Sovereign Volume 1 by Chris Roberson and Paul Maybury

An epic fantasy in the tradition of Game of Thrones, Sovereign is set in a world which once knew gods, demons, and magic, and to which all three are returning. New York Times bestseller Chris Roberson joins artist Paul Maybury to tell the story of masked undertakers facing the undead with swords, of civil wars and cultures in collision, and of ancient threats emerging from the ashes of history to menace the future.  

Sovereign Volume 1 by Chris Roberson and Paul Maybury

Collects Sovereign #1-5, plus extras.

Graphic Novel/Fantasy

3 out of 5 stars

At a time of a Convergence - an event that strengthens the power of the magic-bearers in this world and the daemons of the Unreal - the survival of the world is put into question as a society of Horselords begins to realize their tradition of burying their dead will now bring forth an undead army hell-bent on taking over. In Sovereign, we follow a multitude of characters and watch as old traditions seemingly long forgotten come back to the forefront and new magic is birthed from the strength of the Convergence. 

As is typical of collections such as this, Sovereign doesn't quite offer an entire plotline. Sovereign Volume 1's main goal is to introduce the world and its characters, and it does so well enough. While I did enjoy this, I'm not sure it was enough to pull me into this series. The constant changing of POV characters felt a bit distracting in the end, as the 5 installments collected in this graphic novel are not enough to fully connect to any of the characters since we don't have a true focus on any of them. I'm a fan of multiple POVs in epic fantasy, but I'm not quite sure that it works as well in comic form. Even in novel form, it takes extra time to get into a story with multiple POVs, and when you're dealing with comics the time between releases can be a bit jarring.

For avid readers of comics, perhaps this would interest you more. The world that Roberson and Maybury have created is very interesting and has a lot of potential. The potential could have been a bit higher if I'd not found the art style to be so lackluster, as the settings and cultures presented are unique but the art left much to be desired. I would also have liked to have seen the magic systems fleshed out a bit more, as they were the most interesting, but most neglected, aspect of the world Sovereign lets us into. All in all, it was entertaining but not quite enough to make the wait between volumes worth it.

I was provided an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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