Fraternity (Fraternity #1-2) by Juan Díaz Canales & José Luis Munuera,

1863: during the American Civil War, the inhabitants of New Fraternity, Indiana, find themselves far from the front lines of the conflict embroiling the United States but still constantly under threat from it; food is scarce, deserters come to seek asylum, and a mysterious feral beast that walks on two legs prowls the forest around the town. The beast seems to have some connection to Emile, a feral child found a few years earlier who had been taken in by the townsfolk during simpler times. As their fear and paranoia grows, the townsfolk start to hunt the beast and turn on each other, with tragic results that threaten to undo all that they have been working toward.

Format: ebook
Narrator: n/a
Performance: n/a
Story: 🌑🌑🌑

Dreams of a utopian community that espouses equality and freedom are all well and good. Actually building and maintaining one is another story because someone, somewhere will always fuck it up. The people of Fraternity learned this the hard way as power hungry, small minded individuals cling to their rotten ways and thus bring discord to the already struggling town .

Fraternity is a serious, thought-provoking comic that tried its best to talk about serious, thought-provoking topics but well, I was feeling the drag. While I like McCorman's idea of mental freedom, the delivery of the theme felt kind of dull and I think the whole thing could use a bit of humor even dark humor or especially dark humor just to break the heavy atmosphere. Except for Emile and Fanny Zoetrope, the characters were somewhat uninteresting and I wished the other women there had spoken up for equality and not just Miss Fanny holding up the banner of feminism all by her lonesome.

However, Fraternity did a good job with the suspense and action in the climax. I also liked the artwork and how the colors matches the mood of the story. I actually expected something reminiscent of the Jungle Book when I first saw the cover. It was, very vaguely, something like that and I am curious about the mystery of Emile and his connection to the monster. This part was what hooked me to the story. 

I would still consider this is good start to a series. Although there were elements that need some work, overall, the good parts still shine through. I am eager to find out more about Emile , the beast (Munuera & Canales should give it a name) and if Miss Fanny gets a happy ending. That Laffite fellow better get his act together. I hope we get a sequel.

P.S.

I received a copy of Fraternity from Diamond Book Distributors via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 SOUNDTRACK

Utopia
Bjork
Utopia

Bird species never seen or heard before

The first flute from the first fauna

Utopia isn't elsewhere...

You assigned me to protect our lantern
To be intentional about the light

Utopia isn't elsewhere
It's here

My instinct has been shouting at me for years
Saying let's get out of here
Toxic tumor bulging under the earth here
Need to purify the air here...

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