Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Superhero Films – Chapter 21: Swamp Thing (1982)

      Daniel Elkin
      January 24, 2015
      Columns, HaphazardStuff’s Superhero Film Series
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Jumping On: The Flash Rebirth #1

      Daniel Elkin
      June 14, 2016
      Big Two, DC Comics, Jumping On
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Jumping On: Horizon #1

      Daniel Elkin
      July 19, 2016
      Image, Indie, Jumping On
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 3.0

      Review: Livewire #1 Blows a Fuse

      Daniel Elkin
      December 25, 2018
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Interview: The Pander Brothers Draw Their Own Path

      Daniel Elkin
      May 13, 2015
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Destroyer Duck

      Daniel Elkin
      November 27, 2011
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Exclusive IDW Preview: "Sherlock Holmes: Seven-Per-Cent Solution" #2

      Daniel Elkin
      September 4, 2015
      Previews
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Review: 'Machete Squad' is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Daniel Elkin
      July 31, 2018
      Books
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

ADVANCE REVIEW: Resurrection

Daniel Elkin
January 4, 2012
Reviews
ADVANCE REVIEW: Resurrection
4.5Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)

ADVANCE REVIEW! Resurrection will go on sale Tuesday, January 24, 2011.

I was convinced after reading the first 35 or so pages of Resurrection, by Arwen Elys Dayton, that this sci-fi novel was written by a precocious teenager who had been raised on a steady diet of Star Trek reruns, Mountain Dew, over-reaching praise from his or her parents about the extent of his or her talent and really good intentions. The first pages of this novel are bogged down in pretty lifeless exposition. I mean, for goodness sake, the first sentence of the novel is, “The feeling was gray, like dawn, but harder to define.“

Then I looked at the author’s biography which reads: “Arwen Elys Dayton was born on the West Coast of the United States to a math professor father and a romantic mother, who named her after an elf in the Lord of the Rings.”

For the sake of this review, though, instead of tossing the book aside and attending to what I thought would be the better writing of my high school freshmen’s To Kill a Mockingbird essays, I stuck with Resurrection, and let me tell you, this decision made all the difference.

Once the expository details were established and put aside, Dayton began to show her real talents as a writer. From truthful character development to gripping action scenes, from a thought-provoking rewriting of history to expansive alien worlds, Dayton has created a fast-paced, fun to read 422 page science fiction epic that I ended up devouring in less than a day.

Through an intricate narrative structure that expertly builds drama through the manipulation of time, Dayton has built a engaging story in a completely realized world populated with believable and remarkable characters.

The sophisticated plot revolves around three central ideas: a war between two alien races, the Kinley and the Lucien; an early Kinley expedition to Earth during the time of the ancient Egyptian Empire; and the search for a lost technology in the modern world that could put an end to the alien war. The intersection between the three ideas pulls the novel together. Dayton is able to do this all seamlessly through her characters. As the plot unfolds, the conceits of “good guy” and “bad guy” break down as everybody ends up having to do awful things in pursuit of their goals.

One of the main characters is Pruitt, a female Kinley solider, who endures both emotional tragedy and some serious beat-downs in her quest to find the tech that could save her world. She is a heroine that you care about, displaying all the right attributes of empathy, intelligence, and bravery.  Dayton layers her with enough flaws and vulnerability, though, so that you understand her motivations. As with the rest of the “aliens” in this novel, she is completely human.

I was a little worried that the flashback sequences reframing the creation of the Great Pyramids of Giza would end up being a little too “new-agey” for my tastes, but, once again, as in the rest of the novel, Dayton’s characters become the central focus of this part to such an extent that any sort of spiritual “touchy-feely” stuff gets subsumed into the development of the narrative. It’s really great stuff and, in its own way, completely engaging and believable.

Arwen Elys Dayton has really pulled off a great story here with Resurrection. It’s fun, engrossing, fast-paced, and pure entertainment. I understand why Amazon has tagged this novel to be a part of their initial slate of sci-fi books they’re publishing under their 47North imprint.


Daniel Elkin has been reading and commenting on comics since the mid ’70s when he used to wear a great deal of brown corduroy. Currently he lives in Northern California where brown corduroy is slowly becoming fashionable again. Daniel has worked in bars, restaurants, department stores, classrooms, and offices. He is a published poet, member of MENSA, committed father, gadfly and bon vivant. He can over-intellectualize just about anything and is known to have long Twitter conversations with himself (@DanielElkin).

P.S. He keeps a blog, Your Chicken Enemy.

 

47NorthArwen Elys DaytonDaniel Elkin

Share On:
Tweet
African-American Classics
Uncanny X-Men #3

About The Author

Daniel Elkin
Daniel Elkin
Small-Press Editor

Daniel Elkin is Comics Bulletin's Small Press Editor. He can be found on Twitter: @DanielElkin

Related Posts

  • Announcing the Formation of Fieldmouse Press

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2019
  • ICYMI — Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 12/1/18 to 12/7/18

    Daniel Elkin
    December 10, 2018

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders