Customer Reviews

2001 Nights, Vol. 1: The Death Trilogy Overture

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've always been an avid SF&F fan and have probably seen more SF&F movies and books than probably is good for me. Because of this it's almost impossible to find a story that is orriginal and compelling. All the short stories in the 2001 series are not just orriginal but also extreemly compeling and fascinating! In my opinion the entire series is a masterpiece in it's own right. A masterpiece that both SF fans and non-SF fans alike will adore. Both the extreemly atractive illustrations and the stories will be able to fascinate most readers more than once. I have read all the books, in this series, many times and still find them ultimatly fascinating.

The visuals vary from extreemly realistic to surrealistic, almost poetic at times. Yukinobu Hoshino probably is one of the few artists that is capable of producing art on a paperback sized book without losing detail or feeling of scale.

Also the way he researched his work and plot lines is increadable. I value myself as a very critical punter but can not even find one flaw in the entire series. He actualy makes his work believable as if it were science fact not fiction. People like Einstein, Steven Hawkings and Arthur C. Clark probably could have a great conversation with Mr Hoshino.

I simply can't express how good these books are in the 1000 words that limit this review. Personaly it ranks number 3 in my favorite book list of all times. Just believe me when I tell you it's one of the best books you'll ever buy!

Enjoy!!

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite movies for its detailed and believable vision of a future that is still largely unrealized. I was pleasantly surprised to see Yukinobu Hoshino pay homage to Kubrick's visual style throughout much of 2001 Nights, in scenes that were recognizably inspired by the film. The skillfully-rendered black-and-white panels throughout the book are evocative of the silence and vastness of space, yet the human characters are drawn with grace and style, without the occasional cartoonish facial expressions that mar other manga I've read. This stylistic discipline helps to keep the work focused and believable.

Aside from the fantastic artwork, the author lays out a sweeping story of humankind's quest to find its destiny beyond Earth, told in a series of time-separated vignettes. He touches upon issues of cooperation, isolation, exploration, greed and even religion -- and manages to pull this off without becoming trite.

It's pretty tough to describe in words something that is so visually distinctive and compelling. I originally ordered this book on a whim, but it has just blown me away.

2001 Nights is a fantastic journey in the far reaches of space you will never forget! Spanning 3 graphic novels beautifully drawn by author Yokinobu Hoshino, it is a dazzling collection of 19 short stories, from the not- too-distant future to the year 2400. 2001 Nights is about humanity's attempt to discover new forms of life and colonize planets, yet with these hopes of peace comes the dark side of the human soul. With each story comes a group of characters with their own agendas and past tragedies, who may even reappear in future stories. Each episode is so detailed and amazing, the reader thinks he/she is reading a novel, with it's own climax and denouement. In the final episode, or "night," all the events come together, and the sad demise of the Space Age takes place. With amazing art and an intricately woven plot, 2001 Nights is a masterpiece that can be read over and over again! Enjoyable for readers of all ages, including me; Drew Colbert, age 13.

Okay, ditto all the other glowing reviews; I normally don't post my opinions unless it's different from others', but this is one of the few times when a product has got me so enthused that I simply must join in the praise. IT'S GREAT!...I got chills all over just like I first did as a kid when it dawned on me how vast the universe could be, and how alone humankind seems in it...I must say, this is quite an effective "twist" on one's usual expectations of Science Fiction, a twist which actually in effect restores the sense of melancholia which a deep, prolonged contemplation of outer space usually seems to instill sooner or later...

[have edited original today 2008 MAR b/c I finally really do realize that even with a spoiler alert people are just going to read on anyway, of course, and get the surprising though very simple ending, which I was commenting about, and that would just totally destroy the beautiful cumulative effect of reading all three volumes to get there, to that beautiful, majestic, haunting, and chilling vision....]

Has Yukinobu Hoshino done any other stuff, I wonder??? Now that I'm "onto him", I'm gonna go look for his other works....

This is an amazing trilogy (read my other 2 reviews of vols. 2 & 3). The below reviews are so accurate to what I want to say, that I won't repeat them. I love this series. It's some of the best sci-fi comics I've ever read. There's an overwhelming sense of vastness to the universe and a sad feeling for mankind in the stories - no matter how far they get in space, it's still not enough - there's no end to the immenseness!
The stories are wonderfully believable and the Japanese artwork is not the `big eyed', Hello Kitty stuff one comes to expect of manga.
Whoever decided to translate this series for America should be given an award for recognition of intelligent comic work. It's that good. I've read the 3 books several times and they're wonderful with each read.
Each volume ends with an epic tale. Volume 1 has "Lucifer" which is a great concept of an anti-matter universe which may be responsible for the Big Bang theory. Great stuff. Get these books - they're wonderful. This is the way comics should be done!

Yukinobu Hoshino's 2001 Nights is not your average manga.

With precise and detailed drawings, and a tangible indebtedness to Arthur C. Clarke, Hoshino tells in a series of short stories the future of mankind's journey into space. Beginning with a classic Cold War sf story, continuing on with the discovery of life--of sorts--on the moon, and furthering outward to the utmost boundaries of the solar system, Hoshino tells his stories with steadily increasing imagination, pulling the reader gradually from more mundane hard sf to weirdly handled (but very Clarkeian) cosmic and religious issues in the volume's final, lengthy chapter, "Lucifer Rising," which smacks of Clarke's "The Star" as well as Gene Wolfe's "All the Hues of Hell."

Not only are these excellent comics, they are some of the best sf short stories you're likely to read, though Hoshino sometimes plays fast and loose with science if it helps the plot.

I bought this book in the spring while I was in college studying comics. When you read so many comics, even the good ones seem to go pale. This graphic novel made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. With mature visuals and sensitive writing Yukinobu Hoshino sows accurately the vastness of the universe and the importance of human destiny within it and beyond it. The occasional over-explaining takes away very little in this epic. A great read by anyone's standards; comics fan or not.

I found this completely by random in a danish library. Apparently it only had a short run in english, while in Japan it is rightfully revered for the masterwork it is. If he dies only having published these books, Yukinobu Hoshino's name should still be mentioned alongside the comic book greats (as it happens I've since found myself buying up everything he authored that I can get my hands on - of which there is little outside Japan). Spanning three volumes, 2001 Nights (the title cleverly refers to both the obvious inspiration from Arthur C Clarke and the episodic nature of 1001 nights) attempts a to tell the rise and fall of man's 'space age'. That is to say that a future period in human history where we will begin to colonise space.

The individual stories function alone but also form a patchwork whole with reoccurring characters and story strands. They are immaculately illustrated and written (both disciplines done by Hoshino) with a maturity and inventiveness rarely seen in comics/manga. Clearly a labour of passion and a project deserving of global recognition.

Buy and be amazed...

This manga is definitely the best sci-fi manga/comic I've ever read...and I have read some serious works (Worlds of Aldebaran, Planetes, Orbiter and some others) but this series is by far the most intelligently written. The themes treated on this manga is an invitation to meditate about our condition and place in the universe as human beings. Without a doubt I must say that, despite the fact that is a manga, Mr. Hoshino, in this particular work, is comparable with some of the most remarkable sci-fi novelist as Clarke, Lem and Anderson. Highly recommended.