Something a Little Different - My review of Hinterkind Vol 1: The Waking

Since last year I have been working my way through the graphic novel and manga sections at the library. I was genuinely amazed that we even had these sections as I live in a relatively small town. On Monday, I went to hand in my read books and pick up a new stash (I'm sure you know how libraries actually work). One of the books I picked up this time was Hinterkind Vol.1: The Waking World by Ian Edginton and illustrations by Francesco Trifogli. I have heard nothing but good things about this series on Twitter and other social media, so my expectations were very high and yet when I came to write my review, it has been slated pretty much across the board on Goodreads. Definitely seems to be a Marmite kind of read!

Looking at the book, the artwork is done really well, but feels primitive, this however as you read through matches the story and the way in which it is written. The artist has done a great job of matching the tone and mood of the writing.

The story itself is an eclectic mish-mash of post apocalyptic settings with references both to "current" modern time and fairy tales. It took me quite a while to get used to these things being used all together, so I am glad that I read this as a graphic novel instead of individual comics as I probably would have given up after issue 2. At one point a giant type creature utters the line "FFFIFUFHM IZ SMEHLL BLUD OVA HUMUN!" and this nearly finished it for me there and then. I love fairy tales, I love post apocalyptic stories, but these two combined just felt very jarring to me.

I stuck with it and I have to say that I am glad that I did. No it wasn't the best thing that I have ever read (or anywhere even close), but it was certainly interesting to the point that I would like to see where they go with the story. There are no punches held with characters coming and going (though I think we've met all the main protagonists now) and there are side stories which I feel will be good to follow. If I see the next instalment in the library I will definitely pick it up, it's not something I would go out and personally buy though.

I started reading this on the 12th of January and finished it on the same day
I gave the book a (low) 4 star rating on Goodreads