3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engages the reader's total and rapt attention, Dec 13 2001
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adrenalynn: Weapon of War (Paperback)
Dark Horse Comics has established itself as a premier publisher of contemporary comics and graphic novels that sets the standard for art in the service of story telling. One of the latest and best examples of this is Tony Daniel and Martin Egeland's Adrenalynn: Weapon Of War. This is the story of a young crippled girl, Sabina Nikoli, who is plucked from a Russian orphanage, extensively operated upon to equip her with biomechanical prosthetics, and trained to be a cyborg assassin: codename "Adrenalynn". She is to be Russia's ultimate Cold War weapon. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union all she wants is to escape her "hunt and kill" assignments -- directed primarily at other Russian cyborgs who have "gone rogue". But the way to personal freedom is one of blood, violence, and heartbreak. Adrenalynn: Weapon Of War is a superb graphic novel that engages the reader's total and rapt attention from beginning to end.
2.0 out of 5 stars
It could have been better...., Feb 4 2010
By Joel B. Kirk - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adrenalynn: Weapon of War (Paperback)
As was mentioned in another review, this story is about a Russian girl who is taken from an orphanage to be used in a government experiment to be a cyborg weapon.
As I type that description, I recall that story has been told before. Many times before. (When a story has been told many times before, I hope that the writer is able to put a new spin on the story).
This is not the case with Adrenalynne.
The title character Adrenalynne, aka Sabina Nikoli is revived, and wants to get back the people who changed her into a weapon, and destroy other cyborgs that have been sent to America.
It is said in the story that there were Chinese as well as Russian cyborgs; however, we don't get why the Chinese are involved. (We only get the reason why the Russians want to do it....i.e. to take over the world! Or at least America, and have Russia rise in power!) It is assumed that there are some characters who are Chinese or Asian due to their names; but they are given no distinctive characteristics that show the reader is such. All the characters look pretty much the same pretty much.
The cyborgs that Adrenalynne destroy are not given any depth; we are to assume they are evil and accept that. Moreover, the villains as a whole are one-dimensional.
There are no real obstacles for the heroine; she takes down anyone without any strain; she is always one step ahead of the 'bad guys.'
I think this heroine, who is obviously tightly-leather-clad/anatomically correct in the course of the story, could have been something more with a stronger story.