Review of Nedzus lyktor (2017)
Rui Tenreiro (writer-artist).
Read in 2023.
I read this graphic novel without listening to its official soundtrack.
An old smith teaches a young woman about the story of two people from rival villages who trained land crabs for a blood sport.
A uchronian fantasy in a secondary world. Tenreiro was born in Mozambique, but the somewhat naĭvist graphic design of Nedzus lyktor (“Nedzu’s lanterns”) reminds me more of South America in the mid-to-late 1800s. There are many pleasant and surprising details, but the composition does not give the weak folktale logic enough psychological force.