Ibrahim Moustafa

3.0⭐

Good art and a decent story, but I felt like I had read the same story many times.

Meris has been turned into a cybernetic enforcer known as Cyn and forced to kill. Now she is finally free and is trying to forge a new, peaceful future for herself. On the run and damaged, she is saved by a mechanic that already found that future for himself.

First, some praise for the art. It was very expressive, and I also enjoyed the color palette. During the fights, there were action panels that only showed part of the action to help showcase the speed of it. The character design was good, especially that of Meris.

As for the story, while I enjoyed reading it, I also couldn't help but think that it was kind of basic. Everything pretty much went as I expected and I couldn't help but feel I read this story many times already. Maybe if it had been longer, it could have added some elements to distinguish itself. I especially missed more of Meris's past. There was also very little information on the lore or setting. There seems to be a kind of prequel to this story, but from a different POV, so I don't know if reading that one first would have changed my experience.

As it stands, it was too short and predictable to really get my attention, but I still enjoyed reading it.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.… (lisätietoja)

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Content warning for violence.)

In another life, Cyn was a cybernetic enforcer for the Protectorate. Before that, she was the wife of a government official, injured almost beyond hope in an unspecified incident. Now, she just wants to be known as Meris, and live a quiet life free from violence. The universe has other plans for her.

When Ness and his adopted daughters, Del and Phea, find Meris passed out in an alleyway, the former mechanica doesn't hesitate to bring the stranger home with them. Though the materials required to fix Meris's broken solis light conductor are no longer in circulation, he's confident that he can scavenge them. Until then, he welcomes Meris to stay and help out on their homestead - which also serves as an animal sanctuary. Ness encourages Meris to save one life for every one she's taken - 527, and counting - as the penance she seeks.

Like Meris, Ness has done things he's not proud of - and it's Ness's past that threatens to undo Meris's future. Can Meris ever truly leave Cyn behind in a world ruled by brute force?

I didn't expect to love CYN as much as I did (though I did get a good feeling from the cover art, which shows Cyn cradling a dog protectively). Tbh, it was the animal rescue - and the lessons Ness drew from his canines - that really did me in. Ness's story about Rizzy - likely exploited as a fighting dog and then tossed out when no longer useful - was simply lovely, filled with compassion and empathy. After his leg - damaged beyond repair - was amputated, Ness used his skills (and, presumably, his limited funds) to build the pup a cybernetic leg (!). And when it came time to flee to avoid carnage, there was no question: this evacuation includes the nonhuman family members as well. No doggo left behind!

Of course, Cyn and Ness's character arcs are compelling as well - both stories of exploitation and redemption. I feel like I'm missing some essential backstory for Cyn - who I think might have origins in Ibrahim Moustafa's 2021 comic, COUNT - but overall it didn't detract from the narrative.

CYN is one of my first favorites of 2024, and I think Ibrahim Moustafa might be a new insta-read for me. CYN is full of heart and love and hope. Just what we need in these here dark times.… (lisätietoja)

Let me first say, I probably would have had an entirely different experience of this book had I actually been familiar with The Count of Monte Cristo going in, but as it was, this book left me entirely cold.

The Count of Monte Cristo is what, eleventy billion pages long? And this story is attempting to not only condense it to a single volume of graphic novel medium, but also add a unique science fiction environment?

I did not care about a single person in this story. Redxan Samud is framed for treason and separated from his love and whatever I just... like? That's a bummer, I guess? There is so little time to introduce anything about him, other than the facts that I guess the guy who frames him is kinda terrible, and you know, prisons are bad, and political prisons worse... I just had no time to feel invested enough to be outraged. His wife Meris is barely a character, so when absolutely anything at all happens to her, I again felt aggressively meh about it.

Had I already had relationship with these characters that I could map onto these new sci-fi versions, I probably would have experienced some actual feelings here? I wanted to have some feelings about the robot dude, but there I didn't know if it was just that there was so little time to tell the story or if the robot, being a robot, really had no preferences or thoughts or allegiances other than his last directive? It was difficult to grow feelings there, too.

AND THEN REDXAN HAS THIS WHOLE EMOTIONAL AND SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PIRATE CAPTAIN LADY DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE IS TRYING TO GET BACK TO HIS WIFE AND ALL?

The art was cool. Some neat things happened in the world building. I just did not care about any of the people or people-ish things here.… (lisätietoja)