The third volume of Arwyn’s quest finally arrived.
How does it compare to the first two?

General Information

Title: Sojourn Vol. 3: The Warrior’s Tale

Author: Ron Marz

Illustrator(s): Greg Land does most of the pencils.
One of the six
issues was pencilled by Aaron Lopresti

Original Publication Date: Copyright 2003

ISBN: 1-931484-65-1

Cover Price: $15.95 US

Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca

Premise

Arwen’s quest for the Five Fragments leads to a race
of winged warriors.

High Point

Taking the time to develop a minor villain at the
beginning of the
collection. It’s nice to see some depth.

Low Point

Changing pencillers. Lopresti isn’t bad, but Land’s
work is just
fantastic, and any change stands out. It suddenly
became cartoony in
a very serious issue.

The Scores

As before, it’s a quality assemblage of the classic
unoriginal cliches. This time around it’s
not quite as well
crafted as it was at first, with some heavy
coincidence moments and
the like, so it feels like it’s been done. I give it
2 out of 6.

The artwork suffers only in the switch to
another good artist
for one issue. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story is consistent, entertaining, and
made of some nice
scenes, but there are some long bouts of exposition,
and at least one
instance of a pretty lucky coincidence. I give it 4
out of 6.

The characterization of Arwyn and Bohr both
work quite well,
developing some depth. Gareth is no deeper than he’s
ever been, and
the other characters, including the Dawn Warrior, are
flat and
ill-defined. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response is weaker than in
past collections.
There’s just too much luck working on their side for
me to
believe in any danger, or in the tragedy we’re
supposed to believe. I
give it 3 out of 6.

The flow is interrupted only by the change
in artists. I
give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s not bad, but it’s not
thrilling. If I didn’t
already have the fourth and fifth volumes on order
when I read this,
I’m not sure I’d get them. I give it 3 out of 6.

In total, Sojourn: The Warrior’s Tale
receives 26 out of 42.