Thursday, March 2, 2017

Husk

HuskHusk by J. Kent Messum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rhodes is the type of man that even other men would begrudgingly admit is good looking. He seemingly has it all with money, friends, and a girl he wants to make his own. He even has a lucrative yet abnormal job, Rhodes is a Husk. Husk's for an expensive fee provide their bodies to be used by very special clients. These clients are the wealthy dead who've had their brains digitized. They wear Rhodes like a tux to the prom and everyone is happy until the visions and nightmares start. Rhodes can't let the images go and insists on learning if these nightmares are actually memories.

Husk was one unexpected ride from the very beginning. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but the prologue quickly disabused me of that notion. Getting a glimpse of what life looks like for Husk's after their rental time has ended was shocking. It's a crazy notion looking into the eyes of a person you've been intimate with and having no recollection of them. Because while your body was there, your mind was not. This would be well and good if the rich treated this individual well, but it can be a horror if they did not.

The writing was excellent and kept me compelled from start to finish. The world was similar, but had enough nuance to make it into something uniquely intriguing. The characters were strong enough to provide a real sense of them as individuals, especially Rhodes as the story is told from his perspective. Rhodes isn't a great man by any extent, he's a jaded man doing his best to take care of himself. Despite his flaws I found myself caring about what would happen to Rhodes as the story went on.

Though I enjoyed the story immensely, it did have one weak spot. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way the story ended. The reason being was the ending opened up an additional nagging question that's unlikely to be answered, but one in which seems particularly valid in my mind because of the lead up events. I can't give any other information without giving too much away, but the story was still a good one.

Husk is a strong story perfectly suited for anyone who enjoys horror with a science fiction twist.

4 out of 5 stars

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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All-New Inhumans, Volume 2: Skyspears

All-New Inhumans, Volume 2: SkyspearsAll-New Inhumans, Volume 2: Skyspears by James Asmus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The RIV travels to China to assist with the mysterious Skyspears.
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After some extensive searching, the Inhumans have found Flint's home.
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All-New Inhumans Skyspears was a really good volume. It had two storylines going on. The first focused around the Skyspears and the second was about Flint's birthplace.

The Skyspears storyline while informative was quite bland. The team heads to China to examine the Skyspears and Parker Industries along with Spider-Man assist in the research. A Chinese supergroup comes to chase away the Inhumans and all kinds of problems break loose. First off I have to say I hated the artwork. I'm sure it works for certain characters but I found it incredibly frustrating after Stefano Caselli's realistic depictions. Everyone just looked frumpy and oddly shaped to me. Second the story was simply too abrupt. Now this may have been due to the fact the series was cancelled. Perhaps the Skyspears would have been revisited and this story was meant to be an introduction, but it felt like a short awkward look at a much larger idea.

Flint's story about his birthplace was excellent. I absolutely loved every bit of it. Finding another pocket civilization of Inhumans was an exciting idea that was really well done. The civilization, Utolan, had its own unique aspects while it continued to practice and worship the process of terrigenesis. I was initially unsure of the addition of Anna Kravinoff to the cast for this story, but she was quite interesting. I didn't like the fact that her story didn't get an ending, but I blame that on the cancellation as well.

So as I mentioned All-New Inhumans got cancelled which really sucks because it was just beginning to come into it's own under James Asus. The fortunate part is with a number of Inhuman centered stories like Death of X and Inhumans vs X-Men the crew of the RIV haven't vanished yet.

Skyspears was the best volume of the short lived All-New Inhumans.

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