High drama, angst and emotions, lovely art, very real characters, and a deadly dangerous dystopia of a world post-conquering. . .

The story drops the reader into the middle and you pick up history and context along the way, done very smoothly. As are the changing allegiances and relationships between the characters. Consequences lurk around every corner, but as the characters themselves voice repeatedly, everything is dangerous in this world. The ending is open, but hopeful and not unsatisfying. ( )

Overall I greatly enjoyed this graphic novel (which as of this review, March 8, 2017, is a stand alone according to the publisher). I found Colleen to be a good blend of traits - strong, but hiding her vulnerability which made her realize she was missing something.

This isn't a "soft" book - quite a few chars who don't deserve it get beaten, killed or abused in some way. It's also not too worried about history building - we learn about the Chromatti and how they evolved to the group they were. We learned a brief bit about why the Derichet came to the planet, a little about the social structure before they came to the planet.

Agnit, a Derichet overseer who is...well the best way to describe him versus Korso, another overseer, is the difference between Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Fassbender's characters in "12 Years a Slave". Agnit is a villain who pretends at decency, but ultimately agrees with the status quo while Korso is a creep & a bully and doesn't pretend otherwise.

Also a bit loosy-goosy, but something fans of Shinn's novels are well used to, is how the book meanders to it's point. This isn't to say it has filler for filler's sake, but with no real concept of time the pacing is both too slow and too fast.

I did love the artwork here. It's not overly complicated, but very well detailed. I haven't seen Ostertag's work before, tho I've heard of her comic.

My only real unease is the flat nature of the Derichet. We have no real sense of their culture, no real sense of why they conquer instead of negotiate/trade. Korso & Agnit are the only two named, despite dozens of extras, and they're two ends of the same stick really. While the reader is given all the reasons to side with the humans, there's no nuance so no matter what Agnit does you are waiting for him to turn into a villain because the only other Derichet given time is a villain.

I'm also somewhat confused by Jann's insistence about Colleen's family's birthright. He's the only one who puts emphasis on it (aside from a few remarks about the estate) and it makes no sense. It's not like Colleen is lost royalty who, once the Derichet are dealt with, can reclaim her throne. It was as maddening for me as it was for Colleen. ( )

Picked it up because I'm a big Molly Ostertag fan. Great worldbuilding, but a disappointing story. ( )

Graphic novel about a young woman on a planet being exploited for its resources; although the loss of her family and position has left her wounded, finding her young niece as well as connections to rebels leads her to choose connection and dangerous sabotage attempts against the (larger, human-related) overlords. It’s fine but I mostly wanted new Ostertag. ( )