A world shrouded in darkness

Three women (and a man) teamed up to create this graphic novel being released the 27th of October
Although the cover is very colorful, in the rest of the book the color palette could be called rather sober

The story is based on a short story of bestselling author Roxane Gay
And explores a world shrouded in darkness, both night and day

Family, faith and true love in a world of darkness

The story of this graphic novel is based on Roxane Gay‘s short story We Are the Sacrifice of Darkness which was originally published in a 2013 short story anthology. In 2017 it was republished under the title The Sacrifice of Darkness in her collection Difficult Women.

"When BOOM! Studios approached me about writing a graphic novel, I immediately knew what kind of story I wanted to tell—one about family and sorrow, faith that survives in a world of darkness, true love and an indelible bond between two people with the world against them."

Along with one of her favourite writers, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Gay adapts the aforementioned story to make it suitable as graphic novel.

The story in itself is rather slow, which is completely understandable as it is based on a short story.
But what is striking, is the fact that there are several repetitions in terms of content. This could've been smoothed out a little more.

The greatest shortcoming of this book however, is the fact that the authors can't keep up the suspension of disbelief.
Most of the time the story is very realistic and persons, events, situations, … are comparable to those in our lives.
Except for the science-fiction element: the sun doesn't shine anymore and the earth is suddenly covered in darkness. The problem is that this SF-component is actually the basis on which the whole story relies. But unlike the rest of the story, it has not been worked out realistically and there are just too many illogical things for which no satisfactory explanation is given (as this review tends to be spoilerfree, examples are left out).
All these incredibilities distract your attention so much that it's almost impossible to fully immerse yourself in the rest of the story.

Graphic art

Rebecca Kirby did the artwork and the coloring was done by James Fenner.

Some of the pictures depict beautiful scenes and are so strong that words aren't even needed.
Unfortunately this high level is not maintained throughout the entire book. Strange proportions and characters who look very alike regularly create a bit of confusion.

Interested in a sneak peek? Head over to Diverse Books.

Potential

While it's not fully reflected by this graphic novel, it's certainly noticeable that this women's team has a lot of potential.
Hopefully they'll come back with another - more believable - story and totally hit the right note then.

*Thanks to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.