Graphic Novel Review: Verse: Book One: The Broken Half by Sam Beck

Posted on August 2, 2022 at 6:54 am by Gene Ambaum

Verse: Book One: The Broken Half by Sam Beck. WonderBound, 2021. 9781638490104. Includes maps and a guide that lets readers decode the alphabet of the Verse in the back.

Fife leaves his small village to go to Madenstone, where he hopes to train learn to use the Verse to augment weapons. On the journey there he encounters a traveler who gives him a small bit of Verse he can repeat to help him find his way. But later, when he tries, an amulet he has shatters. Afterwards he finds a young woman with horns on her head. She appears to be vel — they are distortions of those who have died, and are still able to use magic as humans did in centuries past. But unlike the vel she can speak, and seems more a person than a mindless destroyer; she tells Fife her name is Neitya and that she can remember nothing else. After getting over his initial reaction to her appearance, he offers to take her to Madenstone where someone may be able to help her, though they do their best to hide her horns. Along the way though they meet two warriors who take them to a hidden camp of warriors who hunt the vel. There’s a plot involving Neitya’s magical power, a group trying to control the destructive power of the vel no matter the cost, and the growing friendship between Fife and Neitya.

This graphic novel seems to be the first of an entertaining fantasy series. This one ends with a cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to read the next book.