Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Simple drawing, simple storytelling - in the same vein as the Beach Boys made their songs sound simple but were really complex and hard once you started analysing them.
This is a layered, quite non-preachy story about choices in life and a view of the Boxers rebellion in the late 1800s, where religions clashed, and former friends could make for enemies.
A boy turns older and fights, while in the process discovering himself and the world around him. Duty vs personal responsibility clashes.
Highly recommendable.
Saints by Gene Luen Yang
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is part two; the first one is Boxers.
A girl is brought up in China during the late 1800s, when religions clash and the very old times meet with what is basically a waft of the industrial revolution sweeping across China.
As such, she lives as an individual and cuts paths that shape her life, the term of which were once decided by the patriarchs but really is in hew own hands.
Not as good as the first book, this one is still illuminating, invigorating, epic and tragic.