Rating: 5/5
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Volume two of this new series picks up right where volume one left off. Aric, aka X-O Manowar, is caught up in the middle of a war between three different races on an alien planet. There is a bit of political maneuvering as each side tries to use him for their own purposes.
I loved the art in this book. The very first image sets the scene of this other world and is just gorgeous. Every time the "camera" pulls back to show a wider view of the planet it is stunning. I wasn't always a huge fan of the character faces as they are drawn here, but those did not detract one bit from my enjoyment.
The other thing that struck me most about this story is Aric. It delves a little into his background to give newer readers a glimpse of who he is and where he came from. But it is his relationship with the armor, Shanhara, that elevated this book for me. There is a battle of wills between them that is almost as treacherous as the war Aric is involved in and the tribes that are manipulating him.
This book gives the bombastic scenes and attitudes that I would expect from an X-O title and layers it with some good character development. The volumes in this series are an issue short of what readers might expect from a trade paperback. That I balanced by a tightly written story that felt neither rushed nor dragged out.
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