REVIEW: Law of the Desert Born: A Graphic Novel

PLOT: The first graphic novel adaptation of the work of master storyteller Louis L’Amour is a dynamic tale of the Old West that explores the borderlands of loyalty and betrayal with the emotional grittiness of a noir thriller. New Mexico, 1887, a land in the midst of the worst drought anyone can remember. Family histories and loyalties run deep, but when rancher Tom Forrester has his access to the Pecos River cut off by the son of his old partner, he convinces his foreman, Shad Marone, to pay Jud Bowman back for the discourtesy. Yet what starts as a simple act of petty revenge quickly spirals into a cycle of violence that no one can control. Now Marone is on the run, pursued by a sheriff’s posse across a rugged desert landscape. Leading the chase is Jesus Lopez, a half-Mexican, half-Apache with a personal stake in bringing Shad to justice. Newly released from jail, trusted by no one, Lopez swears he’s the only man who can track Marone down. That may be true. But who will live and who will die and what price will be paid in suffering are open questions. Fate and the Jornada del Muerto desert possess a harsh justice that is all their own. With a propulsive script from Beau L’Amour and Kathy Nolan, adapted by Charles Santino and illustrated in bold black-and-white by Thomas Yeates, LAW OF THE DESERT BORN captures the dust and blood of Louis L’Amour’s West—a world where the difference between a hero and a villain can be as wide as the gap between an act of kindness or brutality or as narrow as a misspoken word.

REVIEW: ***I received a copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for a fair and honest review.*** 

Louis L'Amour is without a doubt, the definitive author for western fiction. His list of works is nearly endless, and there's a reason that most western fiction collections you see in libraries or bookstores are predominately consisted of L'Amour titles. When I saw that a graphic novel had been adapted from one of his stories, I found it kind of strange but interesting as well. It's not the kind of story that a typical graphic novel reader would pick up and read, but more and more we are finding that some of the timeless fictional stories are being converted into graphic novel form for fans old and new to enjoy.

I would like to start by saying I'm not a huge fan of western fiction in any of its forms, but recently I have started to have an appreciation for newer western films that stick to classic western styles. This is the first time I've ever read anything western, and I think this was a good way to start. Lopez is a great character, and his story told throughout the book is the driving force behind its greatness. His association with other characters in the book makes him the main protagonist, in my eyes, and it causes you to look at everyone else with a careful eye because of Lopez's apparent wisdom. He seems to know more than the rest of the characters in the book, which in turns exudes confident and wholesome qualities about a character that maybe 40 years ago would have been the one to have watched with a careful eye.

The story is superbly crafted, told in "present day" with flashbacks scattered throughout. On the first read through, I found it kind of complicated with the flashbacks mixed in throughout. Part of me wishes the story could have been more linear, but it may have taken away from the final impact of the story. I think I would have been able to follow the plot better had it been straight through the first time around, but the use of these flashbacks helps to further the emotional impact of the story and delay the final punch until the end of the book. I think a little more background on Marone before the chase begins would have been neat, but it wasn't necessary in telling this story.

The thing I liked most about this book is the art. Usually, black and white illustration in graphic novels is not my favorite, but there are stories that should only be told in black and white. This is one of those stories, being that it takes place in a western setting and most stories like this told in film were during the black and white era of motion pictures. Westerns are no longer, and haven't been for awhile, the most popular genre of film, but it only seems appropriate to tell a story like this in shades of gray. The shading and the art on each page was breathtaking, and I haven't been this impressed with black and white in a long time. It suits the book really well. The only problem I had here is that sometimes it was hard to tell which character was which on the page, or who was on the page to begin with. When everyone and their father wears cowboys hats, has a horse, and wears the same style clothes, it's hard to tell who is who.

Other than the few minor annoyances, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to mostly adult graphic novel readers. The combination of character illustration issues, and the flashbacks threw me for a loop at first, but with a more studious second read I found it to be a quality graphic novel. I would especially recommend this to an older crowd, as I've already passed this along to older family members who are fans of the western genre. I would definitely be interested to see if more of L'Amour's work shows up in graphic novel form, and I'd hope that the illustrative duties would be taken care of just as perfectly as they were here. The book is hefty, and while large, it enables the art more room to pop off the page and display Thomas Yeates excellent black and white illustrations. A lot of credit goes to the team that brought this book to life for a new generation, and possibly a younger audience.

WRITING : ( 8 / 10 )

ARTWORK : ( 10 / 10 )

STORY : ( 7 / 10 )

COVER : ( 7 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 5 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )

REVIEW: Ready Player One

PLOT: It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

REVIEW: Wow. Just wow. I haven't been this blown away by a book in a couple years, probably since reading Hater by David Moody or The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. The thing is, both of those books obviously entertained me so much because they were horror stories. Ready Player One is definitely not my kind of book in that sense, but it is so my book in many others. I have to say that all the praise that this book has received is very well deserved. I pretty much figured I was going to like the book and as soon as it started I was proven right. But in finishing the book I discovered that this may be my new favorite book of all-time, and I'm going to try and push it off on everyone now. The best thing about this book is that it has a little bit of everything. It may seem like it's just a science fiction book about kids living their real lives in a video game and have to overcome long odds but it's so much more than that. It's about everything and it's got a little bit in the story for everyone. That's what I really loved about this book is that even though it's pretty much chock full of nerd culture and references to things I love.

Wade is the central character of the book, and he's a kid still in school but much like me during those times, he escapes to the virtual world to get away from the pains of reality. In the OASIS, Wade is Parzival in the game, the one person that has any hope of winning the competition for control of OASIS. Due to his knowledge of all things 80s and Halliday oriented in general, he seems to be on the path to success. But once he becomes the leading seeker of the egg that wins the game, others come hot on his trail having only needed that kick start from someone else. What I love about this is that despite all of Wade's knowledge that is needed to win the game, he is still at extreme odds with a branch of OASIS tech people called IOI. They seem to cheat and do anything they can to win, and even though you know that Parzival is the man with the plan and can easily win the game, you never quite know that he's going to remain on top. There's great suspense in the book, and it says a lot that even though your main character is all knowing, there was still doubt to me all the way until the end if he would win the competition.

The little love story between Parzival and his dream woman Art3mis, whose name you find out way later in the book, is absolutely adorable. I'm pretty sure I had a tear in my eye at the end of the book (pretty sure, but not sure). Usually I don't fall for gimmicky romances or anything of the sort but I found the story of Wade and his adventures in life and in the OASIS so relatable. This book spoke to me really in a way that a book never has, and I connected with it almost immediately. There is a lot of explaining of the world and how things work in the future in the beginning of the book, and normally where that would bore me, I could not stop reading this. The voice of Wade/Parzival appealed to me from the get-go, and I was just absolutely entranced from then on out. It's a huge credit to the writing of Ernest Cline who does an amazing job on this, and it's even his debut novel which amazes me. Also, the fact that the creator of the OASIS in Ready Player One is from Middletown, Ohio and much more of the story takes place in central Ohio probably helped in me connecting with it. I live right down the street from Middletown, Ohio, and I just thought that was so cool that this novel was written by a guy in my neck of the woods. I connected with him and his writing immediately, and was just swept up in the fact that someone could legitimately make it in the world from out here. It's all a very real world example of Wade's story, and I think that's why this book hit home for me.

I'd recommend Ready Player One to almost anyone, and the other side of almost would be people who don't like to have fun when they read. Parzival has to conquer so many classic video games, reenact classic films, and know his geek culture trivia to get through Halliday's game. So does everyone else, but Parzival is the ultimate Halliday brain bank and even though he doesn't know everything, he definitely worked as hard as he could at it from beginning to end. I love everything about this book, absolutely everything. If you have any doubt about reading this, you shouldn't. Just read it. I'd love to see a movie of it too, though I'm not sure how it'd be done with the referencing and stuff but it's straight up awesome. Imagine Tron mixed with The Hunger Games for a basic explanation, but this book is so much more than that. There's a love story for the girls, and it's a great one. There's plenty of science fiction action and high concept storylines. There's video games, references to them, and plenty of actual play from our main characters. They even have to reenact movies at some points to further their place in the competition, and Cline picked two great ones because those scenes are really fresh and entertaining despite being copies of scenes from actual films. Everyone is especially into the dystopian stuff right now too, and this book has all of it in a high degree. Ready Player One is also a very unique take on the world today, and whether it was intended or not there is definitely commentary on society and the way the world works. When I read the last word on the last page, even though I didn't grow up in the 80s, I felt like this book was written for me and people like me. Nerds, this is the book you've been waiting for and I have a strong feeling this book will remain on the top of my list for a long time to come.

RATED : (PG-13)

WRITING : ( 10 / 10 )

STORY : ( 10 / 10 )

COVER : ( 9 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 10 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 10 / 10 )