Advance Review - The Hunger & The Dusk: Volume 1
From IDW Publishing
Coming soon from IDW Publishing is the first volume of The Hunger & The Dusk. With some new looks at the fantasy genre.
In a dying world, only humans and orcs remain-mortal enemies battling for territory and political advantage. But when a group of fearsome ancient humanoids known as the Vangol arrive from across the sea, the two struggling civilisations are forced into a fragile alliance to protect what they have built.
As a gesture of his commitment to the cause-and to the relief of his bride-to-be, Faran Stoneback; the most powerful orc overlord, Troth Icemane, sends his beloved cousin Tara, a high-ranking young healer, to fight alongside brash human commander Callum Battlechild and his company of warriors.
With a crisis looming, the success of this unlikely pair’s partnership and the survival of their peoples will depend on their ability to unlearn a lifetime of antagonistic instincts toward one another and rise above the sting of heartbreak.
Written by G. Willow Wilson, drawn by Christopher Wildgoose, colored by MSassyK, and lettered by Simon Bowland.
The dying world and crisis are key to this story. As a first volume, there is a lot packed in as we discover a lot about this world, both what is happening now and hints towards what happened before.
In this volume, we get a really good feel for the tensions between the races of man and orcs, with some well-thought-out throwbacks to past times. You can read well between the lines and see what the problems here are, but there are always those old head-bangers who want to continue on the cycle of violence.
In a way, it’s lucky that this new enemy - the Vangol - has come along. Forcing the two races to work together and learn about each other, and maybe there will be more understanding.
Even so, there is an excellent degree of tension between the two as individuals and as races. This plays out well until a split, and you know they will be drawn together.
As the story progresses, there is not only some excellent character and species play here, with orc politics being especially interesting, but there is also a good amount of action, with attacks by the Vangol and some more exciting aspects.
The callbacks to times have built well into the plot, and I would like to see more of this as some shared history is hinted at between the three races.
Art-wise, there are some brilliant scenes across the different terrains - and under them, combining the day and night parts of the story. The madness of battle is well shown as well, and the colouring across the volume is excellent.
Book two is starting now, and this first volume is an excellent start to an epic story.
I had missed the boat on this one when it first came out, but I did have someone else tell me that it's pretty good. Your post pushed me over the edge to snag this volume!