Diesel Ignition

Diesel Ignition

Written by Tyson Hesse

Published by BOOM BOX


Summary:
Sorry for not posting for three months. Diesel Ignition stars Dee, a hot headed aspiring leader who's bound to be the captain of her late father's flying city, but isn't much of a leader or an engineer. When he home is destroyed by a marauding band of bird people, she finds that he father might be alive, and that a war is brewing between the bird people below the clouds and the humans who banished them there. In her struggle to try and find her family again, Dee must use her special powers to try and stop the bird invasion. That wasn't the most glamorous of a plot summery but I've lost my knack. It's really interesting and complicated.

Art:
The art is great! Colors are good, contrasting the characters and the two different worlds (Above and below the clouds) and is varied, giving the reader something interesting to look at. The characters are all very varied, matching their personalities and powers. The steampunk-ish aesthetic works well for the setting, and looks good over all.

Setting:
The setting is very complex and isn't explained very well. At the start of the book you are thrown into this new and complicated world, and have to figure out what and where everything is. Eventually, you can learn enough to get a basic understanding about everything, but a lot of it remains unexplained. the clouds separating the two worlds is an example. You know it exists and acts the way it does because of how the characters interact and talk about it, but you never learn why it's there. Over all, I like the setting, but I'd love to see more of it and learn more about how it works and where everything is. A map would be nice, for example.

Characters:
The Characters are all nicely varied and have good chemistry. I enjoyed seeing their interactions, and wanted them all to succeed. The main character was rather despicable at times and was very mean-spirited at times, but by the end of the book I thought she got much better and improved. Her arc worked well, and I came to like her as a character. Over all, they were well fleshed out and had good arcs, helping with the world and the story.

Plot:
This is very much the first book in a series, but I am excited to see where it goes. It has a good smaller narrative within it, but has a great open ended structure that allows for the continuation of the story. The narrative is well contained, with well placed flashbacks that help us understand the characters and don't break the flow. Over all, it works well.

TL;DR:  Over all, I very much enjoyed this book. It does have a lot of death and complex themes, but it is worth the read.
8/10