Author: Rick Remender
Genre: Graphic Novel
Format: Hardback
Pages: 444
Deadly Class has been on my to-read list for a while now. It was one of those things where a lot of people I knew really liked it, but I wasn't completely on board. So it sat on my list and other books and graphic novels piled on top. Then Syfy announced they were turning it into a TV Show, and that seemed like a good reason to pop up it up on my to-read list and put it on hold at the library. Though, it seemed a lot of people had the same thought, and instead of waiting for Volume One, I went for Book One. All four hundred plus pages.
Once I got it home two things happened: first, the only way to read this was with my lap desk I use for my laptop and two, reading this before bed gave me strange dreams. The kind that when I woke make you go.... 'huh'.
Honestly, I waited too long to pull this off my list. I love story-lines like this: hard, gritty, full of gratuitous violence. Yeah, I get it, Marcus has moments were he's super annoying, and just drips angst all over the pages. But, it's a story about teenagers. Angst is just a part of it. They kind of go hand-in-hand. Plus Marcus isn't all that bad. Underneath all the crazy that is Deadly Class, he's just a kid that's been dealt the worst hand of life and he's trying to stay above it all. He struggles, all the characters do with real life issues. Things a lot of us have crawled through. Nothing is sugared coated. It's harsh and real, and sometimes it makes us do dumb and terrible things. Granted this takes to a level most wouldn't go. Because after all Kind's Dominion is here to teach teenagers to be assassins, underworld leaders, etc.
I think maybe that's what I like about this. It's rough around the edges because it's a book about teenager assassins. About kids meant to take the mantle of different crime syndicates around the world. It's dark and twisted and honestly, I loved it. In fact I read it faster than I meant to, and it steamed rolled the other two books I was meant to reading.
Each volume flows so well into the next, and with the first few you get a good look at each character and their back story. I adore that cast of characters is so diverse. Each character having their own story that lead them to King's Dominion. That lead them to Marcus. They all came from somewhere with bad story, some worst than others. All sort of hoping to find their Tribe at King's Dominion.
So far my biggest complaint is how Book One ended. No one likes a cliff hanger people. Is Marcus about to die? Who knows until Book Two comes in at the library! Because lets me honest, he could be. Main characters aren't safe anymore. They can be killed off. Saya could take over the story. Anyone could.
Anyway, back to the review... I loved the artwork in the book. It's not one set of artwork, but rather changes with Marcus. One set for when he's sober, and one for when he's tripping balls. All of it worked together, the story and the artwork. I really enjoyed every part of it.
The only real downside is I surged through maybe harder than I should. For such an harsh story with intense themes, I should have probably broke up the volumes a little better. It's just the story lines are that good. They do however, mess with your head about it. With so many ups and downs, it requires a break of something happy or shiny. Though the activity should not be sleeping. Cause I got some trippy dreams, kids. Trippy..
Buy, Borrow, or Skip: This one is a little hard because of the nature of the story. It's really dark. I would say to borrow the first volume and go from there. This kind of dark and weird is right up my alley and I'll be adding these to my collection, but I get how it's so not for everyone.
HAPPY READING!!
It is 1793. Four years after the storming of the Bastille in France and more than a year after the death of King Gustav III of Sweden, paranoia and whispered conspiracies are Stockholm’s daily bread. A promise of violence crackles in the air as ordinary citizens feel increasingly vulnerable to the whims of those in power.
