TITAN Reader Reviews Part III: One Year Later

Photo by bookstagram_emily

With the one-year anniversary of the English-language release of TITAN right around the corner, I thought I would post another roundup of some of my favorite reader reviews of the book. I already posted some other review excerpts in two different posts (Part One and Part Two) on the blog in case you wanna check ’em out. As always, below you will find a mix of positive and negative blurbs, mostly pulled from Goodreads, Amazon, and Netgalley. 

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 over the course of the last year, regardless of if they loved it or hated it (or somewhere in between)… I read ALL my notices and reviews and 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.

“One of my favorite stories ever. This is one of those books you shove in your friends faces screaming IT IS A MASTERPIECE!”

—Yanchos

“The result in part derives from the ways capitalism undermines and exploits everyone’s needs, and complicates an either/or view of the system. Faults abound on each side; these are humans, not pawns in some literary-ideological chess game. There’s rebellion by the Titans, but not all the rebels are saints. It’s complicated, and that’s what I like about it.”

—Dave Schaafsma

“The result is a conspiratorial crucible that will lead to a war, and an unusual love between two people from radically different and incompatible worlds. A science fiction metaphor about racism, labor relations, human rights, thirst for power, populism, and the labor impact of technological progress, drawn in a very interesting graphic style.”

—Artur Coelho (translated from Portuguese)

“I thought this was surprisingly good.”

—Daniel Mossop

“I thought João felt a little cliché and simple but, Phoebe’s backstory and character arc were both well-developed. I enjoyed the artwork throughout and I liked the contrast of shades of pink, black and white. The story was fast-paced and packed a punch in such a quick amount of time. The 20th century music choices included within the story were fantastic too. I also think the ending was really rushed and the other side characters were one-dimensional.”

—Emily

“Part romance, part Sci-Fi action story, part politics and completely a commentary on our own social and political history. A real page-turner.”

—John Woakes

“Even with the almost cartoonish style this is most certainly not a kids comic – this is grown up SF. There’s raw violence here, and even graphic sex. Also the story is an examination of kapitalism and colonialism, transplanted into space. Even if that is a well known story in itself, I was surprised by some of the twists and turns here and the places the story dared to go. The book had enough complexity too to delve back in soon for a second and a third read. For those enjoying science fiction and wanting to read a graphic novel that has nothing in common with super hero comics, this is a great read and highly recommended.”

—Johan Haneveld

“Utterly gripping. I felt as if, in the few hours it took to read, I had experienced years!”

—MariNaomi

“Picked this book up on a whim, so glad I did! A fantastic little self contained sci-fi epic that explores the all too familiar themes of exploitation, greed and the haunting effects of the “us vs them” narrative. It grapples with the idea that what makes us human, the good and the bad of it, stays with us and bears on us regardless of where we are or how much we achieve technologically. There’s nothing particularly ground breaking about the book, but within 200 pages it paints some vivid and haunting pictures and grabs you by the neck. Give it a read!

—Akhil

“There are times when white text is printed on a light(ish) pink background. I hate to say how frustrating this was for me. My eyes simply aren’t good enough to handle that without lighting that’s much brighter than I prefer to read with. Aside from this one issue, I did love the artwork and that minimalistic color palette overall. It drew me in to the story and felt perfect for this off-world setting.

—Monika

“I found the message of the book confusing… It seems to want to be about a slave uprising, yet mostly portrays the revolutionaries as terrorists or duped masses. There are what can be perceived as good and bad people on both sides of a nasty conflict that involves discrimination, oppression, and classism. I just never really engaged with all the moral murkiness.”

—Rod Brown

“This graphic novel was a lot slower than I was expecting it to be. And the random chapter with the sex scene in it felt very forced and way out of the plotline.”

—Heather P.

“Hits all the marks if you’re looking for a scifi story that critiques capitalism and colonialism, even if it’s a bit heavy handed and cliche’d at times. It was fun to read and made me care about the characters and their social circles, but it felt like there was a LOT going on in the short space of pages given. Bonus: The art was so lovely!! Would totally read more graphic novels by this artist again!”

—Tamara

“A wonderfully illustrated graphic novel that proves how relevant science fiction can be to the world we live in now.”

—Erin Cataldi

“MNGR Silva is how we see the situation unfold on Titan, and we follow him throughout the graphic novel. I personally found his personality quite annoying. He came across as if he knew everything and would single-handedly solve every problem that was occurring on Titan. The colour palette is white, black and various shades of pink. This, while a nice change from what I am used to reading, got very confusing at times. My eyes were not drawn to anywhere particular on the page, and nothing stood out to grab my attention.”

—Danielle

“TITAN’s engaging plot is compelled by masterfully sublime characterization; after labor and management literally become bedfellows a workers dispute erupts in violence and the characters are faced with no easy resolution… Within the consistent formal constraint of a 6-panel page grid the cartoonist effectively employs a full suite of tools: an artist’s fully-realized command of figurative portrayal, bold and stylized brush work, a designer’s sense of page layout, a striking and thoughtfully deployed color palette, active backgrounds filled with vehicles and tubes and pipes and consoles shimmering with lines and angles that evoke futuristic Kirby-esque environments. Thoroughly entertaining and insightful TITAN offers thoughtful suggestions about the future challenges – and limitations – of labor and human potential.”

—T Bak

“This book has themes that resonate with our current times.”

—Ellen Scheid