Review: Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1- Amethyst
Quick Summary
Pros: The Amethyst story is an awesome journey into a land of magic. The culture and artwork of Gemworld help enhance the fantasy of the Amethyst story. The Beowulf story is a unique mashup of fantasy and sci-fi, which ends up being entertaining.
Cons: Amaya’s adventures in the normal world are only average. The Stalker story is lackluster.
Overall: Three separate works of fantasy come together to form a highly creative book with a couple of very compelling stories. Princess Amaya’s journey through Gemworld is exciting and introduces readers to a world of magic and excitement. Then, a reimagined version of Beowulf paints a unique version of the DC Universe. The book’s biggest downside is that the last story arc is lackluster. However, the book is still good overall and is well worth it for any readers looking for creative fantasy from mainstream comics.
Story
Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1: Amethyst, details the exploits of three separate characters in three unrelated storylines. The first is an awesome and imaginative journey where a young woman is introduced to a world of magic and royalty. This story is the highlight and majority of the collection and is a fantastic example of how fantasy can work in the mainstream comic landscape. The second storyline is an equally imaginative take on fantasy, as it details the exploits of a super-soldier in a post-apocalyptic world where technology takes the place of magic. The third storyline is less interesting and mostly focuses on over-the-top action and violence, though, luckily, this storyline is the most brief.
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The majority of Amethyst details Princess Amaya’s introduction to Gemworld and the subsequent turmoil her introduction brings. This is an epic tale filled with thrilling fights, a diverse cast of characters, and plenty of magic. The story here also works out well and has two separate plotlines develop naturally before coming to a conclusion in a way that compliments both narratives. All of these positives come together to form a story that is high quality and interesting from beginning to end.
Gemworld itself also proves to be a real treat, as Christy Marx does a wonderful job in making the world feel as if it is full of life. Each kingdom is well-defined and adds a unique level of complexity to the order in this society. This worldbuilding pushes the collection from being a standard fantasy book to something more significant.
The only downside to this portion of the book is that Amaya’s adventures in the real world are not as interesting. Her struggles in high school and her random fight against a sorceress are no where near as captivating as her trials in Gemworld. Luckily, these Earthbound tales are brief and do not have much impact on the story as a whole.
The Beowulf story, written by Tony Bedard, sees a huge shift in tone, though the level of creativity and fantasy remains high. The world of this story feels like a standard world of knights and kings, yet actually takes place in a post-apocalyptic society. This allows the technologically enhanced Beowulf’s fight with the mutated Grendel. The mashup of sci-fi and fantasy work well and allow the story to stand out among mainstream comics.
Amethyst closes with a lackluster Stalker story, by Marc Andreyko. There are moments of interest within this story, especially regarding Stalker’s redemption, yet the arc fails to do anything truly special. The violence seem to be over-the-top for the sake of being over-the-top, the pacing is too quick to develop an emotional connection, and the main twist is too plainly telegraphed early in the story. Overall, this portion of the book provides some brief entertainment but fails to do much more.
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Art
Much like the story, the best visuals in Amethyst are found in the Gemworld story arc. Aaron Lopresti’s work here looks wonderful and succeeds in bringing this magical landscape to life. Characters, environments, and even architecture are defined in a way that emphasizes the cultural differences in Gemworld, subtlety enhancing the story’s worldbuilding. The creativity in design also helps this worldbuilding and makes Gemworld truly feel like a world of magic.
The artwork in the Beowulf story is not quite as strikingly beautiful but still manages to look good overall. Jesús Saíz’s work perfectly suits the darker and more sinister tone seen in the story. Plus, good levels of detail and solid character design ensure that the visuals are up to par. It isn’t the best looking comic ever but it certainly does not do much to disappoint.
Unfortunately, the Stalker story does not look as nice as the first two stories do. Andrei Bressan’s work here suits the dark tone of the story but looks a bit awkward in a few places. This is particularly noticeable when characters make outbursts of emotion, as their facial expressions typically do not look quite right. This hurts the appeal of this portion of the book but is not enough to irreparably damage the collection’s overall quality.
Continuity
Sword of Sorcery Vol. 1: Amethyst is the first and only volume in the New 52 Sword of Sorcery series. This means that this is the first volume in a brand new continuity, so there are not many references to previous books or specific character histories. This makes it a great starting point for new fans.
The story here does not continue in any specific comic.
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- The Gemworld portion of this book contains a tie-in to the last chapter of Justice League Dark Vol. 2: The Books of Magic (Review) and the first chapter of Justice League Dark Vol. 3: The Death of Magic (Review).
- The Beowulf portion of this book references Darkseid’s invasion of Earth. This occurred in Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (Review).