by Jodi Apps, Librarian
Meyer’s debut graphic novel, Wires and Nerve, picks up immediately following the events of Winter (2015), the fourth installment of the Lunar Chronicles. The evil queen was overthrown and Cinder, the new Queen, has reestablished peace between Earth and Luna (kingdom on the moon); however, the evil queen spent many years transforming young men into wolf-hybrid soldiers and though her reign is over, those soldiers remain on Earth. Their presence challenges the hard-fought peace, so Iko, the once servant android turned operative, takes it upon herself to locate and return the soldiers. When a zealot begins recruiting the rogue soldiers in a plot to kill Cinder, Iko must find a way to protect the life of her friends and the peace agreement. Holgate’s illustrations are rendered in a bold, cartoonish fashion in skillfully shaded black and blue hues. White text bubbles moving in a traditional left-to-right fashion are set in sharp contrast to the illustrations and combined with well-defined panels and transitions, making the storyline easy to follow for first-time graphic novel readers. The detailed text, though heavy at times, and precise, fast-paced action scenes tell a clear and complex story that ends on a definite cliffhanger. Although the prologue attempts to introduce the large cast of characters and catch new readers up to speed, the storyline is filled with references to events that occurred in previous installments, making it difficult to read as a stand-alone. Fans of the Lunar Chronicles will love the extended storyline, answering the “what happens next” questions.