altlovesbooks reviewed Aster of Pan by Merwan
Review of 'Aster of Pan' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"I'm not some cold, mechanical thing. I am alive!!!"
What a surprising delight! I picked this up at my local comic book store because of the art, and actually really liked the core story being told here as well!
Aster is an outcast of Pan, a village in what I'm assuming is a post-apocalyptic Earth given the names and such. She's allowed to trade with members of Pan, but isn't considered a member herself. They live a meager, poor existence, but when a larger nation rolls in and wants to take over their crops and food for essentially slave labor, she gets drafted into Celestial Mechanics--essentially, a post-apocalyptic dodgeball variant. Their hastily constructed team is squaring off against Fortuna's better funded and more practiced team to remain free of Fortuna's grasp.
Essentially, it's like Final Fantasy X (if you play video games) or Cool Runnings (if you remember your 90s …
"I'm not some cold, mechanical thing. I am alive!!!"
What a surprising delight! I picked this up at my local comic book store because of the art, and actually really liked the core story being told here as well!
Aster is an outcast of Pan, a village in what I'm assuming is a post-apocalyptic Earth given the names and such. She's allowed to trade with members of Pan, but isn't considered a member herself. They live a meager, poor existence, but when a larger nation rolls in and wants to take over their crops and food for essentially slave labor, she gets drafted into Celestial Mechanics--essentially, a post-apocalyptic dodgeball variant. Their hastily constructed team is squaring off against Fortuna's better funded and more practiced team to remain free of Fortuna's grasp.
Essentially, it's like Final Fantasy X (if you play video games) or Cool Runnings (if you remember your 90s movies like I do). This part of the story is really neat.
There's also a bit of other social issues that are touched on briefly but never really fully explored. Poverty issues, social class issues, some racial issues... but aside from mentioning it once or twice, they don't really go anywhere and actually detract a bit from the story because of it. It felt a bit like the author was trying to do too much at once in the middle, and then pulled back on a lot of it near the end for time reasons.
BUT THE ART. The art is something special. I don't know enough about art stuff to say why this art is better than other art, but it's something different, something unique, and looks fantastic. 5 stars for the art alone.
In summary, loved the dodgeball-for-the-fate-of-the-village sports, loved the artwork, took a star off for somewhat muddled storytelling in the middle. Still a really enjoyable read.