A friend at work recommended this to me. Well, indirectly. She wrote a blog post talking about the 2014 comics of the year and listed Fabien Velhmann and Kerascoet's Beautiful Darkness as one of her favourite reads of the year. So I put it on hold and she left me a note telling me to let her know how it is. So when I finished reading Paragon Lost, I decided to give Beautiful Darkness a shot, especially since I knew it would be a quick read.
Beautiful Darkness is a strange tale. It's about a princess named Aurora who lives inside a girl. Something happens and the girl dies, so Aurora and her people escape and live in the woods. Aurora takes care of everyone, helping them find food and make shelter. But over time, you see that her people are taking advantage of her. And so Aurora sets out on her own, only to be followed by those she left behind.
I finished reading Beautiful Darkness in an hour or two. And when I was done, I was left wondering what I actually THOUGHT about it. Part of me wanted to reread it, to see if I got something else out of it a second time. But the other part of me doesn't want to because there's a lot of other books I'd like to be reading. Even now, several hours later, I'm still not really sure. The artwork is beautiful. But the story itself is deeply disturbing. From the dead little girl Aurora's people came out of, who remains a fixture of the setting as she slowly rots, to the macabre ending where Aurora reminded me of the witch from Hansel and Gretel, I just don't know. I didn't dislike it, but I don't think I really liked it either. I guess I'll sleep on it before giving it a rating on Goodreads.
YOUth Review: It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
5 months ago