Die Volume 2

After all, we're all monsters here.

I found this volume more engaging than the first, but also way more depressing. I'm not sure what turn I expected the story to take immediately after the introductory phase that the first part was, but what I got was a deep dive into all the characters in the main group. Given that I'm an absolute sucker for character-driven stories and internal conflicts driving the external plot, I wholeheartedly approve. But damn, all of these people are sure miserable. And for the most part, they've brought it all on themselves. Angela is perhaps the easiest character to empathize is for me because she at least owns her messiness; Ash is the most compelling to follow, because damn.

Despite the focus being on the characters and on filling the reader in on the specifics of their past, the main plot advances, too, if slowly. …

This series continues to be less good than I'd like it to be, and I continue to be at a loss as to why. The art is great, the worldbuilding is genuinely interesting, the questions and themes it raises do grab me, but I'm having a hard time buying the characters' different voices and their relations with the world and each other. I'd almost like it more if it was told in third person. I'll pick up Vol 3 at some point, so it's doing something right!

Still an overly depressing story that I've stuck with due to the intriguing premise.

Now that the pieces are in place and stakes have been established we learn a little more about each character and see some steps along three journey. Die isn't particularly interested in the detailed of these steps though, eliding most of the action to focus on the characters reaction to events. And occasionally Gillen can't resist ranting about the games industry.

The dreamy artwork is what really makes this series sing though. It makes everything flow and underlines the players own uncertainty about just how real this is. Lovely, miserable stuff, worth the wait.