Wingbearer
by Marjorie Liu
illustrated by Teny Issakhanian
Quill Tree Books, 2022. 204 pages.
Review written May 23, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review
This is the first volume in a new graphic novel series. I was captivated, my only disappointment being that the story only begins in this volume, finishing with new questions and no resolution at all.
The book pulls you into a magical world right from the outset. The beautiful paintings are like looking at a skillfully animated movie. (I was not surprised to learn at the back that the illustrator indeed has a background with Disney and Dreamworks.)
Here’s the text on the first page, highlighted to indicate a kind of voiceover effect:
I don’t know how it began. That’s the truth, I promise.
The wings tell me that birds have always been immortal. That their spirits live forever, returning to this tree to be reborn. And I ask them, “Well, what about the rest of us?”
They have no answer.
But I think that if birds have a tree, then so must every other creature. And when we die, our souls travel to that place where we rest, just like birds, until we are reborn.
Unless of course, someone — or something — gets in the way.
Zuli is a little girl who lives in the Great Tree — a tree with roots down to the heart of the earth, where souls of birds come when they die and are soon reborn and sent on. Zuli doesn’t know how she got there.
But then the souls stop coming to the tree, and Zuli decides to go out in the world to find out what’s wrong and save them, accompanied by an owl companion.
The journey out in the big world is perilous. Zuli meets some companions and also seems to be hunted by a witch queen. She does learn that something is happening to the birds in the north, so that’s the direction she wants to travel. She also learns things about herself and that some beings were watching for her. Can she learn who her people are and why she was left as a baby in the Great Tree? And of course, can she save the souls of the birds from whatever is stopping them from being reborn?
None of these questions are answered in this volume, but I love the lavish art and Zuli’s kind spirit. I also love that even though this is some other world not at all like earth with goblins and dragons and griffins, Zuli is portrayed as a beautiful girl with black skin. Why shouldn’t she represent a generic human in this fantasy world?
The book takes less than an hour to read and the story isn’t finished, but the art is so lavish, I can forgive them for not waiting until the entire story is complete to publish part of it. I’m looking forward to reading more.
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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