Spring 2020 (March);
~ My Sisyphean Sanderson Challenge

I finally waded my way into Sanderson graphic novels, part 2! This is going to be another write-up across to volumes (yes, only two so far, as I'm still needing to read number #3 sadly, alas!). I love, love, love this absolutely different system of magic, and the family/friend dynamics being played out everywhere. I love how Sanderson manages to pull in such disparate people(/s) and then slowly work them together, in highly believable way, with many slips and pitfalls along the way.

I am quite excited to get on to volume 3. ( )

White Sand II is just as fast-pace and disorienting as the last one, I don't have enough time to really know the characters or learn about this world. There's a jarring change from a sketchy art style to a flat and dead one near the end.
I like the fights with the assassins, as well as the negotiations with the Taisha. ( )

Kenton struggles to save the Diem while trying to understand its secrets that might have led to its betrayal in the desert while the Duchess Khriss tries to continue her mission. Brandon Sander’s White Sands Volume 2 finds the various protagonists introduced in the previous volume struggling to accomplish their goals.

The middle installment of this trilogy sees politics and mysteries take center stage as Kenton and Khriss work separately and together to achieve their goals. This is a classic Sanderson story though in graphic novel form, which is brought to the page by the art of Julius Gopez (Chapters 1-5) and Julius Otha (Chapter 6) in addition to colorists Morgan Hickman (Chapters 1-2) and Salvatore Aialas Studios (Chapters 3-6). Overall, the story is good and engaging, however given the format the book the art and color are important. Given the multiple artists I would say that the coloring of Salvatore Aialas Studios worked with both comic artists even though Gopez was more unique while Otha seemed more “generic” in character design but was satisfied in the results.

White Sands Volume 2 is a good continuation of the story in Brandon Sanderon’s Cosmere but shortness of the book made me feel that all three volumes had been combined in an omnibus edition. ( )

One of the things that I feared most about getting into these stories is the big 'art style change'. I see it. It's definately different. But having read all manner of graphic novels over the last year--some change *far* more dramatically than this. They're similar enough that I barely even noticed for the most part.

And it still is quite beautful:



That's really the strongest part of these works, the art is quite well done (no matter the style).

On the weaker side, the characterizations and wording is just ... weird at times.



It just doesn't feel 'Sandersony'. I'm not actually sure how much of it is Sanderson and how much the adaptation (and how much is me knowing that it's different and that making me see things that aren't there), but it just feels wrong.

Among the bits I remember really enjoying from the prose version and that does come through well here is Khriss' desire to understand things scientifically. Sanderson makes 'scientific' magic systems, so having an in-universe character that is fascinated by how they work just makes me smile.



It can be a bit of a tone shift, but I still did like seeing it here.

Speaking of Khriss--dang that red dress is striking. Even more so than the blue and white of the previous books.



A fun way to spend an afternoon. Onward to the final book!
( )

Not the most exciting thing I've read

White Sand #2 continues the story of Kenton, Khriss and the Sand Masters Diem. This tome is very political and the action is a lot less than that in the first volume. There are some developments of the lore and how sand mastery is supposed to work and more mysteries are introduced but no real plot lines were resolved. This medium continues being weird for me... and to make things worse, there's a very dramatic art change in the last few pages that really threw me off.

I'll definitely read the third volume as I wish to see where it all goes and especially now that I know who Khriss really is in the Cosmere.

6/10 ( )