There are those among us, all of whom
have had near death experiences, who now have an ability called a Soul-Skill
which allows them access to the skill-sets of the dead; fighter, mechanic,
sniper. Anything. This ability connects them in this realm to the soul, and its
skill, in the next. Pilot. Hacker. Assassin. Anything. While not everyone who
touches death is able to retain this ability those who do have formed two
warring guilds: Caretakers and Dark Hearts. The Caretaker's mission? To use the
power of the dead to protect the living. Welcome to Graveyard
Wars.
All his life Ethan
Noble felt he was different; unstable, crazy. How else to explain his ability to
master so many different skills only to have them vanish time after time. All
her life Carter Noble has tried in vain to help her brother. Raise him, shield
him, understand him. An impossible task, even for a twin, because no matter how
hard Ethan tried to explain his behavior Carter was never able to understand and
any attempt to enlist help from Sebastian, their father, was met with an icy
stare and stony silence.
What
all three Nobles will soon learn is that in a world where the secrets someone
takes to their grave are no longer safe you need family more than ever. The
problem? When Ethan and Carter uncover a
web of lies that led to their
mother's death they're lead straight to their
father.
Brought to you by AJ
Lieberman, writer of Image Comics (COWBOY NINJA VIKING, TERM LIFE), DC
(Gotham Knights, Harley Quinn, War Games) and Scholastic (THE SILVER
SIX). Illustrated by Andrew Sebastian Kwan and Darren
Rawlings.
Industry Reviews
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Gr 9
Up-Lieberman (Cowboy Ninja Viking; Batman: Gotham Knights) and
Kwan (NEO: Blossoms) build a complex fantasy world existing within our
own. Two white college-aged twins, Carter and Ethan, discover their magical
legacy; near-death experiences give them the ability to tap into and use the
"soul skills" of dead people. The twins find themselves caught
between two battling groups of magic users, Caretakers and Dark Hearts, with
different opinions of how this magical power should be used. Carter and Ethan
must learn to master their skills and choose a side in a magical war amid
betrayals in their own family. Even more so than with Mark Millar's The Magic
Order, readers are rarely given direct answers and often must deduce
explanations for the magic system. Some mechanics of the plot, such as
"safe soil," are never fully explained, which may frustrate some
readers. The cold blue and black palette is broken only by the occasional yellow
sound effect or ghost, but every character is instantly recognizable (not an
easy feat without full color). Because the magical powers are triggered by a
near-death experience, there are several scenes of someone deliberately
attempting to hurt themselves by hanging themselves and or being shot, making
the book appropriate for older readers only.
VERDICT Mature readers who do not mind being
kept in the dark will find this a fun action story.