Advance Review - Venus Rises: Crossroads
Coming Soon To Kickstarter
The next part of the Venus Rises saga is coming soon to Kickstarter. After the successful Kickstarter of the first part, the universe expands further with new characters and places.
This is Venus Rises: Crossroads.
Check out my advance review of the first part of this story.
When a routine scan of a Jovian moon reveals shocking chemical traces of extraterrestrial life, tensions ripple through the entire solar system. Captain Dasan Locklear, a seasoned explorer known for his bold vision, proposes a daring mission to uncover the truth. But the journey is fraught with peril, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Leading the mission is Joshua Harper, a former Mars Defense Directorate operative, burdened by a shadowy past and the weight of failed missions. To succeed, he must confront his inner demons and join forces with Erani Sharma, an unlikely ally... an aspiring musician whose unconventional skills may be the key to solving the mysteries lurking beyond Jupiter.
While Parallels laid the foundation, Crossroads and the chapters to come (Freefall, Resist, and Threshold) crank the stakes to eleven. This is where the story’s heartbeat kicks into overdrive. The characters are forced to face their demons and band together in ways that feel raw and inevitable. And yes... the Ikarus crew makes their grand re-entrance in Freefall.
One thing that impresses me about this issue is that although there is an extensive solar system, this story brings you up to speed.
With an introduction explaining what went wrong with Earth, the colonisation of Mars and Venus and everything in between. Some get a better way of living, those who supply that lifestyle and everyone in between. Crossroads features two stories linked by an upcoming mission but from different parts of this universe.
First up, we have Erani Sharma. On a space station and dreaming of other things. It has a clever build to the crux of the story and works well in adding some interesting and (to me) unthought-of technical aspects of human biology. Erani is an interesting character, and her reactions and use of her particular skills were excellent. This story features some clever use of artwork, using the location and the physical aspects of the space station (and the natural disasters) well and building them into the story.
Joshua Harper is a man with a past, and that past has lead him back to Earth. This frozen wasteland has it’s own problems, and Joshua has a new role. The hunting that he does now is a far cry away from what he did before, and he seems to have settled into that role - but there are some interesting spoilers on the horizon in the form of a new mission. This is another excellent story and I love the style of the artwork and the location. I did get vibes of the movie, The Thing, with the style of this story.
These two stories link up nicely at the end and the new mission for both of these characters, all among the background of a war going on between the classes and planets.
I found that I read through this well, with no pages dragging. The artwork and paneling was well laid out and it all links together.
