Cover Image: Elves, Vol. 1

Elves, Vol. 1

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Member Reviews

Due to the format of this ARC for kindle the book wasn't very easy to read. The graphics and visuals are beautiful but I didn't feel too invested in the plot. Overall, I'd consider this to be a decent read.

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The book was okay but not overly great. The story was good and the plot line decent though it did feel like a drag at time instances. Overall an okay read.

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Visually, this is just stunning, the end.

In terms of the story, though, it's a bit meh. It's a good story, but it wasn't terribly gripping. I think a large part of it is you start with the very little background, in the middle of the story with characters that I just didn't feel for. Maybe I just need to read it again. Either way, the art is lovely, and a second read is definitely not a chore!

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I had some trouble with the formatting, so it took a while to find a way to read it. The story was definitely interesting, and I hope to read more from this author in the future.

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The graphics for both stories is really beautiful (I may be biased because I like elves :grin:), but unfortunately the stories are not on par with the quality of the illustrations. In both stories, you are thrown in the middle of the narrative with almost no background information, the premises are interesting, but they lack in execution. With more pevious info added to the story and more realistic dialogues, this could be a really good work.

Overall, a nice and quick read, 3+

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I wasn't able to read this book due to the formatting it was in when I received it. I cannot fairly rate or review this book due to the errors I encountered.

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'Elves Vol. 1' by Jean-Luc Istin and Nicolas Jarry with art by Kyko Duarte and Gianluca Maconi features two stories featuring elves. I can't tell if they are in the same world, but they have a similar feel.

The first story "The Crystal of the Blue Elves" features a blue elf and her human friend as they seek to discover who slaughtered a city full of blue elves. This leads them into contact with a group of men who hate Elves and are looking for an excuse to start a war.

The second story, "The Honor of the Sylvan Elves" is about a young human woman who seeks help from the wood elves against an army of orcs and goblins. She is mistrusted by most of the wood elves, but finds an ally amongst them. It may be too late though.

Both stories are detailed an interesting. Both have decent art. In both stories, there are side stories are flashbacks and in the first, this was a bit confusing, but I still really enjoyed these fantasy stories about elves and the humans that they live uneasy lives with.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Insight Editions and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel

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I felt like I was dropped into the middle of the story with no context of what was going on in both of the stories presented within. Each story tells the story of a race of elves in the midst of turmoil. None of the characters or stories were very compelling and found I didn't really care what happened to them. This was originally a French comic so it may have been lost in translation

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Elves is a decent, readable script with top-notch artwork. The story was at times kind of lagging, thus the three stars, but it was worth hanging in until the end.

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Two separate tales of elves. The first part deals with a tale of intrigue and murderous revenge that pits the Blue Elves versus Yrian under King Rinn. This plot is thwarted with help from an orcish necromancer. The second tale involves a different group of elves with a human girl seeking Elvish help for her father's kingdom against Orc and Goblin mercenaries. The support finally comes, but at great cost. Interesting stories.

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Thank you for the opportunity to read this book - unfortunately, I missed the window of availability, and did not get to complete it. I have not rated or reviewed it.

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<em>Elves, Vol. 1</em> is a beautiful graphic novel.

This graphic novel contains two parts, written by Jean-Luc Istin and illustrated by Kyko Duarte.

A pair of individuals has discovered that an Elven city has been slaughtered. It looks as though humans may be at the cause of it, further fracturing already tense relations between the species. But not everyone is convinced as to what happened and set out to further investigate. And of course there are some who don't want anyone poking around.

What works so nicely here is that we are getting a story of epic proportions - an entire race war is on the edge - while we are more directly experiencing the moment to moment journey of just a few individuals. It's the frame of epic works as you might find in opera (think Wagner's <em>The Ring Cycle</em>). I tend to really like this sort of story-telling.

On the other hand, it is so incredibly difficult to tell a story with elves and orcs and humans and not immediately place it in the world of J.R.R. Tolkein. Even the gorgeous art is incredibly reminiscent of Peter Jackson's iconic films. There are some small differences ... some of the elves here are blue, for instance, but since a mythos has been set that elves are lithe, with pointy ears, that's what we get. And since orcs are brutish and swamp-water green, that's what we get.

The dialog here is more than a little bit simple and stilted. Is it because of the translation? Or is the translation merely capturing the simple language of Jean-Luc Istin? That's something I can't tell. But know that it's the over-all story that will draw you in (along with the art), and not the character patter.

The art is above-average comic-book art. If what you like most in your graphic novel is the art, then this is definitely one you want to consider.

Looking for a good book? If you want a page-to-page-turning excitement, then you might be really disappointed here. But if you like a beautiful art and a high-reaching story that spans the pages rather than living on each one, then the graphic novel, <em>Elves, Vol. 1</em>, by Istin and Duarte, is the perfect selection.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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I've been having trouble writing this review. This is odd given that I really enjoyed the book. The setting is rich and grand, the artwork is exquisite. So, what's holding me back?

Elves, Vol. 1 is a U.S. re-release of the French graphic novel series Elfes. The series takes place in a fairly standard fantasy world with humans, elves, orcs, etc. Volume 1 contains the first two issues of the original series: The Crystal of the Blue Elves and The Honor of the Silvan Elves.

In the first story, the Blue Elf Lanawyn and her human friend Turin investigate the destruction of a Blue Elf town and the murder of its residents. We also meet the Blue Elf Vaalann, who may have access to a great Elven weapon. The second story has human princess Llali seeking help from the dangerous Silvan Elves. Each story is a vignette that hints at a much larger world rich in culture and history.

And yet, the stories themselves were not very compelling. Neither were the characters–I just had to look up some of the names, because I already forgot them. Which brings me back to my review troubles. I legitimately enjoyed the book, and will read the others in the series as they come out. I just can't think of much to say about it.

Several things do stand out to me upon reflection:

1. As previously noted, the stories are embedded in a much larger world. The worldbuilding is phenomenal, and the book hints at much more to come.
2. The writers pull no punches. They aren’t afraid to show real consequences for main characters.
3. The artwork is superb. The views of exotic locations and Elven designs generate a terrific sense of wonder.

Verdict:
The stories are mostly standard fare, with a little bit of edge to them. But the artwork is dazzling! I look forward to seeing future volumes.

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A few years ago Elves was published in France (Elfes) and now it's making its appearance here in the United States. Volume 1 contains two separate stories, Part 1: The Crystal of the Blue Elves by Jean-Luc Istin and Kyko Duarte about the Blue Elves who live by the sea and Part 2: The Honor of the Sylvan Elves by Nicolas Jarry and Maconi dealing with the Sylvan or Forest Elves. There are three other subsets of Elves to be published in a future edition.

The trouble with this series is that it takes awhile to grasp the cast of characters. While the graphics are spectacular and help the reader interpret the story, there is still a lot of confusion. Part of the problem in the first story is that these are three plot lines which eventually intersect, however, the story flits from one to another in a jarring fashion, taking a moment or two to figure out which part of the plot is front and center. While in the second story there is also a bunch of back and forths which make it difficult at times to figure out who's who or what's what. Too many gaps in the story only adds to the confusion, requiring an explanation which is nowhere to be found. It's as if there was a prequel we all missed. Some backstory please before you throw us into the mix. Eventually we get the drift, but only after a frustrating start.

In both stories there's a lot of backstabbing and double crossing along with a few deceptions which change the outcome of the saga, although there are some honorable characters who leave us with hope for an eventual resolution. The various evil creatures such as the ork mercenaries are horrifying, but as least they are easily identifiable as the enemy. It's when the "good guys" turn out to have a hidden agenda and double cross their so called friends that the stories reflect a dark theme.

Full of blood, violence, and death, not everything turns out with a happily ever after ending. It's just not that kind of book. With a better narrative and smoother transitions, this would be a superior series. The colorful, intricate art work illustrating the two stories could easily be developed into an adult animation (there's nudity along with the violence) for the small or large screen. Three stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Insight Comics for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This review also appears on my blog, Gotta Read.

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This graphic novel contains two different stories; "The crystal of the Blue elves" and "The honor of Sylvan elves". Both are good, however, both stories lack a proper background the characters and the world that the stories take place in.

I was a bit lost when I started to read The crystal of the Blue elves, I know nothing about Lanawyn and Turin, what's their history etc? Who are The Blue Elves of Ennlya? Now, this is an ARC so perhaps there are more information in the graphic novel that was published. However, a prologue with information about the world and the people that inhabit the world would have made the story a bit better. On the plus side is the art very good and that made reading this graphic novel quite enjoyable.

The honor of Sylvan elves had the same problem as the first story, too little background information. However, I quite enjoyed reading this story about a young girl who tries to save her people and the art was really good.

So, in the end, I just want to say that I liked this graphic novel, the stories were OK, they could have been better with some improvement to the stories, but at least the art is really good!

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This artwork is phenomenal!
I did feel throughout though it was almost a LOtR spinoff. While the beginning was a little confusing to understand, it all paid off in the end. Looking forward to reading more from this artist.

I received a copy through Netgalley for an honest opinion of this book. My thanks to Jean-Luc Istin and Insight Editions for the opportunity to read and review this.

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Both stories were very interesting to read. The different types of elves that were create were fascinating. The stories were fast paced and easy to follow along. the drawings that were created for each scene were beautifully done.

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Great art, but a boring, poor fantasy book all told. Captions that tell and never show, dialogue that's one character giving another character exposition for no reason… The artwork really is the only saving grace, but that's not enough for me to keep reading.

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The art in this graphic novel is definitely beautiful but that's the only thing I enjoyed about it. There were so many weak areas in this book. One of my major problems was the plot. The pacing was completely off; it was too fast in some places and too slow in others. The story line in the first story was unique but its execution was poor; the characters were sloppy, the writing style was choppy, and I always felt as if I had been thrown into the middle of the story. In terms of the second story, the flow and writing style were better, but the characters still lacked depth and the plot itself was boring. This wasn't a terrible graphic novel, but it was by no means good. But hey, at least the artwork was impressive!

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3.75/5 stars
I picked this graphic novel based on the cover mostly because... Amazing Graphics. Get it? Alright! Moving on... In my opinion, the artwork makes more than 50% of the story when it comes to comic books and graphic novels. So, this is my number one criteria in my choosing. Elves does not disappoint at the art category. It's realistic, colorful, and fantastic.
Story-wise... It gets complicated. I was expecting the story to continue from issue one to issue two but it was not. Based on this volume, I can assume that the whole series is more of a collection of stories revolving around elves in the same universe. While reading this volume, I got major The Shannara Chronicles TV Show vibes because the two stories are somewhat similar. War. Magical stone. Humans. Elves. Orks. And the list can continue.
My favorite story of the two was the second one. It had a better development compered two the first which had some plot holes. Both have major plot twists... AND the authors do not have mercy at ALL. Expect the unexpected.
This is NOT for younger audiences. Lots of blood, violence, and nudity; although, you will see more of the first two.
A quick read. Great for that peculiar period when you crave some high fantasy. It might be your cup of tea if you like any of the elements I listed above.

This is my sole opinion. ^_^

I would like to say thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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