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Cora McClain<\/strong> | Copy Editor<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll called the City their home. And who could say that any of them were wrong?\u201d This text ends the introductory panels of \u201cThe Stone Heart,\u201d the second of the \u201cNameless City\u201d graphic novel trilogy. Those two panels illustrate the core theme author Faith Erin Hicks explores \u2014 identity.<\/span><\/p>\n The story follows Kaidu, a young boy from the warrior nation occupying the Nameless City. Along the way he makes an unlikely friend in a girl named Rat who was born in the city and orphaned by the occupying forces as a young child. With the city as their backdrop, our two protagonists explore what it means to identify with a people while stumbling onto a nefarious plot to overthrow and destroy the city.<\/span><\/p>\n While the plot and villains introduced in the second and third books might fall a bit flat for me, the cultural tension which sparks the plot is far more interesting. It\u2019s a bit uncanny to see a city filled with all sorts of different people from many different nations look at an individual and judge them solely on the nation they belong to. Kaidu\u2019s nation even has a word for people who are not of the nation, literally meaning they are not a person. Let\u2019s just say Hicks is pretty heavy-handed with getting her message across.<\/span><\/p>\n Regardless of the thick metaphors, exploring identity on the basis of nationality and where a person is born allows for a juxtaposition with the world outside of the pages of the books. Meant for young teens, the trilogy does its job of trying to show the reader inconsistencies in that sort of judgement. However, I think the first book \u201cThe Nameless City\u201d does that better alone, whereas the two others just complicate the message with the introduction of \u201cdangerous knowledge plot device\u201d and villains whose motives are not clearly set from the beginning. The one saving grace would be the satisfactory ending that leaves no loose ends.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides my obvious contempt for the overarching plot, the artstyle and fluid action scenes are glorious. Invoking an artstyle similar to \u201cAvatar the Last Airbender,\u201d with thick expressive lines and facial expressions, there was never a moment when I wasn\u2019t absorbed in the colorful world of \u201cThe Nameless City.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Altogether, I don\u2019t hate the trilogy, but I appreciate \u201cThe Nameless City\u201d as a standalone novel far more than the addition of the other two books and their shaky plotline. It just kind of feels like there\u2019s a disconnect from the first novel and the other two, and I enjoyed the complexities, characters and plot of the former over the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Overall Rating<\/b>: I would recommend \u201cThe Nameless City\u201d for anyone, especially as an introduction to graphic novels or comics. I would suggest only reading the rest of the trilogy if you want to learn more about the City Builders.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n