure I completely get what the author is trying to get at. It delves in to life having meaning and philosophy, but I feel like, for me, the end just kind of didn't coalesce. Still I found it a really engaging read.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Iron Circus Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
A group of adventurers are compelled to look for treasure in a never ending dungeon. If they get killed, they respawn and do it all over again with little or no knowledge of what happened previously. Some of the people look for answers to why they are on this odd island and how do they stop the never ending cycle. Some pursue higher things like study and designing cathedrals. Others are content to keep killing monsters and finding what seem like amazing treasures.
I really liked this graphic novel, but I'm not sure I completely get what the author is trying to get at. It delves in to life having meaning and philosophy, but I feel like, for me, the end just kind of didn't coalesce. Still I found it a really engaging read.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Iron Circus Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
October 5, 2020
I received an advanced copy of Penultimate Quest through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!
Somewhere outside of time, there is an island with a never-ending mission. Heroes from across the isle combine their might, delving into a seemingly bottomless dungeon. With each mission into the dungeon, it becomes less clear why they continue to fight. What is it they are really searching for? One adventurer begins to puzzle over what it all means and finds the answer to be more complicated than he ever could’ve imagined.
You can get your copy of Penultimate Quest from Iron Circus Comics!
My favorite thing about this book was the art, as I found it to be exciting and very evocative of what I picture when I imagine an RPG adventure! Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else in Penultimate Quest that I found to be particularly enjoyable. I felt as though the story was trying to be too many things simultaneously, leaving a rather scattered plotline. I spent a lot of my reading time trying to understand what was happening, so I couldn’t really enjoy the story. Additionally, I found the characters rather two-dimensional, with lacking development. Overall, I was let down by Penultimate Quest, as I was hoping for a more character-driven RPG story.
My Recommendation-
Though I wasn’t the biggest fan of Penultimate Quest, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be a good fit for you. If you love RPG games, adventures, and good ole’ fashion questing, Penultimate Quest might be the right book for you!
Somewhere outside of time, there is an island with a never-ending mission. Heroes from across the isle combine their might, delving into a seemingly bottomless dungeon. With each mission into the dungeon, it becomes less clear why they continue to fight. What is it they are really searching for? One adventurer begins to puzzle over what it all means and finds the answer to be more complicated than he ever could’ve imagined.
You can get your copy of Penultimate Quest from Iron Circus Comics!
My favorite thing about this book was the art, as I found it to be exciting and very evocative of what I picture when I imagine an RPG adventure! Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else in Penultimate Quest that I found to be particularly enjoyable. I felt as though the story was trying to be too many things simultaneously, leaving a rather scattered plotline. I spent a lot of my reading time trying to understand what was happening, so I couldn’t really enjoy the story. Additionally, I found the characters rather two-dimensional, with lacking development. Overall, I was let down by Penultimate Quest, as I was hoping for a more character-driven RPG story.
My Recommendation-
Though I wasn’t the biggest fan of Penultimate Quest, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be a good fit for you. If you love RPG games, adventures, and good ole’ fashion questing, Penultimate Quest might be the right book for you!
August 17, 2020
Thank you to Iron Circus for the ARC of this graphic novel in exchange for my review. If you've got a teen/young adult who's a huge WoW, LoL or D&D fan, just hand them this comic straight away! Penultimate Quest is the story of three characters, our merry band of adventurers, stranded on a magical island that can nominally build whatever people desire, but in practice makes an endless dungeon--a heaven that grows old cycle after cycle. Gritty, bold linework and simple coloring give this comic a '80s underground comic kind of feel that I think aligns well with its subject matter and its target audience.
Plot-wise, this comic struggles to accomplish an enjoyable narrative because of how hung-up the author seems to be on pushing across its moral--that the company makes the journey, with a strong dose of striving separates one from the nirvana they could otherwise experience. The first half of the graphic novel is a real slog, as we follow a main character who's also tiring of the dungeon-themed paradise and looking for fulfillment in knowledge, pleasure, creation, etc. Various characters are stand-ins for life philosophies (namely hedonism, stoicism, nihilism and pessimism).
This comic does succeed in its aim of being a dungeon-crawl plus, but the heavy-handedness and random Shakespeare quotes make it come across as 'stoner deep,' rather than the alternative, which I think will really narrow the appeal. Teens and young adults being exposed to these meaning of life discussions for the first time may find them highly appealing. 2.5 stars.
Plot-wise, this comic struggles to accomplish an enjoyable narrative because of how hung-up the author seems to be on pushing across its moral--that the company makes the journey, with a strong dose of striving separates one from the nirvana they could otherwise experience. The first half of the graphic novel is a real slog, as we follow a main character who's also tiring of the dungeon-themed paradise and looking for fulfillment in knowledge, pleasure, creation, etc. Various characters are stand-ins for life philosophies (namely hedonism, stoicism, nihilism and pessimism).
This comic does succeed in its aim of being a dungeon-crawl plus, but the heavy-handedness and random Shakespeare quotes make it come across as 'stoner deep,' rather than the alternative, which I think will really narrow the appeal. Teens and young adults being exposed to these meaning of life discussions for the first time may find them highly appealing. 2.5 stars.
May 27, 2020
Thanks to Edelweiss for the e-ARC!
This one is a 4.5 for me.
If Existential Comics and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal met and had a baby with the TARDIS and an RPG you might get something like this. Life, the universe and everything including some sideways references to philosophy and a wibbly wobbly story. Great fun, come for the hack and slash, stay for the meditation on the meaning of life!
This one is a 4.5 for me.
If Existential Comics and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal met and had a baby with the TARDIS and an RPG you might get something like this. Life, the universe and everything including some sideways references to philosophy and a wibbly wobbly story. Great fun, come for the hack and slash, stay for the meditation on the meaning of life!
April 19, 2020
A dungeon crawler meets a Philosophy 101 class in this time-twisting comic. I didn’t enjoy every moment of it, but it had some really good parts and I liked the ending. I mostly wish it had been linear, as the story jumps really confused me sometimes. I like time travel stories, but I just found this one hard to follow. I do like the art style and I especially liked Jimmy’s story.
June 6, 2024
kind of a blend of dark souls and over the garden wall. certainly not better than both. but still a fun time, good art and just a breezy read. loved the references to real life literature, history, and fantasy. anyone can annihilate this one in a 2-3 hour sitting
April 28, 2020
I read this from an ARC that I received. I tried to explain this book to friends, and the only "elevator pitch" I could come up with was, "So, Franz Kafka, Kurt Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick walked into a gamer bar and started playing a game..." That's how this story feels.
This is a fascinating story that is both excellent and baffling, and it will not entertain everyone equally. The story is not linear, and at times it is rather puzzling, but most of it makes sense by the end.
Adult or older teen readers who have a familiarity with both fantasy role-playing games and have speculated on the nature of reality are perhaps the target audience for this graphic story. At first, it seems like a fairly light read, but as layer upon layer becomes part of the story, the reader realizes that this isn't what it seemed at first. Is there a difference, for example, between an addictive, interactive RPG where death merely causes a character to pop back up and continue...and classical definitions of hell. Is an unending dungeon different from the myth of Sisyphus and his rock? That is not the story, that's just stuff that the story causes the reader to think about while reading the story.
Is it perfect? No. The non-linear nature of some of the segments can be difficult to follow, but in the end they mostly pay off. The art, too, is good but not always great. Still, if you're up for a somewhat difficult read, the book is worth the effort.
This is a fascinating story that is both excellent and baffling, and it will not entertain everyone equally. The story is not linear, and at times it is rather puzzling, but most of it makes sense by the end.
Adult or older teen readers who have a familiarity with both fantasy role-playing games and have speculated on the nature of reality are perhaps the target audience for this graphic story. At first, it seems like a fairly light read, but as layer upon layer becomes part of the story, the reader realizes that this isn't what it seemed at first. Is there a difference, for example, between an addictive, interactive RPG where death merely causes a character to pop back up and continue...and classical definitions of hell. Is an unending dungeon different from the myth of Sisyphus and his rock? That is not the story, that's just stuff that the story causes the reader to think about while reading the story.
Is it perfect? No. The non-linear nature of some of the segments can be difficult to follow, but in the end they mostly pay off. The art, too, is good but not always great. Still, if you're up for a somewhat difficult read, the book is worth the effort.
October 14, 2020
This is an interesting book. I've read the story several times previously, when it was published serially in several Kickstarted books, and its depth always impresses me. What starts out seeming like a MMPORG satire takes a philosophical turn at the end of the first chapter which I was not expecting. But despite being impressed by the storytelling and scope of the book as a whole, I've never quite connected to it. It's always been a little too dense in its themes for me to wrap my head around. But I would very much recommend it to someone interested in explorations of role playing games, guilt, identity, life purpose, and death. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.
Read
September 8, 2020An interesting but confusing read. Very philosophical and existential. I love the surreal concept this book is based on--what if RPGs were literal, that people were going day in and day out into dungeons and defeating monsters? What would the meaning of it all be?
I followed it all--I thought I did at least--until the climax. The reveals confused me, and what I thought I understood became unclear. I probably need to read it a couple times to fully absorb, though unfortunately I don't have the time with the e-arc expiring soon. Certainly a unique and interesting read.
I followed it all--I thought I did at least--until the climax. The reveals confused me, and what I thought I understood became unclear. I probably need to read it a couple times to fully absorb, though unfortunately I don't have the time with the e-arc expiring soon. Certainly a unique and interesting read.
Read
December 13, 2020I did not finish because it it was for me a bit of a bore. I think I had my fill with Delicious in Dungeon. The similarity is the slow pace that the adventures unfold. Penultimate Quest was for me the Penultimate of boring. I am sure it has it's audience I am just not it.
June 20, 2020
Give me a beer and I'll sing you a song
Of a life that's too short and a book that's too long.
Of a life that's too short and a book that's too long.
Read
December 2, 2020DNF at about 1/3. Philosophical dungeon crawl, more confusing than interesting. To paraphrase another review: stoner-deep, not actually deep.
August 9, 2022
ISo at first I thought this was an adaptation of someone's DND campaign, boy was I wrong. So then I thought it was just a a dungeon crawler fantasy story, boy was I wrong. This is probably one of the most experimental/bonkers western comic I've read so far. It's an philosphical wild fantasy comic that I don't want to describe too much, less given everything away. Think Neon Genesis Evangelion, Infinity Train, Delicious in Dungeon, all rolled into one, with a big serving of complete originality. I absolute love no holds barred weird, unique, or experimental stuff so I adored this comic even if I didn't know what was going on. It took me a bit to get hooked, but once I got about 50 pages in, I was in.
At first it seems just like fantasy dungeon crawling with cool monsters and alright characters, but then it just gets weirder and more insane. And then you get lore behind the characters, which made me really like them, they don't have cookie cutter backstories, well maybe Jimmy's.
Anyways the world and everything all feels so well designed and very bland, I like how they don't fight just generic monsters like orcs and such.
And the art's pretty good, I like the style. And I like how it's not too simple but not too detailed, so you can focus on all the movement and extras in the panels.
I just really like this comic, but I'll get onto the negatives. It can be a bit hard to follow, and the story is mainly held up by it's unique world and mystery. But really I just can only think of good things.
At first it seems just like fantasy dungeon crawling with cool monsters and alright characters, but then it just gets weirder and more insane. And then you get lore behind the characters, which made me really like them, they don't have cookie cutter backstories, well maybe Jimmy's.
Anyways the world and everything all feels so well designed and very bland, I like how they don't fight just generic monsters like orcs and such.
And the art's pretty good, I like the style. And I like how it's not too simple but not too detailed, so you can focus on all the movement and extras in the panels.
I just really like this comic, but I'll get onto the negatives. It can be a bit hard to follow, and the story is mainly held up by it's unique world and mystery. But really I just can only think of good things.
May 10, 2022
This book is not what it presents itself as, nor really what so many reviews present it as. Sure, initially it seems to be philosophy meets MMORPG with a lot of meditation on purpose, time, futility and the meaning of action. But that's only the first third of the book or so. Then it gets much broader and weirder, but not necessarily better. In particular, as we learn the backstory of the main characters, it doesn't make sense that the theme of an infinite MMORPG style dungeon adventure is something they would be drawn to, or that would make sense for anyone (even the background characters, what we see of them) to choose to manifest. Of the main characters, only James would really fit, and he is actually the one of the main three given the least attention; and the symbol of him being a fantasy nerd in his old life was him carrying about one of the middle books in The Wheel of Time, a series which is actually more of a fantasy soap opera with lots of character-driven drama than one of mindless action and combat (though there is plenty of that as well).
There are some interesting parts of the story (early on, they do some there is some stuff characters do with (nearly) infinite time and endless respawns that is creative, but is kind of lost in the weird sprawl of what comes after). And I like how it wraps up and provides closure to the main characters. But the whole thing is too long and unfocused and not quite worth the time in the end.
There are some interesting parts of the story (early on, they do some there is some stuff characters do with (nearly) infinite time and endless respawns that is creative, but is kind of lost in the weird sprawl of what comes after). And I like how it wraps up and provides closure to the main characters. But the whole thing is too long and unfocused and not quite worth the time in the end.
November 28, 2020
What I thought to be a dungeon & dragons adventure style graphic novel came out to be something more deeper in meaning and very philosophical.
What I personally got from this book -
Dark choices that have been made in the past can end up haunting you for the rest of your life and maybe even your afterlife. In the end it may be difficult facing and owning up to those dark choices but it is the only path to healing.
I have mixed feelings about the book because the storyline was very convoluted and things didn't start to make sense until towards the end. The art work is cartoony and whimsical and for some reason seems to fit the story.
At first I was going to give this book 3 stars because due to the story not making any sense that it almost made me put it down and walk away.
I am glad that I kept with it though and after finishing it left me making me think about what the author was trying to say.
It is for this reason I gave it 4 stars.
What I personally got from this book -
Dark choices that have been made in the past can end up haunting you for the rest of your life and maybe even your afterlife. In the end it may be difficult facing and owning up to those dark choices but it is the only path to healing.
I have mixed feelings about the book because the storyline was very convoluted and things didn't start to make sense until towards the end. The art work is cartoony and whimsical and for some reason seems to fit the story.
At first I was going to give this book 3 stars because due to the story not making any sense that it almost made me put it down and walk away.
I am glad that I kept with it though and after finishing it left me making me think about what the author was trying to say.
It is for this reason I gave it 4 stars.
December 28, 2021
Fun graphic novel that spoofs Dungeons & Dragons while also paying homage to the game and throwing in some messages about the nature of life and friendship. A trio of adventurers are stuck battling monsters in a never-ending series of dungeons; when they die, they come back to life at the beginning level again. They can't remember their past, especially not what they did to end up on this cursed island to begin with, but through a series of adventures they gradually do recall their pasts and try to figure out how to end the never-ending battle cycle. The magic is a little confusing, but the action is packed and backstories when they're filled in are poignant. I got a kick out of the mishmash of time periods: all kinds of anachronisms abound, like modern "fro-yo" stands in among the medieval-style swords and armor. There were also a couple of experimental style changes: one chapter is drawn entirely in black and white manga style!
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February 10, 2022By Rogel R. on 12/21/2021
My book is penultimate quest and I rate this book a four out of five because this book had a lot of information and cool stuff. .one the reason i rate this book a four is because the characters were all good chartered and it had magic and fighting.this book was also a long book with a lot of information. In the beginning of the book when they went to fight the armored snail it was really cool how the drawer drew the snail and while the fight went on the snail got more rusty and dirty.this had a lot of information in the middle of the book which made it confusing and i got a little bored but the end the author started to make it more understanding. The main characters were also cool and had good backstories.all this stuff indicates to my brain that this book is a really good four.this book was really good i will try to read more books like this.
My book is penultimate quest and I rate this book a four out of five because this book had a lot of information and cool stuff. .one the reason i rate this book a four is because the characters were all good chartered and it had magic and fighting.this book was also a long book with a lot of information. In the beginning of the book when they went to fight the armored snail it was really cool how the drawer drew the snail and while the fight went on the snail got more rusty and dirty.this had a lot of information in the middle of the book which made it confusing and i got a little bored but the end the author started to make it more understanding. The main characters were also cool and had good backstories.all this stuff indicates to my brain that this book is a really good four.this book was really good i will try to read more books like this.
September 1, 2020
So why are all these folks on an island? And why do they keep going down into this dungeon? I mean they traipse down, fight monsters, get treasure but then they die by some horrible monster and come back to do it again. Why are they doing this? Well, in Penultimate Quest, the party is on a quest to get to the bottom, solve the mystery of the island and find out why they exist, sort of. It is a quest of understanding, but not your normal philosophical argument, rather a physical quest for figuring out how to right a wrong done in the far past. And in the end, learning how to live. A satisfying, if puzzling read.
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title
April 29, 2021
I really liked the structure of the book. It was really confusing the way it jumped all around time and worlds, but that was what the point was, I felt. All of time and life all jumbled up. It was definitely more and more depressing and doomed feeling as it went on though, and even with the ending that was supposed to be uplifting, it still left me feeling depressed, I suppose maybe with a glimmer of hope, but a very small one. I enjoyed this mind melt but it really took me through some dark corners in these characters' worlds.
June 28, 2021
A wonderful homage to endless adventures and dungeon crawler games/books. Brown's lineart & story captures a wonderful theme about finding your way through the sprawling possibilities of life and its journey. Bex's colors bring the pages to life and set deliberate pallets to facilitate mood. Entire segments of story are separated by both mood and color and the execution is amazing.
Parts of the plot can seem confusing at first, but this is a deliberate subtlety capturing the complex message. Read it, read it again, and again. It's a joy every time
Parts of the plot can seem confusing at first, but this is a deliberate subtlety capturing the complex message. Read it, read it again, and again. It's a joy every time
June 12, 2020
This was an interesting book and I enjoyed reading it but I think it has a fairly limited target audience. If you fit the category of being a fantasy fan, a rpg player, a graphic novel reader AND the idea of a book that meanders into philosophy about life and its meaning sounds interesting to you then you’ll probably enjoy this graphic novel. If you aren’t all of the above then I think you will just find it kind of weird.
December 24, 2020
The artwork and multiple messages behind this graphic novel were wonderful. It took me getting to the end to fully grasp the meaning behind the story, and while that may have been the author’s intent all along, there were many panels and mini-stories to unpack in between. Had I been able to read the text in one sitting, I may have remembered more of the plot nuances to help me tie the larger story into the smaller ones. It was a great read otherwise!
January 5, 2024
Wow. This book was much more than I expected. At first glance it looked like a nostalgia-colored rehash of a D&D-type adventure; and that is indeed how it starts. But it takes some seriously unexpected turns and I did not see the metaphysical and emotional depth coming. It took me a month (exactly) to finish because I kept putting it down to realigned my expectations with the new narrative developments.
Great stuff. It might even warrant a reread in a year or two.
Great stuff. It might even warrant a reread in a year or two.
couldn-t-finish
October 10, 2020A group of dungeon raiders ponders how they got there and whether they will ever finish...and that's as far as I got. After a suicide on page, smoking, talking about sleeping around, and a fair bit of drunkenness, I quit. Definitely not add this to our library and the plot didn't interest me at all to continue after knowing that.
January 11, 2021
On a far-away island, a group of adventurers gather. Every day they set out to plumb the depths of the dungeon and reach the final boss. It is the same thing day after day, but they are perfectly content. But then, one adventurer pauses to wonder why? And when will their adventure end? What seemed like a light-hearted romp turned out to be something much deeper.
April 25, 2021
Impressive in some ways and lacking in others. I hated the switching between storylines on every other page, and the story was so sprawling and determined to be deep and impressive that it sort of lost itself. But I liked the overall idea and the art and was invested in wanting to see what happened. I found I cared less about the characters as I read more, and I'm not sure why.
April 25, 2020
A very twisty book that’s worth it if you stick it out to the end. It had all the elements I love- a mystery, good character back stories, existential crises, and evil wizards 😂 Definitely recommended if you like epic fantasies steeped in post-modern existentialism.
September 11, 2020
This comic is of the alarming sort where at first you think it's just a fun romp and then about halfway through you realize that no, it's a deep and heavy allegory. I highly recommend it even if I truly don't think I understood more than half of what I just read beyond the surface level.
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