Anzuelo by Emma Rios

I picked up today's read because of the gorgeous cover, and it promises to hold amazing artwork on every page. This one has been around since last year and is getting a new cover. I'm intrigued by the fish on the beach and it's connection to a dystopian world. Since this read promises food for thought and a more artful take on the literature, I'm game. 

So, let's take a peek and see what this one is about.

ANZUELO

by Emma Rios

Image Comics

YA Dystopia

304 pages

"A sweeping magical-realist coming-of-age story set after the apocalypse." — The New York Times

A gorgeous and brutal story that revolts against the notion of violence as the only response to a life without hope.

The Sea, secretly more complex than anyone imagined, rises one day. The horizon folds as the Sea absorbs the world and transforms everything that's been pulled inside it. Three kids find themselves unmoored and lost, but brought together by the physical and mental changes wrought by the tides and a desire to avoid harming any living creature.

Anzuelo is the new hand-watercolored graphic novel by the Eisner award-winning cartoonist Emma Ríos (Pretty Deadly, Mirror, I.D.), presented in a deluxe hardcover with archival quality 120gsm paper.

GOODREADS

MY TIDBITS

Emotions and questions surrounding the meaning to existence weave to form an intriguing read.

A boy, who finds himself worthless, is absorbed by the sea and spit out on a shore, where two other teens are waiting to be rescued. The world has changed, and everything that was once considered reality gets lost in a rapidly changing cloud edging on fantasy. Sea monsters, which are larger than buildings, are only the beginning of the strange happenings the teens face. As they wait for a rescue and do their best to survive, they try to wrap their minds around the situation but nothing prevails. As more people join them, the mystery grows.

The artwork in these pages is amazing, and it's worth flipping through this book just to enjoy them. The watercolor melds with fantastical and philosophical moments to create depth and plenty of food for thought. Each one is done with care and invites to gazing. That said, the artwork is what makes and holds this book.

The story is much more confuse. The first pages with the boy considering life, hint at depression, lack of motivation, and a darkness of existential crisis before the entire world flips upside down in a watery wonder. Just when the boy meets the other teens on an isolated beach and things seem to edge toward rhyme and logic, fantastical creatures and situations warp reason in almost poetic ways. Everything seems to carry deeper meaning and lures in as a call for readers to question what they know to be true. Self-worth, contributions to community, and right vs. wrong taunt to be considered and torn apart. But just as it feels like a thread is forming, everything slides again...a bit like a wave washing away any forming images in the sand. Which is very lyrical and poetic, but leaves nothing behind.

Characters appear to gain depth, but it never hits with enough background or understanding to sink the teeth in. More and more characters come into play as the community on the shore begins to form and grow...which had me wondering if that might be the true drive. But even here, every step toward understanding is suddenly pulled away. It leaves will the feel as if something monumental should have been explored but never really was.

Still, it was different and held a sense of value thanks to the gorgeous artwork that could have existed on its own without anything to accompany it.