Review by New York Times Review
FAITH ERIN HICKS'S new graphic novel, "The Nameless City," takes place in an oft-conquered metropolis located at a key geographic crossroads. Drawn with sloping roofs and elegant symmetry, its architecture recalls ancient China, but in geopolitical terms the city is more a Jerusalem: claimed by many peoples, each with a different name for it. Natives call it the Nameless City, so as not to give legitimacy to the rule of their overlords. With this quiet act of rebellion at the center of the novel, Hicks insightfully examines the dynamic of conqueror and conquered. Along the way, she pulls the focus in tight to show how life-altering it can be when a young person learns the darker truths of his culture or country. The book tells the story of Kaidu, a young member of the Dao ethnic group, the latest in a series of occupiers. Kai arrives in the Nameless City from the Dao homeland for military training, but in the first few stunning, action-filled panels, Hicks, who won an Eisner Award for "The Adventures of Superhero Girl," reveals him as less a fighter than an explorer. Wandering the sometimes dangerous streets, he runs into Rat, a native who loathes the Dao masters. Though Rat is mistrustful, Kai's natural curiosity wins her over. When Kai witnesses Rat's skill at parkour, he asks her to teach him. Predictably, a friendship blossoms. Hicks builds up that friendship with realistic care. Rat has a great deal to teach Kai, not just about how to fly across rooftops, but also what it means to be a member of a conquered class. Kai's growing awareness of his own privilege is particularly resonant in light of America's role, for better or worse, in current global conflicts. Fortunately, Hicks gets the message across without being particularly didactic. The themes in "The Nameless City" are heavy - conquest, dictatorship, oppression - but young readers who grew up with "The Hunger Games" have certainly seen them before, and "The Nameless City" could have benefited from a more complex story. Still, neither Kai nor Rat is strictly heroic or villainous. They are still learning the rules of their complicated world. The adults in "The Nameless City" are not as well drawn, though Kai's awkward relationship with the father he barely knows is touchingly handled. We also briefly meet a fascinating character called the General of All Blades when Rat stumbles upon a plot against him. The novel is the first in a planned trilogy, and readers will look forward to more of him. The artwork is breathtaking, with its subtly shifting color, rendered by Jordie Bellaire, lending each panel a richness that appropriately reflects a multifaceted culture. In Hicks's sweeping scenes of the city, as well as her respectful attention to invented details of architecture, armor and clothing, she avoids the pitfall of creating a "vaguely" Asian world that is insultingly monolithic. Many of the panels showcase the city's beauty so intensely that readers will wish it were real. But Hicks doesn't shy away from the darker parts of the city. While she doesn't wholly delve into the distressing underbelly that is an unfortunate feature of any conquered land, her treatment of the native inhabitants' anger and the struggles in their lives reflect our own world all too realistically. Hicks excels at depicting movement - Kai taking a painful beating from his fellow Dao students, Rat's gracefulness as she moves over the rooftops. But it's the quiet images - Kai eating street food with his father or observing a nighttime festival - that are the most powerful, allowing the reader to take a breath and appreciate perhaps the book's most important character: the magnificent city itself. SABAA TAHIR is the author of "An Ember in the Ashes" and its sequel, "A Torch Against the Night," which will be published in the fall.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 3, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The titular city of Hicks' series opener goes by many names. Set in a highly desirable location, the city, which resembles thirteenth-century China, has cycled through conquerors, all of whom call it something new. Its permanent residents watch those rulers come and go and call it the Nameless City. Kai, son of a general in the current conquering army, the Dao, has just arrived, and he is dazzled by the place, especially the girl he sees racing across the rooftops. That girl Rat is one of the conquered, and through their friendship, Hicks teases out the city's complex dynamics. Resentments toward the Dao are simmering, and privileged Kai is mostly oblivious until Rat starts training him in her parkourlike moves. Remarkably, Hicks conveys these dynamics without much exposition, relying instead on visual cues, expressive faces and gestures, and subtext. Meanwhile, the primary story fueled by cinematic action, some well-timed comical stumbles, and a nefarious plot against the Dao is just as compelling. All of these elements are brilliantly integrated in Hicks' detailed, expansive, beautifully colored artwork, which handles dense cityscapes filled with tiled roofs just as handily as it does meaningful glances. With comprehensive world building, well-rounded characters, and entertaining action, this expertly executed story will find a home with a wide variety of readers, all of whom will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hicks (Friends with Boys) sets this trilogy opener in an imaginary city whose architecture and dress have a Tibetan air. The city has been conquered by successive nations who grind its native inhabitants underfoot; it's now ruled by the Dao. Kaidu, a Dao boy, arrives for military training and befriends a street girl named Rat. Despite her resentment ("I don't want to know the name of any Dao," she snarls when he introduces himself), she agrees to teach Kaidu how to traverse the city's rooftops in exchange for food. Their secret forays expose Kaidu to the city's darker truths, while Rat struggles with a sense that their friendship betrays the memory of her parents, who were killed by the Dao. When the two learn of an assassination plot, loyalties shift and the pace vaults from brisk to blazing. Hicks's sequential artwork is polished, and though males hold nearly all the political power, the female characters are mighty warriors the men respect (and sometimes fear). An emphasis on the way geography can determine political fate gives Hicks's saga significant depth. Ages 9-up. Agent: Bernadette Baker-Baughman, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Rat and Kaidu meet on the streets of the Nameless City. They are from different worlds: Kaidu is from the Dao clan, the current occupiers of the city, and Rat is a girl living on the streets and struggling to survive under Dao rule. But they form a fast friendship traversing the city using parkourlike exploring. As they get to know each other, they delve into the secrets of the Nameless City's history and come to realize that the only chance the city might have to survive is through unity instead of endless conquest. Though this is a visually appealing, action-packed story from a talented graphic novel artist, the seemingly deliberate lack of any cultural context is distracting and problematic. The story seems to take place in a Chinese-inspired world featuring Chinese junk ships, Chinese-style clothes, and words such as Dao, Yisun, Liao, and Yanjing, yet there is no further evidence that the setting is indeed China or anywhere in Central Asia. This appropriation of disparate elements of Chinese culture comes across as opportunistic; the author's fictional world borrows specific cultural aspects and ignores others strictly for the purpose of storytelling. This makes for a hollow and unsatisfying read on place and culture, and it keeps readers at a distance. Even the name of the book hints at a historically fraught practice: the continued occupation of the city is cited as the reason it is "nameless." Readers will be left wondering which people first named the place. VERDICT The borrowing of vaguely Asian-influenced cultural markers without deeper engagement or authenticity is too troubling to overlook. Not recommended.-Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos County Library System, NM © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
