The Cloven: Book Two [Hardcover]

In the eagerly anticipatedBestselling author Garth Stein and acclaimed cartoonist Matthew Southworth team up again for the second book in this action-packed coming of age series about a mutant from the Pacific Northwest. The bold, chunky art boasts a strong Frank Miller influence and gets better as the volume unfolds, engaging in bravura action sequences and daring pops of color. From the first stark, cut-you-to-the-bone scene, Wildly, dizzyingly imaginative, and grimly allegorical. The evocative, unsettling world building is nicely matched by the shadowy artwork. The inky black silhouettes of the towering conifers and looming mountains of the Pacific Northwest, set against warm, saturated, watercolor-wash backgrounds of peachy sunsets, violet dusk, and bright-yellow artificial light are particularly striking. A tense and disorienting (by intent) page-turner of a story, one that expertly spans lanes between more literary comics and the action-heavy monthly fair.