A Review of Lupina - Book One: Wax
In the coastal town of Kote, recently brought under the yoke of the Addalian Empire, four-year-old Lupa spends her days getting bullied by her older sister and hiding behind her mother’s skirts. But when tragedy strikes, Lupa finds herself alone in a new world… alone until she’s found by the she-wolf, Coras, and sets off on a journey of discovery… and revenge.
Plot
As a graphic novel, this book stays fast-paced throughout the book. There is a great initial hook and the story kept me engaged until the end of this volume. The writer also did well at making me interested in continuing the series while still making me feel like the main character accomplished something by the end.
Characters
Lupa is the main character of the story. She starts as four years old and gradually ages up as the story progresses. There aren’t many human characters to compare her to, but so far she seems well developed and interesting for a protagonist. The god characters are only in the novel for a short amount of time but are always interesting when they appear and I enjoyed their variety of personalities.
Setting
The setting was the only aspect of the novel that didn’t meet my expectations in this novel. Because the plot moves so quickly and inciting incident happens almost immediately, I was missing some of the world-building. We’re told that there’s an oppressive empire ruling Lupa’s village but we don’t see much about what makes them oppressive or get to understand the antagonist forces’ motivations.
My Recommendation
The first volume of Lupina is available now from Legendary comics. The main character is well developed and interesting and the plot was engaging. I was satisfied with where the story ended but was also very interested in seeing how the story progressed. I did feel like some world buildng was missing but some of my questions may be answered in future volumes. This graphic novel is a quick read perfect for fans of lush fantasy novels.
