by Jessica Greenlee
Staff Writer
[email protected]
The only problem with reading an outstanding first book is the anxiety over whether the second will live up to the promise. Unity #2 lives up to the promise of Unity #1 and then some.
Aric is still determined to keep Romania, Harada’s first team was killed before even starting to fight, Ninjak is imprisoned, and the Russians are still planning on a nuclear strike to take out Aric. Everyone has too much to lose to back down, and Harada is leading the second attack on Aric himself, recruiting Livewire, a former follower to help.
Kindt and Doug Braithwaite are still making collaboration look effortless. Kindt frames the story with just enough information to allow a new reader to enter, and then moves on to the action giving each character a distinctive voice. Any necessary backstory is swiftly given in a few lines of dialog. Braithwaite’s art adds the emotional resonance to Kind’s text, showing precisely what is at stake in each case and how much rides on everyone’s actions. Braithwaite and colorist Brian Reber make each of the locations distinct as the action takes place on several levels of the ship simultaneously.
Unity #2 ends on another cliffhanger. It’s not clear whether everyone will get out, much less how (or if) the larger remaining problem of Aric’s invasion can be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. What is clear is that this is a must-read book.
