Home After Dark
By David Small
Published by Liveright
Summary:
Home after dark tells the story of Russel, a kid growing up in 50s/60s USA who moves with his father to California after a messy divorce. There, Russel has to deal with the toxic climate around him, the drunken stupor his father has fallen into, and the constant social pressure of the age. It gets pretty dark in places.
Art:
The art is monochromatic watercolor and pen. It uses simple, jagged lines and few highlights to show the scene. It works well, and also gives the world around the story along with the characters an edge of meanspiritedness that reinforces the characters. The characters are decent, but the art makes them all seem like bad people, which they are for the most part.
Characters:
The characters can be flat at times, but they serve the story well. There are a quite a few characters that are one note and boring, but there are some strong characters here, like Russel's friends. Russel himself isn't the best, but he doesn't do anything out of character.
Setting:
The setting is the suburbs, and the book really gives them that bleak hopelessness they always try to hide. there were a few interesting choices made, but mostly it was boring and bleak.
Plot:
The plot is pretty heavy at times. It deals with a lot of big issues for this time, especially homophobia. The story gets dark fast, with few of the characters getting a truly happy ending. It is not a fun book to read.
TL;DR:
This is a depressing book for sure. Over all, it's good, but not spectacular. I would recommend it if you need a good dose of heavy stuff.
7/10
The Dam Keeper: World Without Darkness
By Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Published by First Second
This is is a Sequel to The Dam Keeper (review Here)
Summary:
The second book in the Dam Keeper series, we pick up with our three main characters Pig, Hippo, and Fox, guided by the strange Lizard Van, as they try to make it home before the storm. As they traverse across the wasteland, it turns out it isn't as dead as it seems, and there are many small settlements across the land, and the smoke isn't what it seems either, hiding a dark secret.
Art:
The art's just as good as last time. the colors are great, often going for much darker color pallets, with a great variety too it. The character design and composition is still great too.
Characters:
We get to see some growth here as the characters spend time with each other. They all have great chemistry, and the many side-characters are varied and well designed. The main trio has gotten closer, and it's nice to see them all getting along.
Setting:
The setting is vastly expanded in this book, giving glimpses of the world at large, and a few hints about the lore of the world. It's exiting to see all the different places around the wasteland, and I wish a little more time was spent with each of them.
Plot:
The plot is good, but not the focal point. For the first half of the book it's more of a road trip story, cutting out the travel and showing us a bunch of cool and interesting places, then rushing off to the next one. The second half of the book heats up the story by focusing on one place, and that was great. I would have loved for the story to slow down a bit and spend more time in each place.
TL;DR:
This is overshadowed by it's predecessor. It's great, but it would be hard to live up to the first book.
8/10
