Review - Wires and Nerve, Volume 1

Wires and Nerve, Volume 1 (Wires and Nerve #1)
by Marissa Meyer
illustrated by Douglas Holgate
Date: 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Reading level: YA
Book type: graphic novel
Pages: 238
Format: e-book
Source: library

When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers' leader. She is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything she knows about love, loyalty, and her own humanity. With appearances by Cinder and the rest of the Rampion crew, this is a must-have for fans of the series.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

First, a disclaimer: I'm not a huge fan of The Lunar Chronicles. In fact, I could only push myself to get through the first two books. But since I'm on a graphic novel kick at the moment, I thought I'd give this one a try.

Presumably, you don't have to have read any of the books in the other series for this one to make sense. All the characters are introduced at the beginning, and we're given a basic run-down of the events that took place in TLC. So even though I hadn't read Cress or Winter, I still understood what was going on.

Unfortunately, however, I just didn't care what was going on. The whole thing fell kind of flat for me, and I think that if I hadn't read Cinder and Scarlet, it would've been even worse. The characters are so underdeveloped that it made it really hard to care about them (especially the ones I wasn't familiar with). Iko herself was actually one of the worst. I knew her as a fun little robot who loved to gossip and play dress-up and dream of a certain handsome prince. But that's not really what we get here. I'm assuming her personality is supposed to be the same as before, even though she's in a new body, but I didn't really get that. Maybe it's the graphic novel format, but I didn't think any of the characters were developed particularly well. Iko, as the main character, should have more personality; unfortunately, her character development seems to rely too much on her arc in TLC... so if you haven't read any of those books, she's probably going to come across as quite dull.

As for the plot... well, there sort of is one, but it cut off at the weirdest place, just after the main conflict had been set up. I don't know if this is a comic book thing or what, but it just seemed weird to me. I'm used to stories having some sort of resolution to the main plot; even if there's a cliffhanger, there are usually other ends that are tied up before the next book. That's not the case here. We're introduced to the main problem (which is pretty much summed up in the blurb for the next volume), and then the book just ends.

I wasn't a fan of the art. It seemed too simplistic, and way too comic-bookish. The onomatopoeia didn't need to be written out as much as it was. The text was difficult to read, even on a 21" monitor, so trying to read this one on an e-book reader would probably be next to impossible. I also didn't like the monochrome palette; it was kind of boring (though I've just come off of two beautifully illustrated, full-colour graphic novels, so that may be colouring my judgment a little).

All in all, this is a series that will probably only appeal to fans of The Lunar Chronicles. If you haven't read any of those books, I'd recommend doing so first before trying this series.

Plot: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
Pace: 2/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Illustration: 1/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2.13 out of 5 ladybugs