Book Review: Red Sonja: Unchained

Book: Red Sonja: Unchained (issues #1-4) by Peter V. Brett with illustrations by Walter Geovani and Jack Jadson and color by Ivan Nunes and Marcelo Pinto

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: April 8, 2014

Description:

An encounter with a devil leaves Red Sonja, the legendary swordswoman, bereft of her signature chainmail and fleeing murder charges, but a change of clothes and venue aren’t enough to escape the guilt in her heart.

Penniless and under pursuit, she has no choice but to accept a dangerous mercenary job: to search for the tomb of an ancient warrior queen.

But the spirit of Queen Gheta lives on... a fierce and unnatural combatant who may be the only creature in history capable of defeating Sonja.

Meanwhile, the demonic entity Bhamothes wreaks havoc in her homeland of Hyrkania... and only the forgiveness of a murdered boy can end its killing spree!



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

This was great. It was Red Sonja at her best.

Only someone as bad-ass as Red Sonja can take down a demon while being topless (the demon damaged her armored top). I don't normally curse in my reviews but that's the only way I can think of to describe one of the most butt kicking women in comics.

Red Sonja is one of those characters my friends think I should be embarrassed being a fan of, I don't know why? She's smart, tough, confident and believe it or not has a heart and a code of honor. She's often under estimated due to her attire but they soon learn that she is not someone you trifle with unless you're looking for an early death.

This story has Sonja reduced to no more than taking on menial jobs such as stopping mad wizards and rescuing people all for the sake of money. In Sonja's attempt to rescue Bregan a young man who was abducted by a wizard as a human sacrifice in exchange for the wizard gaining a favor from the wolf demon Bhamothes.

Sonja had no problem taking out both the crazy wizard and the demon to save Bregan but Sonja's victory was without problems first her chainmail top was damaged then (unbeknownst to her) she decided to wear the pelt of the demon she killed.

Even before she could get Bregan back to his town, they were approached by a bunch of idiots trying to rob them. The minute she told them she was Red Sonja, they should moved on but since she wasn't wearing her trademark chainmail the guys decided to go ahead with their plan.

Sonja's problems continued once she reunited Bregan with his mother (who had hired Sonja to find her missing son) the young man just couldn't get over Sonja's vow and thought he was both tough enough to go up against her so unfortunately for him he approached Sonja for a fight and although she was drunk, she's still one of the best fighters around.

Remember, when I said Sonja made a mistake putting on that demon wolf pelt, the minute she killed that young man the demon was re-awakened. She doesn't find out until later how that heartbreaking fight is set to change her life.

This is a action packed adventure story that has Red Sonja kicking butt and trying to stop a demon from returning. Although there is humor in this story, it's also a little sad because as long as Sonja follows her vow she continues to be alone and that's not at all what she wants.

For those who may not like the violence, gory and perhaps dialogue, this may not be the comic for you. But I thought this was a great read and the action packed artwork is also really good.

I absolutely enjoyed reading this.