Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer and Doug Holgate | Book Review

Author: Marissa Meyer and Doug Holgate (Illustrator)

Series: Wires and Nerve #1

Genre: YA Fantasy and Graphic Novel

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 240

Rating: ★★★★☆

“I misread the romantic tension, didn’t I?”

BLURB (GOODREADS)

In her first graphic novel, #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller Marissa Meyer follows Iko, the beloved android from the Lunar Chronicles, on a dangerous and romantic new adventure — with a little help from Cinder and the Lunar team.

In her first graphic novel, bestselling author Marissa Meyer extends the world of the Lunar Chronicles with a brand-new, action-packed story about Iko, the android with a heart of (mechanized) gold. When rogue packs of wolf-hybrid soldiers threaten the tenuous peace alliance between Earth and Luna, Iko takes it upon herself to hunt down the soldiers’ leader. She is soon working with a handsome royal guard who forces her to question everything she knows about love, loyalty, and her own humanity. With appearances by Cinder and the rest of the Rampion crew, this is a must-have for fans of the bestselling series.

THOUGHTS

Welcome back to the Lunar Chronicles world! However, we’ve got a little spin on this installment. That’s right, if you haven’t heard, TLC world is being expanded upon with a series of graphic novels, and Wires and Nerve is the first one to be released. The story truly does pick up right from where Winter left off, so if you haven’t finished the original series yet, I highly recommend doing so before reading this.

**WARNING: I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible. It will not contain any major spoilers about Wires and Nerve, but I cannot guarantee there will be no spoilers from The Lunar Chronicles.**

Wires and Nerve follows everyone’s favorite sassy android, Iko. I was a HUGE fan of this, because Iko was always on of my favorite characters in the original series. Along with Iko, we get to see all the old favorites including Cinder, Kai, Scarlet, Wolf, Thorne, Cress, Winter, and Jacin (who I kinda forgot existed, sorry Jacin). Since this book is in a completely different format than the original series, we get to see new sides of the characters who we already love and know.

Yes, some of the characters were not nearly as fleshed out as they were in the novels, but they still retained the majority of their individuals charms. Yet, this story follows Iko, and that’s who we get to see have the most development. Her interactions with the rest of the Rampion crew are adorable, but her scenes when she’s alone are absolutely perfect. She’s badass, and doesn’t let being an android stand in her way of shining like a star.

The main story line follows the relationship between Lunar and Earthen people, and how Cinder’s reign is going. However, rogue wolf-hybrids from Levanna’s reign threaten to ruin everything that had been accomplished. We then follow Iko through the process of hunting down the wolf packs, trying to find their leader. I thought it was a clever plot overall, but I would’ve loved to see some more of the politics on both Luna (from Cinder) and Kai (on Earth). It would’ve to help and flesh out why Iko was on her journey in the first place.

With the graphic novel, the massive world(s) that were built in the novels suddenly shrank. I felt like the world building was virtually non-existent in this installment, but considering that this is really the fifth book, it’s not much of a deal breaker. Perhaps if we saw more of the Earthen leaders and how they were attempting to control the rogue wolf-hybrids, that could have helped keep the world at it’s original size.

Since this is a graphic novel, I obviously have to talk about the art style. The overall design of the characters and the drawing was quite lovely. They’re full of detail, but not over stimulating for my brain. Sometimes, I got so distracted by the beautiful drawings that I forgot to read the actual words on the page. However, everything is colored in a blue tone, ranging from light blue, to a dark blue gray color. It was fun and charming at first, but it quickly grew a bit monotonous. I think that I would’ve preferred full color throughout the whole book.

Overall, Wires and Nerve is a great addition to any Lunar Chronicles collection, but it doesn’t come without a few minor flaws. It’s a wonderfully quick read if you’re in a bit of a reading slump, and it’s great to be back inside the world and reunited with these characters. If you’ve finished the whole series, I high recommend that you pick up this graphic novel!