Reader Reviews Redux
Earlier this year I posted quotes from some of my favorite early reader reviews of TITAN, including the good, the bad, and the just plain funny. Now that the book is officially out, here is a new round of critiques and praise culled from sites like Goodreads, Amazon, Netgalley, and more.
If you have read TITAN I strongly encourage you to rate and/or review the book on whatever platform you prefer, including on the websites of booksellers like Powells Books, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, etc… It can really help new people discover the book who otherwise wouldn’t ever hear about me or TITAN!
As always a huge thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed TITAN, regardless of if they loved it or loathed it… As I think you can see here I really appreciate the time people take to review the book and I don’t mind criticism at all, I really appreciate the chance to learn what people thing, negative or positive.
“I love the minimalist color palette of TITAN. The tones of red and pink give a cast of warning throughout the entire book—as if a siren were constantly flashing light on each scene. Its lucidity allows Vigneault’s ability to craft texture and dimension through line work to shine. This is a graphic novel that utilizes every millimeter of its form to storytell. The result is completely satisfying.”
—Matthew Sciarappa
“An engaging exploration of class, body, anger, lust and love…with space mining! The balm to those of you who want to love the film “Outland” but have sworn off of Sean Connery. The colour and art-style work together beautifully, both sweaty and vibrant.“
—Adam A.
“The crux of Titan is about questioning capitalism, especially the fidelity to profits over living beings. Vigneault uses intense violence to show the outcome of those priorities. The overall story focuses mostly on violence and showing the errors of the way of capitalism, at the detriment of some plot development. Things go from bad to worse extremely quickly, but we spend an entire chapter with Phoebe and João that seemed entirely unnecessary. The ending wraps everything up in a nice bow with a major time jump, and I would have rather liked to see how Phoebe ended up the way she did, rather than being told what happened afterwards.”
—Sara S.
“While a very relevant story, I had trouble connecting to the characters and several plot points felt rushed or confusing. The artwork was interesting but not consistent: sometimes the Titans appeared to be twice the size of the Terrans, and sometimes they were only slightly taller (even when comparing the two main characters, Phoebe and João, it was unclear what their size difference was).”
—Lauren F.
“The book has a really interesting art style that I really enjoyed. It takes a minute to get used to but once I did, I loved it. “
—Jill K.
“The art work is BEAUTIFUL. Each panel is well done and there is a surprising amount of detail in each scene that adds to the story and really helps you feel like you’re on Titan… There were some twists (especially towards the end) that I did not expect, which was refreshing since I was worried that I was able to predict the climax and conflict resolution, but there were definitely things I had not guessed or thought about.
PLUS, there was representation of diverse sexualities, with a character having depicted relations with both men and women, which was nice. Yay for LGBTQ+ rep!
Even though I liked this graphic novel over all, I definitely did have some issues with it. I was surprised when the romantic relationship between Pheobe and João was revealed because I personally felt that the two had no chemistry, so to me the relationship felt forced and weird. Also, was not expecting such detailed sex scene going in, so that was definitely a surprise. Left nothing to the imagination.“
—Jordan R.
“I think this graphic novel does a good job exploring the gaps of workers, worker’s right, and capitalism. The story itself is fast-paced, so it will be a suitable reads for those who wants a meaningful story that moves fast.“
—Farah F.
“Science fiction about social and political revolution, and the compromises we make for progress. Excellent storytelling, but part of me felt the book should have been longer. I know it was originally published in a series of comics, and early chapters have that feel of a creator slowly exploring his world without worrying about an overall arc for a specific final volume. But then about half way through it seems to start barreling down a path of plot and theme, that feels more like being written for the final graphic novel. But still happy to see a well told graphic novel exploring themes about the inherent problems with capitalism and the hypocrisies of revolution.”
—Chris D.
“I really enjoyed the world created by the author, with its complex politics and obvious parallels to current world situations. The plot was cleverly constructed, having several interesting twists, although some of the dialogue between the characters felt unrealistic. Towards the end, a couple of aspects of the story were slightly rushed, and I would have preferred more time for it all to play out.“
—Jon B.
“TITAN attempts to be subversive, but I’m not entirely certain if it pulls through… The story tries to tease out a class struggle & eventual uprising, but inherently, I feel like the story’s centering of João as our focus and semi-narrator, as opposed to Phoebe or another Titan, makes it imbued with the gaze of the managerial Terran class.”
—Vicky Again
“…after a slow start, I found this a highly effective graphic novel about the struggle for workers’ rights on a moon of Saturn with the extra bonus of a touching love story featuring star-crossed lovers.“
—Vivienne O.
“Vigneault also doesn’t shy away from showing the enormous costs of the struggle for equality: the conflicts in this book aren’t resolved easily, but with violence that escalates into years of war. This sort of honesty about what it looks like to engage in long-term struggle against oppressive forces is essential. By literally drawing the Titan workers as massively larger than their Terran managers, Vigneault visually illustrates the imbalance of power between the 99% and the 1%. Probably my only qualm here is with the theme of corruption in union leadership; not that this doesn’t happen in real life, of course, but it’s been a disproportionate plot device in a lot of media that I’ve consumed lately… Lastly, this book has a great extended sex scene, between a curvy woman and a male POC! And we get to see a penis multiple times! (So, definitely for adults.)”
—Michelle Hogmire
“This was more like what I was hoping The Expanse would be like. My only complaint is that I want to know more of the story… It’s fun to think that two hundred years from now, people could still play records and they may call all the music of today “folk.” What I learned: This book turned me on to Margo Guryan.”
—Ryan Fohl
“I thought Phoebes’s character development’s well done, she felt unique yet relatable her back story is so cool and I loved seeing where she lived who she hung out with who raised her…etc. Joao’s character on the other hand seemed a bit flat, I wanted to know more about him about his backstory, his life before this moment, I wanted to see what he brought with him from home to take on this mission, what photo does he have on his desk, what made him be open with the Titans and put his cards on the table like he did. “
—Reem Aliadib
“For a sci-fi story, Titan surprised me with its focus and careful attention to labor relations and implications of colonization and scientific advancement in space. I wish there had been more time to focus on the interpersonal aspects of terran/titan divides, but that is more of a personal preference for my fiction consumption rather than a negative of the narrative as a whole! In particular, I’m interested in sci-fi that really interrogates the ways that colonization past and future influences our narratives of space: João is afro-Brazilian, and interacting with terrans and titans of different racial backgrounds — Pheobe and João talk about music that is grounded in terran history! There is a thread there that would have interested me so much to chase down.”
—Celia M.
“Definitely for a mature audience, and the gritty, ugly aesthetic matches well. Doesn’t make for the most pleasant experience necessarily, but it certainly fits the story the author is trying to tell.”
—Benjamin Elliott
TITAN is the kind of Science Fiction you’ve been waiting to make a comeback, very quickly I felt very nostalgic! The art work is both simple and overwhelming, it’s this lovely-to-devour artistic machinery that ties it together… I was quite content reading along this almost stereotypical set up to a Sci-fi story set on another planet. HOWEVER out of nowhere this story then became visually and fictionally sexual, brutal and depressingly relevant… When you get into the last half of this book it becomes war disguised as revolution; tackling death and deceit within topics like differences of species, destruction of worlds, sacrifice and always, this ‘rule’, that there must be two separate sides so there is someone to bite at someone else, whether there is reason or no… I enjoyed it because as a Sci Fi lover, particularly of old movies like Logan’s Run, Solaris, 2001; it felt like home.“
—Flamingo C.
“The two main characters were intriguing, if underdeveloped and cliché (more 20th century music lovers?? At least the music choices were good). Phoebe’s backstory and arc was my favourite, with her inner conflict and loyalties. It was also interesting to see how João, as part of the privileged ruling class, realises that he can’t be the saviour, and only antagonises the Titans further by trying to single-handedly solve Homestead’s problems. The other characters were diverse but a little one-dimensional.”
—Ella B.
“I liked this story of conflict and rioting on another planet. The space and technology aspects kept it interesting. The art wasn’t completely to my liking at first, but I ended up liking it and it works really well for the story.”
—Wayne M.
“Whilst the graphic novel explores interesting concepts and issues I would have preferred for it to have given more depth, and to have explored the nuances of the ideas it was challenging. This graphic novel also suffers from a problem a lot of others suffer from: I wanted to know the characters further. I felt I only learnt about João and Phoebe on a surface level and can’t fully detail their motivations, fears and passions; I would have preferred to have spent more time with them and learn what truly makes these characters tick.”
—Evelyn B.
“I enjoyed this little graphic novel. I think it has a nice commentary on class divide and revolution. On social hierarchies and how differences can separate or bring us together.“
—Brandilyn B.
“DNF at 40%. The art style was absolutely GORGEOUS but I had no idea what was happening to the point where it was hurting my head. It wasn’t the book, I think, it was just me. One Star.“
—Tessie J.