Wandering Island Volume 2

So, I may be in the minority, but it sometimes seems to me that words, especially in graphic novels, are overrated. This graphic novel has only a few bits of dialogue and a handful of fragmentary comments, but it struck me as both fascinating and engaging.Our heroine, Mikura Amelia, is on a quest to deliver a package to someone on the Wandering Island. She makes it to the Island, goes exploring, and seems about to experience some sort of revelation about the Island when this Volume 2 concludes. Volume 3 is apparently in the works and will arrive eventually. Most middle books are disappointing placeholders, and it struck me as rather clever to embrace that neither here-nor-there middle child problem and just go for mood, hints, and vague promises of more to come.Of course, that wouldn't be nearly enough if the images were just static or boring or bland. But, this is storytelling through sequential art, and there's a lot of story to absorb if you're open to it. Mikura is rendered remarkably expressively, and her confusion, doubt, annoyance, impatience, and conflict play our clearly on her face and in her physical attitude. Much more satisfying, actually, than narration or some balky attempt at internal monologue.But that aside, the Wandering Island is rendered in great and mysteriously compelling detail. While the style and purpose of the art is entirely different, I kept thinking of the odd and foreign and yet alluring scenes I remember from that classic video adventure "Myst". These drawings are black and white, with little reliance on too much ink, but you can feel the heat, the white light, and the desolation of this almost hypnotically severe abandoned place.So, light on the usual staples of graphic novel storytelling, this still ended up being an enjoyable and memorable experience. I would expect Volume 3 to pick up the story now that we have the mood so deeply etched, but I guess time will tell on that.(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

I absolutely loved volume 1 of Wandering Island and still recommend it to so many people. So, when the second book came along, there was no question of adding it to the collection. The problem is this falls so short of the expectations I had and is such a let down.My issue with this is the prolonging to both action and storyline. I feel as though it has simply been stretched to make a whole book.Nothing really happens in it, and you find yourself getting frustrated with the snail's pacing. Then, when something just may be about to happen, the book ends...The result is we are still not sure about the logistics of the islands appearance, and it has taken a whole book to just find a store! Now, we will now have to wait until next time until Mikura hopefully starts to gets some answers.I just hope the the third volume manages to offer a fulfilling conclusion of some sort.