Book Review: Swords of Sorrow: The Complete Saga

Book: Swords of Sorrow: The Complete Saga story by Gail Simone written and illustrated by various writers and artists

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review (Plus, I also read my own single print issues of Swords of Sorrow)

Publication: Available now

Description:

Dynamite's fiercest females appear in a massive genre-spanning crossover event featuring an all-star line-up of female authors, headlined by Gail Simone (Batgirl, Birds of Prey)! The ultimate pulp adventure features Vampirella, Dejah Thoris, Red Sonja, Purgatori, Lady Demon, Chastity, Jungle Girl, Jennifer Blood, Kato, Lady Zorro, and many, many more! Villains and heroes from a dozen worlds and eras face off against a legendary evil that threatens all their homelands. Written by Gail Simone, Mairghread Scott, Nancy A. Collins, G. Willow Wilson, Erica Schultz, and Leah Moore, and featuring artwork by Sergio Davila, Mirka Andolfo, Dave Acosta, Noah Salonga, Francesco Manna, and Cristhian Zamora!



Rating: 1 1/2 stars

Review:

I usually don't request a book that I already have, however, although I have all six issues of the Swords of Sorrow miniseries. I do not have all the additional issues of the one-shots and miniseries that tie-in with the main series.

This was not good, the writing was very clunky and felt like a total waste of a crossover with these amazing characters. Reading this felt like I was reading one big filler issue because the story didn't seem to be going anywhere. It was very random with no clear purpose other than good vs. evil.

The story follows the mysterious Traveler who has gathered a group of female heroes to help her stop her evil nemesis, The Prince (as in Prince Charming from Snow White) who has also put together a team of female villains to carry out his plans. Unlike the villains in this story, the heroes had no idea what was going on as they were unknowingly thrown together and given special swords called Sword of Sorrow.

I was disappointed with this and not only for the bad writing, poor dialogue, thin plot but also because so many of the characters were written and shown out of character. There were only two things I liked about this, one was Jennifer Blood (in the Vampirella & Jennifer Blood miniseries), who was probably the only character in this book that was well-written and interesting to read about. And second was the artwork, which ranged from good to average with a few issues showing artwork that appeared slightly cartoony.

This crossover event had so much potential but it got lost somewhere in this muddled story.