Graineliers Vol 3
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
Carried off to Grainelier headquarters on suspicion of being a harmful seed carrier, Luca finds himself at the mercy of Special Researcher Nicolas. But Nicolas and his ilk are not what they seem, and at the elite Grainelier's behest, Luca passes himself off as a fellow Institute researcher...only to end up cohabiting with Nicolas himself! Meanwhile, Abel, driven to rescue his childhood friend, takes up with Insecte, an anti-Grainelier group. But when a certain incident lands him in a life-or-death situation, Abel might have to focus on saving his own skin first!
Abel is getting to grips with his new situation and even has to get to grips with a weapon of his own! Rogers is still suspicious of him and suspects him of being a spy and while we spend a leisurely chapter with Abel fitting in and adjusting to everything and so on, we also end up with the difficult choice he's going to have to make...whether or not to go with a seed and if so which one. The odds don't look that great for any of the options he has.
Things pick up during the next chapter when Abel ends up in a tough situation thanks to some thieves, and it does give him a chance to finally bond with the ever suspicious Rogers, predictable as it was. As you can imagine we get plenty of action from this turn in the story after the initially slow start, and then the mystery is ramped up once we switch over to Luca's POV, and in Abel's POV we have the mysterious man who becomes his bodyguard before we head in to plain 'oh dear' territory.
Lucas is obviously with Nicolas, who's all kinds of shady and creepy and the mystery around him deepens in this volume. He also seems to know something about the mystery of Luca's father but of course, he won't spill it straight away because he's infuriating like that! Luca ends up posing as one of them in a uniform and everything and he even gets to join Nicolas' team.
Along with a sprinkle of action, danger and ramped up mystery, we get some more background on why the carrier only squads exist as well as the political climate of the world of this story and the clashes amongst countries so the world gets fleshed out even more.
While the volume initially started a little slow it built up as we went along, weaving in some more mystery and intrigue, answering some questions we had and giving us some background and adding to the world building as we build up towards an epic showdown in the next volume. Luca is posing as Nicolas' subordinate and is potentially about to have a moral crisis while Abel is trying to protect someone and might have to realise the fact that he can't with his current sills. I feel the story is developing so far at a nice pace, giving us action and building up the plot with a nice balance.
Graineliers Vol 2
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Luca and Abel have been rounded up to work on the construction of a government research facility, but it's actually a trap to identify carriers! The National Grainelier Special Education and Research Institute chair, Nicolas, has laced the water with an herbicide that's harmless to humans but disastrous to seed carriers. With suspicion hanging heavy over the young men, will Luca's secret be discovered?
As we open the volume, Luca's secret is dangerously close to being discovered and while he's not fully outed, I guess you could say, he's still pretty much discovered. He and Abel are separated and Luca is heading towards Headquarters with Nicolas and his guard...until something goes wrong.
There's a fun twist about Nicolas that's going to prove to be veeerrryyy interesting, considering what it implies and the other bits of information we get from some other sources throughout the volume. Things aren't entirely what they seem, and I'm excited to watch it play out and see what he can help Luca with.
Hugues continues to be mysterious as the volume starts and he clearly knows more than he lets on. As the volume progresses, he turns in to one of the more interesting characters. He's a part of Insecte, the opposition to the Graineliers and something of a terrorist group and he invites Abel to join, which is something I didn't entirely see coming. I'm really enjoying how the world is getting embellished upon and built up more and more with each volume, with new elements being brought in.
Abel certainly has a decision to make and I'm intrigued to see what he chooses.
Graineliers is certainly fast paced, and I'm actually enjoying how it's moving things along because it does so without sacrificing world building or backstory, which this volume proves as we get more backstory on the world and how the seeds work, as well as having some blanks about the characters filled in. Things are presented differently in this volume as secrets come to light.
Abel and Luca are on different paths now and I'm excited to see how they'll grow and change in coming volumes. Plus there's still the mystery of Luca and what seed he has and his father and so on, all to be untangled and revealed. I still can't quite decide if I like Nicolas, and I guess it'll depend on how the next volume or two plays out! This volume in short...is certainly full of surprises!
Graineliers
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Rihito Takarai (Ten Count) pens anything but a garden variety fantasy! In a world where the seeds of plants are imbued with power, the wheels of fate begin to turn for Luca, an illegal seed cultivator, when the government-sanctioned Graineliers come to take away his father, who in turn hands Luca a rare and powerful seed...!
The synopsis for this volume sounded intriguing, and I'm always on the lookout for something a little bit different. Graineliers certainly sounded like it was going to be original and unlike anything I'd read before and it certainly delivered.
The art is gorgeous and detailed throughout the volume and as for the story? We're thrown straight in to the plot with no messing around. The world is rich and interesting and we get a lot of background on it in just this first volume. There's still things I want to know but we get the basics. It's certainly a unique world, and I'm excited to see more of it and how it works...and how the seeds work! This volume is just a very detailed taster!
Luca and Abel are brilliant, I love the friendship between the two of them and they cracked me up more than once. Their banter was hilarious. Luca is quite stoic and quiet and Abel is a bit more amiable, more open and loose and willing to joke. Abel's dad is pretty hilarious too and I'm hoping we get some more of him!
I'm curious to see more of Luca and what's happened to him and how it'll affect him and where his character is going to go in the story. Chloe is intriguing too, at first she kind of seems like an annoying kid but then BOOM plot twist....and I'm so ready to find out what that's all about.
There's some nice comedy elements to the volume, and I really think Abel and Luca are a good character pairing, they play off of each other nicely with Abel being the more outgoing of the pair. The chilli peppers scene was brilliantly hilarious. Hugues provided some nice humour too and I'm hoping he's going to be a permanent fixture! I haven't decided how I feel about Nicolas yet though, so I guess I'll just wait and see on that front. I'm thinking I probably won't like him much after his ominous comments at the end of the volume, but who knows.
We cover a lot of ground in this first volume, meeting characters, key events taking place, getting to grips with the world and how it works and so on. Not to mention having the main plot kicking off as we end the volume. I still have questions and we have some mystery elements regarding Luca's father that are going to be fun to unravel. I'm so excited to see where the story goes and get some clues to try and puzzle it all out! This is looking to be an original and entertaining series and I'm impressed with this first volume!
