Descender Volume 1
Compelling
Clever
Suspenseful

Descender Volume 1 Tin Stars

Jeff Lemire2015
Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet. A rip-roaring and heart-felt cosmic odyssey, Descender pits humanity against machine, and world against world, to create a sprawling epic. Collecting issues #1-6 of Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Trillium) and Dustin Nguyen's (Little Gotham) critically acclaimed, bestselling new science fiction series!
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024

Descender, Volume 4: Orbital Mechanics by Jeff Lemire ends the brief and tenuous sibling relationship of Tims 21 and 22. After a brief chase through space, Tim 22 returns, carrying the body of 21, pretending to be 22. This is the volume where everyone questions their relationships. Does Andy want his brother back or is he just out for revenge against another robot? Will Telsa reconcile with her father? Will she even survive? 996666 - S/M home offroad http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024

FF66FF: orphan home cornfield (tkaronto) If this were a film, volume five would be the big climatic fight where the seats would be reverberating from all the explosions. There's a ton of cutting back and forth between key fights and our various heroes, still separated by circumstances. There's also the beginning of personal and large scale reckonings. On the personal level, Tim-22 is defeated. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
4 stars
Apr 4, 2024

The book opens with a woman pushing a pram along a busy and advanced city street. There are flying cars and other signs of a far futuristic civilization. She's interrupted when everyone starts looking skywards. In the sky, or rather, in orbit, is a gigantic — larger than planet sized — robotic figure. Thus begins the downfall of this advanced society. 99CC66 S/M uhoria off-road http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Photo of cher elle
cher elle@cherxlle
5 stars
Jun 15, 2023

It’s like someone took Attack on Titan, Big Hero 6 and Wall-E and said “Here you go, have your perfect sci-fi”

Photo of Nessa Luna
Nessa Luna@octobertune
4 stars
Jun 3, 2023

Ooh I love this art style so so much!

Photo of Beatriz Aguiar
Beatriz Aguiar@alchemistta
4 stars
Jan 22, 2023

loved it <3 . . . reread and i still love it omg <3

Photo of Ryan LaFerney
Ryan LaFerney@ryantlaferney
3 stars
Dec 15, 2022

** spoiler alert ** This collects issues 22-26 and a lot happens in this one. BUT it's spaced out between multiple characters, so the main plot sort of just drags. The robots do finally rise up! Dr. Quon is murdered by Tim-22! Driller is taken prisoner! It definitively feels like we are in the middle of the story and that this volume is basically setting up a major showdown that will happen in the next one but oh well. This is a necessary installment, it just suffers from trying to tell multiple story arcs at the same time. As always, Dustin Nguyen's watercolor illustrations are minimalistic and wonderful.

Photo of Izza
Izza@m0thermayi
4 stars
Dec 9, 2022

4 stars | i was a bit skeptical at first, but I quickly got sucked into the story, and the illustrations are beautiful 💫

Photo of Izza
Izza@m0thermayi
5 stars
Dec 9, 2022

5 stars |

Photo of Izza
Izza@m0thermayi
5 stars
Dec 9, 2022

5 stars | This series only gets better and better and I'm still not over the art. Look at this 😍

Photo of Emelie
Emelie@swedishbookowl
1 star
Oct 31, 2022

Dnf at 70%...

Photo of Maggie Gordon
Maggie Gordon@maggieg
3 stars
Aug 13, 2022

I like an independent Lemire book? How novel! Usually I find Lemire's graphic novels to be quite overrated, but this one was quite solid and lacked the woebegone male protagonist that's bugged me about previous books. Nyugen's art helps quite a bit with his detailed, yet delicate linework. Plus Tim-21 is adorable. The story in this isn't too novel yet. One day giant robots appear and attack all humanoids. Then they disappear and we time skip ten years into the future. Our only hope of figuring out what is going on lies in the body of Tim-21, a child robot companion recently discovered on the remains of a mining colony. But what exactly is so important about him, and why do so many different factions want him? Even if the material is a bit of a retread so far, it's an enjoyable one, and the mysteries that have been hinted at are enough for me to want to pick up the next volume. Hopefully this ends more satisfyingly than Trillium!

Photo of Maggie Gordon
Maggie Gordon@maggieg
3 stars
Aug 13, 2022

Events are certainly building to a climax in this series as the vast array of characters we have met start to converge, and all hell breaks loose. There's a lot of good action in these pages, and some startling revelations. Unfortunately, this book probably reads best in conjunction with volumes 4 and 6. It is definitely a middle volume setting many things up, but leaving many unanswered questions.

Photo of Omar AlHashmi
Omar AlHashmi@omaralhashmi
5 stars
Jul 11, 2022

Jeff Lemire continues to prove that he is the king at creating engaging stories no matter the genre.

Photo of Ken Yuen
Ken Yuen@kyuenrobo
5 stars
May 10, 2022

Still loving the drama, space adventure, and mystery. It's kind of amazing that it works considering the multiple threads it's trying to balance, but it all feels pretty good still. Oh Driller...

Photo of Ken Yuen
Ken Yuen@kyuenrobo
5 stars
May 10, 2022

It's dire. A good moment from Quon. I really wonder where this story is going. Can humans really compete against robots, or are we going to go extinct?

Photo of Ken Yuen
Ken Yuen@kyuenrobo
5 stars
May 10, 2022

Awesome. I read volume one a while ago, and didn't remember the details, but I had a general feeling of really loving the world, art style, and the mystery. The series makes excellent use of flashbacks to fill in gaps and push the main plot forward. We learn a great deal about each of the characters, whether they be human, robot, or something inbetween. I'm loving the sci-fi. Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen have really created a fascinating look at what humans might be like in space, and how their culture will change once intelligent robots become a thing. Also what caused the big tragedy at the beginning, and is there some cosmic horror at the heart of it? I'm having a great time with this series so far and highly recommend it to anyone who finds even a little bit of this interesting.

Photo of Nat Welch
Nat Welch@icco
4 stars
Dec 29, 2021

beautiful art! the story is very slow, but worth it as every page is gorgeous

Photo of Nat Welch
Nat Welch@icco
4 stars
Dec 29, 2021

continues to be a beautiful series, but the plot is so slow!

Photo of Nat Welch
Nat Welch@icco
4 stars
Dec 29, 2021

This book is beautiful. The whole TPB is basically world building, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Photo of Amanda Wells
Amanda Wells@amandawells
5 stars
Nov 25, 2021

Beautiful book, brilliant story - can't wait to see what more is to come for these characters. To be honest, I picked this up solely on the basis of the beautiful illustration, but I will definitely recommend this based on the whole package. The illustration still seals the deal for me, but I'm so glad the story is there too.

Photo of Yoomi
Yoomi@angryasiangirlreads
4 stars
Nov 18, 2021

This is my first Jeff Lemire comic and I fell in love with the look and the story. It opens with an attack on a planet in some distant future where robots coexist with humans. More than half of the population is wiped out. On a mining colony, a boy wakes up and everyone is dead. It turns out he is Tim-21, a robot model that was created by the Doctor Quon, who survived the attack on the planet. There is a race between different groups to reach Tim-21 because he/it holds important information. The story is fast paced and like many other stories about futuristic AI, it explores the concept of what makes someone human. I look forward to the rest of the series. This volume was provided by Netgalley as a free copy to review honestly.

Photo of Cheryl Hedlund
Cheryl Hedlund@cappuccino136
4 stars
Nov 17, 2021

Exciting and mysterious story. Beautiful artwork. Interesting characters. There was a real big reveal at the end of the volume and I can't wait to see where it leads. Things are tense. Besides giant robots the size of planets, there are a lot of factions and politics in this galactic union. Things are really going to be shaken up. There are high stakes for the characters and civilizations in this galaxy.

Photo of Sophie Elaina
Sophie Elaina @sophieelaina
4 stars
Nov 17, 2021

4.5 Stars!

This book appears in the club 19th century

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A Tale of Two Cities
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Moby-Dick, Or, The Whale
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Madame Bovary
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The Idiot
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North and South
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