Customer Reviews

Artesia Volume 1: The First Book Of Dooms (Book of Dooms 1)

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4 star:		(2)
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Perhaps "complex" should have been listed first in the title. I first read Artesia in the singles format, waiting a month or more for each issue to come out. The story was so complex, the characters so numerous, that I found it difficult to follow. I loved the art, though... and each issue left me intrigued to continue buying it. Once all six issues had been released, I read them together and things became more clear: characters stood out, I began remembering what they looked like. On the third read (the trade paperback version, which I'm reviewing here), I was very comfortable with the material and enjoyed it immensely. I was able to find depth and meaning on several layers, with each read showing me more than I had caught previously.

For the story and setting, I originally thought that this series reminded me of the movie Braveheart. Certainly, the setting is a fantasy world that is similar to the Middle Ages. Power is obtained, and kept, through force. This translates to lots of medieval combat, which personally, is not my forte. But on further reads, things became clearer and I started picking up on the politics, magic/religion, and spirituality of the series. Artesia herself is a strong female character, and yet sensual when she wants to be. The magic is low key, consisting mostly of blessings and runes/sigils, and not pyrotechnics. This is obviously not Dungeons & Dragons.

The writing is intelligent, and it's here that I really began to enjoy the book. Characters are written with motives, not as good or evil. In Artesia's fully-developed world, there is political conflict not only due to physical boundaries (such as land disputes, or relations with other kingdoms), but also due to belief systems (old beliefs vs. newer ones). Characters plot and scheme and it leaves me with the feelings that this could easily be real.

Visually, I immediately loved the painted landscapes and the details of the character's armor and heraldry. It is simply beautiful and amazing. I can't imagine what it takes to draw & paint such art. The more I became familiar with the characters, the more I appreciated the way the faces & bodies of the characters were drawn as well. (Originally, I thought their features only mediocre.) I also appreciate the way magic effcts are handled; I almost didn't notice them.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys "realistic" fantasy novels, as this is as close as you can get to a novel and yet remain a work of graphical fiction. If you like medieval warfare, there is plenty for you here; if you like the scheming and politics of kings & queens, then you'll also be happy. Artesia is a book you can read several times and find new things each time.

It's really hard to take this book on its own, being that's it's intended to be part of a 22-book series (which, by now, has seen 3 books finished). Smylie's art obviously evolves during the series, starting with pencils and ending with a combination of (more) watercolors and (less) pencils. Truthfully, the art is not the book's strongest feature, though most of it stands above the majority of today's titles. Additionally, it's obvious Smylie has put in a lot of work researching armor, weapons, etc.

It's the world that captivates though. Smylie has come up with a mythology at once original and familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of the Celtic and Judeo-Christian religions. As the story progresses (and this becomes more evident when one reads the second and third books after this one), one also gets to travel through the broader world Smylie has constructed. You get to see different, realistic cultures--many reminiscent of our own--with different (and often conflicting) views on life and morality.

There are "good" guys and "bad" guys, but, mercifully, Smylie avoids the cliche generalization of "good" and "bad" countries, focusing instead on individual virtue, honor, and merits. Artesia herself is larger than life to the Daradjans allied to her, but is in turn viewed as less than virtuous to their neighbors.

Best of all, the book is written intelligently. The dialogue is layed out in the same way that people speak. The characters assume that you have become familiar enough with them that (after their introduction) they don't necessarily exclaim each others' names every other sentence. Also, the author assumes that you read the nice essays on the mythos, history, religion, etc., so that when a character invokes a deity or a historical figure, he does so in a matter befitting his person, and not in a way that obviously caters to an invisible audience.

I would reccommend this book to someone who wants to invest some time in following a long-lasting story. If you are not familiar at all with Artesia, the collected trade paperbacks are a great way to catch up and to read the story as I truly think they were meant to be. Unless this is definitely not your cup of tea (and I don't think you'd be dropping $25 if this was the case), you'll probably find yourself waiting for the next collection to arrive as well.

A trully engrossing read and well worth the money.

Mark Smylie's Artesia is the perfect combination of compelling lead character, richly detailed setting and absolutely beautiful artwork that marks the best epic fantasy tales.

I picked up Artesia: Besieged #1 (the first chapter of what will be the Fourth Book of Dooms) on a lark last week, having enjoyed several of the other titles Smylie's Archaia Studio Press has recently released -- The Lone and Level Sands, Robotika and Mouse Guard -- and was totally captivated by it. I bought this last week and devoured it on the train ride home, not the least bit concerned about anyone catching a glimpse of the not-so-occasional panel of nudity (male and female, including full frontal) because the presentation is so clearly artistic, and the overall tone of the series is refreshingly mature. Even my wife noted the beautiful artwork while flipping through it briefly, especially impressed with Artesia herself.

If you enjoy the fantasy genre at all, then you should give Artesia a look-see, because Smylie has created an immersive world that will absolutely suck you in. There's even a role playing game based on it, the highly regarded Artesia: Adventures In The Known World.

'Artesia' is a phenomenal fantasy epic about a clash between two powerful nations set on a world simply called The Known World where magic and a pantheon of gods are involved in human affairs.

The formidable heroine, Artesia, is a war captain, witch and concubine to a Highlands King whose Celt-like, matriarchal society, Daradja, worships an ancient female divinity, her sisters and her children. The neighboring patriarchal Middle Kingdoms, where worship of a Christ-like deity known as The Divine King prevails, have been invaded by a common enemy, the vast Empire of Thessid-Gola and their darkly sorcerous allies, the Isliklids. The Empire, while culturally Near Eastern-like, also worships the Divine King -- though with key dogmatic differences -- and long ago ruled almost the whole of The Known World under a great conqueror akin to Alexander the Great. The current Sultan is attempting to restore his land to its former glory with the dangerous and demonic aid of the Isliklids while his 472-year-old Emperor mysteriously lies in a mystic stasis called The Gray Dream.

An accomplished enchantress, fearsome warrior and vigorous lover, Artesia finds herself at the center of paradigm-shifting, world-changing events as her company and the war spirits she commands are first pitted against their treacherous King and then summoned to the defense of their wary neighbor in a tenuous truce. Though she doesn't realize it, Artesia will be the key figure in a cosmic drama that will end one Age of her world and usher in a new one.

Independent self-publisher and creator Mark Smylie has fashioned an immense story he intends to tell in 22 volumes of which the first three installments have been published. The intricate back-story framing the events of the series is Tolkienian in scope and detail as Smylie has produced numerous maps, chronologies and essays to supplement the main adventure. The look is a very distinctive blend of Greco-Roman, Egyptian and Celtic mythos, 16th-century arms, armor and warfare, medieval social structures and issues, ethereal spirit imagery, and bone-crunching, dust-swirling, blood-spurting, tightly-packed battle scenes worthy of cinematic giants like Akira Kurosawa, Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean all illustrated using watercolors. The content is decidedly ADULT with graphic nudity, sexual situations and violence.

I especially like how he uses real-world cultures as templates for his fictitious societies: Daradja is like Scotland and Ireland, the Middle Kingdoms like the Holy Roman Empire and the Empire of Thessid-Gola is like the Ottoman Empire with Gola being like Old Kingdom Egypt. Other powers in this dense and varied world watching and waiting on the periphery of this conflict include the mighty Palatian city-state and its protectorates (The Spanish Empire), the Hemapoline League of merchant princes (a combination of the Delian and Hanseatic Leagues, the Venetian Empire and the Dutch Republic), the Oracle Queens of the Isle of Khael (Delphi), the Horse-Lords of the Kessite Khanates (the Mongol Khanates), the desert-dwelling Sabutans (the African Empire of Mali), the tropical Samarappans (India), the Northern Wood-Kings of Panaghia (Scandanavia), distant Califa beyond the borders of The Known World (the exotic Orient set instead in the West) and even the lost proto-civilization Urune Dure swallowed by the sea (Atlantis). And this is only scratching the surface!

I have never seen anything like this and was BLOWN AWAY! If you like J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, David Gemmell, Steven Erickson, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Elizabeth Moon, Frank Herbert, 'Xena', 'Braveheart', 'The Mahabharata' or the samurai epics of Akira Kurosawa, then this book is a MUST-READ!!! Included in this edition are plates depicting various Known World deities and essays detailing various aspects of Artesia's world.

Young Artesia was blessed (or cursed) with many paths from which to choose. As the daughter of a famous witch who was burned at the stake (occupational hazard), Artesia has learned and wields considerable magic, but she chose not the path of Magic. As a beautiful woman who enjoys sex in all its aspects, Artesia indulges herself when opportunity presents, but she chose not the path of Eros. As a worshiper of living gods, Artesia has received numerous spiritual (and material) blessings and benefits, but she chose not the path of Worship. Possessed of an inquiring mind like her brother, Artesia has sought out and acquired considerable knowledge, but she chose not the path of Scholarship. Instead Artesia chose the path of War, and that has made all the difference.

Attracted by the artwork and having developed a soft spot for sword and sorcery, I decided to give Artesia a try and was amazed at what I found! This is no pale imitation of Howard or Tolkien; this is a fully developed world with fully developed histories and back stories, fully developed magical powers, fully developed religions, and fully developed powers and empires with which its characters must contend.

Having risen from refugee to concubine to warrior to commander of an army, Artesia has begun to frighten and make jealous her king and lover who plots to betray her. Unfortunately for him her powers have made her aware of this, but even she fails to grasp just how low he will stoop. Then in the midst of all this comes word from the south: an ancient enemy is on the path of conquest again, and choices must be made.

Mark S. Smylie has given us quite a story here, or rather the first part of quite a story. Objections about unrealistically able female warriors are met first by magic and spiritual aid and second by good generalship. Few individual combats are shown; instead we see army against army, where better discipline, better training, and better leadership can rather easily defeat superior individual abilities.

Defects? Well, frankly I have my doubts about whether a story this complex set in a world this complex can be successfully told in graphic novel format. Multiple re-readings will be required to gain even a hazy idea of all that is going on, and recourse to Artesia online or even purchase of the Artesia: Adventures In The Known World RPG may be advisable, even for non-RPG players. Smylie unfortunately makes matters worse by drawing too many of his characters too much alike. Most of the female characters, including Artesia, can only be distinguished by costume or situation, and that with considerable difficulty. The male characters are a bit more diverse, but even there the proliferation of square-faced men is occasionally confusing.

The saga continues in Artesia Afield and Artesia Afire, and this first volume is currently available here: Artesia Volume 1.