I do not care about DC comics, nor do I care about the Green Lantern, but I do care about reading everything by N. K. Jemisin, so here I am.
This science-fiction murder mystery follows Jo, the newest Green Lantern, as she helps to solve the first murder in 500 years in the City Enduring. The city is 20 billion citizens large with three different intergalactic species, and no one but Jo has the capacity to feel emotions. The Emotion Exploit is a genetic modifier that stops every citizen of the City Enduring from feeling or acting on their emotions, for their own good, of course.
But then a new drug called Switchoff shows up, which allows people to feel emotions for the first time, and the citizens of City Enduring are willing to fight or kill to keep it that way; they want emotional freedom.
Enter Jo. The Council believes this murder occurred because someone felt emotions and therefore committed a murder, but Jo is determined to figure out what really happened and, along the way, convince the government that emotions aren't bad after all.
I ended up really enjoying this graphic novel, way more than I expected to, especially since I have no prior knowledge of the Green Lantern and frankly just don't care that much about superheroes in general. But her abilities were explained well enough in the book that it made sense to me as a total newcomer.
I really enjoyed Jo as a character and I loved her snarky attitude. I also loved learning about the different intergalactic species, especially the AI species called the @At (pronounced at-at) and their endless love for cat memes. I think it's hard to write fleshed-out characters in graphic novels because of the limited word count and page time, but Jemisin did a great job with the character work here.
Even though the story was good in and of itself, the real best part of this book was the art. Oh my goodness, it was outstanding! I am absolutely in love with Jamal Campbell's work in Far Sector and every page had me stunned at both his beautiful illustrations and his coloring work. The art is vibrant and colorful and so much fun to look at. I was constantly interrupting my husband's workday to show him various pages that amazed me. The art was my very favorite part of the reading experience, and now I need to check out all of Campbell's other works.
I have no idea if Far Sector is volume one of a series or if this is the only volume. It has a completed story arc and reads like a standalone, but I could also see it being expanded into more volumes. Either way, this is a world and a story and an art style that I look forward to returning to in the future. This book was so much more fun than I expected and I definitely recommend it to any sci-fi fans, Jemisin fans, DC fans, graphic novel fans, art fans, or really just anybody who wants to have a good afternoon with a book.
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