The daughter of the tribal chief, Luuna is getting ready for her initiation night, a traditional right of passage during which she'll enter the forest alone to find her totem. But the night chosen for her ceremony is unlucky, and so although Luuna finds her spirits - one black wolf, one white - she must pay with a curse that will change her life forever.
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This first volume in a new full-color graphic-novel series introduces readers to a quasi–Native American fantasy world. When Luuna is sent off to discover her totem, or spiritual guide, she instead encounters a demon who lays claim to her soul during full moons. Her totem is thus revealed to be a pair of wolves, one black and one white, symbolizing the struggle for good and evil taking place within her. Once a month she is transformed from the mild-mannered nature communer into a savagely powerful killer, though luckily so far only deserving villains cross her path on those nights. The glossy artwork ably captures the buoyant brights of the forest by day and troublesome shadows of night, and displays some sophistication during the many action sequences. Luuna herself is endowed with the typical female superhero’s physique, and some mild nudity (nothing frontal) appears here and there. While the spiritual mumbo jumbo comes off a little heavy handed at times, the story does allow for some compelling morality struggles. Fans of mystical adventures should be right at home. Grades 9-12. --Ian Chipman
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Polished European fantasy graphic novel in English,
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This review is from: Luuna Volume 1 (Paperback)
The tale of Luuna is beautifully drawn, in a clean art style and to the European format. Luuna herself makes an appealing heroine, a girl of the Paumanok tribe surrounded by talking spirits and animals, sent into the woods on the wrong night to seek her totem. In this case, those plot elements don't make for a children's story: there is savagery and violence, along with some (moderate) nudity, well staged in comic form in the typically Franco-Belgian style.
We don't see enough English translations of European graphic novels - it's good to see Tokyopop moving strongly into this area and they've done a first class job of the translation and formatting of this lovely colour book. There is something of a manga aspect to the artwork, though it does also remain firmly in the tradition of such classic series as "Roxanna and the Quest for the Time Bird" and "Lanfeust of Troy". This first volume is off to a fine start, including two Luuna stories and a preview of the next one. It's a good place to begin for those wanting to check out some recent bande dessinée published properly in English (along with publications from Cinebooks, and Pepic & Kraus, if you can find them), and well worth purchasing for anyone who enjoys visually attractive, clearly told stories that are neither childish nor trying to be too "adult". If you like comics and fantasy, particularly with both human and animal characters, this is for you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For Older Teens with a Taste for Fantasy,
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This review is from: Luuna Volume 1 (Paperback)
Luuna is set in a Disneyesque version of Native American culture: The main action is wrapped in lots of feathers, earth spirits, and clingy buckskin, with a trio of bumbling sprites thrown in for comic relief. Those looking for authenticity should go elsewhere, but taken on its own terms, the book works quite well.
The main character, Luuna, is strong, beautiful, and deeply in touch with nature, and all the creatures of the forest love her. The story begins with her vision quest, a coming-of-age ritual in which she must go into the forest and seek her totem, her guiding spirit. Unfortunately, she chooses the night of the evil spirit Unkui, and he demands her soul. With the help of a good spirit, she partially escapes from his spell but is left with two totems, a black and a white wolf, and whenever the moon is full, she falls under the spell of Unkui and is filled with destructive power. The story arc of Luuna is very clear, although some of the details are confusing. Knowing that she has this dark side, Luuna cannot return to her tribe; instead, she sets out to rid herself of Unkui's totem, accompanied by her forest friends. When an encounter with Unkui's followers leads to disaster, her dark side takes over and she wreaks havoc on her enemies, leaving one of them strung up crucifix-style and impaled with a spear in the most violent scene in the book. Luuna returns to her normal self when the sun comes up, with only vague memories of what she has done. In the second half of the book, she meets up with the ghost of a storyteller and lifts an ancient curse, again by going to her dark side. This edition contains two volumes of the original French edition and thus two fairly complete stories; Tokyopop plans to publish the entire series in three volumes. Luuna is basically good-hearted, yet when the moon is full and she is angered by injustice done to one of her friends, she makes a conscious choice to let herself go into Unkui's realm. A different personality takes over, and she becomes visibly feral, strong, and sly. On the one hand, Luuna is frightened by her own destructive power, yet at the same time, she finds its temptation irresistible. The art in Luuna is vigorous and energetic. Facial features are exaggerated to the point of caricature, yet expressions and gestures are always easy to read. The story is populated with a wide variety of natural and supernatural creatures, and Keramidas draws his animals with solid, muscular power while keeping the sprites chubby and friendly. While the story is in no way sexual, there are some nude scenes (from the rear) of people bathing or swimming in streams. The violence is straightforward but not overly graphic--several animals and people are killed in various ways but without gratuitous closeups or splattering blood. Younger readers may find the masks and supernatural aspects of the story somewhat frightening, but for older teens with a taste for fantasy, Luuna is a solid, entertaining read. -- Brigid Alverson
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing!,
By
This review is from: Luuna Volume 1 (Paperback)
The artwork in this series is great. At times, it is very humorous, sometimes really scary, and there's lot's of action. Luuna is a native American who has gone out one night to find her totem, to become an adult, but while she is out in the forrest, something horrible happens! she is possessed by two different spirits. they control her at different times, and so begins her journey. it's been a while since i read it, but it was really awesome, it sounds like an epic journey, and Luuna is a strong girl, and i like that about the main character, i really can't recommend this enough, even though my review is totally failing to get across to you how awesome this story and it's art work is. i read a lot of manga, and this is just as good as the best of those! try this! you won't be sorry.
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