After Lambana: myth and magic in Manila

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Tuttle Publishing
Publication Date
[2022]
Language
English

Description

**Included in the Top 50 Best New Comics for Adults in 2022 by The New York Public Library**Immerse yourself in a fantasy world of Filipino myth, magic, and supernatural suspense!Lambana—the realm of supernatural fairies known as Diwata—has fallen, and the Magic Prohibition Act has been enacted. To add to his troubles, there's something wrong with Conrad's heart and only magic can prolong his life. He teams up with Ignacio, a well-connected friend who promises to hook him up with the Diwata and their magical treatments—a quest that's not only risky but highly illegal!On the shadowy, noir-tinged streets of Manila, multiple realities co-exist and intertwine as the two friends seek a cure for the magical malady. Slinky sirens and roaming wraith-like spirits populate a parallel world ruled by corruption and greed, which Conrad must enter to find the cure he seeks. He has little idea of the creatures he will encounter and the truths to be revealed along the way. Will Lambana spill its secrets and provide the healing balm Conrad needs? Or will he perish in the process?Fans of Neil Gaiman, Emil Ferris and Charles Burns will love this new graphic novel!

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Contributors
Malonzo, Mervin illustrator
ISBN
9780804855259

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Conrad needs help. He's suffering from a fatal disease, and mitigating the excruciating agony is all he can do. Ignacio seems to be his only hope, navigating him through the Manila streets where humans--and other beings--pass between worlds. Beyond the last stop of the city's trains, the pair travel deeper into the night seeking Larissa with her magic potions. They continue to chase the promise of stronger painkillers--a journey that reveals shocking, violent answers. Writer Victoria and artist Malonzo, both Philippine National Book Award winners, make their graphic novel debut here. Victoria draws on their common Filipino heritage, adroitly weaving a story populated by magical creatures, clearly intensifying the mythic with the true-to-life political by pointedly highlighting government corruption and destructive control. Malonzo powerfully heightens the narrative with a saturated, kaleidoscopic, color-coded palette (for example, red and green for now; yellow and violet for then) that distinguishes reality from invention. In his afterword--Victoria is apparently not fond of writing them--Malonzo playfully shares the provenance and culmination of their chimerical collaboration.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Manila is a city home to two inextricably linked realities in this melancholy but ultimately hopeful graphic novel inspired by Philippine folklore. Ever since a civil war within the magical realm of Lambana, people have been dying from a mysterious disease called "rose," which causes flowers to painfully bloom from their bodies; while mysterious "white shadows," apparitions of living people, wander the streets. In secret, a network of diwata, beings from Lambana, preserve their culture in defiance of the authoritarian government, which forbids the use of magic. Conrad Mendoza de Luna, a young man with a rose on his heart, enters this underground with the help of Ignacio, a mysterious stranger who promises to bring Conrad to a healer. The quest reveals to Conrad the dispossessed lives of former Lambana denizens, as well as memories of his own childhood contact with the magical world. Sketchy, scratchy line work and glowing, brighter-than-Technicolor hues infuse the story with gritty urgency and beauty. This bittersweet urban fantasy unfolds with satisfying layers, and carries pointed echoes of the current political climate in the Philippines. Readers will welcome the diversity it brings to the graphic novel and fantasy genre landscape. (May)

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Booklist Reviews

Conrad needs help. He's suffering from a fatal disease, and mitigating the excruciating agony is all he can do. Ignacio seems to be his only hope, navigating him through the Manila streets where humans—and other beings—pass between worlds. Beyond the last stop of the city's trains, the pair travel deeper into the night seeking Larissa with her magic potions. They continue to chase the promise of stronger painkillers—a journey that reveals shocking, violent answers. Writer Victoria and artist Malonzo, both Philippine National Book Award winners, make their graphic novel debut here. Victoria draws on their common Filipino heritage, adroitly weaving a story populated by magical creatures, clearly intensifying the mythic with the true-to-life political by pointedly highlighting government corruption and destructive control. Malonzo powerfully heightens the narrative with a saturated, kaleidoscopic, color-coded palette (for example, red and green for now; yellow and violet for then) that distinguishes reality from invention. In his afterword—Victoria is apparently not fond of writing them—Malonzo playfully shares the provenance and culmination of their chimerical collaboration. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Manila is a city home to two inextricably linked realities in this melancholy but ultimately hopeful graphic novel inspired by Philippine folklore. Ever since a civil war within the magical realm of Lambana, people have been dying from a mysterious disease called "rose," which causes flowers to painfully bloom from their bodies; while mysterious "white shadows," apparitions of living people, wander the streets. In secret, a network of diwata, beings from Lambana, preserve their culture in defiance of the authoritarian government, which forbids the use of magic. Conrad Mendoza de Luna, a young man with a rose on his heart, enters this underground with the help of Ignacio, a mysterious stranger who promises to bring Conrad to a healer. The quest reveals to Conrad the dispossessed lives of former Lambana denizens, as well as memories of his own childhood contact with the magical world. Sketchy, scratchy line work and glowing, brighter-than-Technicolor hues infuse the story with gritty urgency and beauty. This bittersweet urban fantasy unfolds with satisfying layers, and carries pointed echoes of the current political climate in the Philippines. Readers will welcome the diversity it brings to the graphic novel and fantasy genre landscape. (May)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly.
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