The Wicked + The Divine Volume 4: Rising Action

by Kieron Gillen

[Quirky Cat]

After the shocking ending of volume two I was pretty anxious to get my hands on the next volume to see what the heck had actually happened (the benefit of being behind in a series is that I didn’t have to wait six months to a year for that). So I was admittedly a little upset with volume three’s lack of continuity or answers. I didn’t let that discourage me from the series though, and I have never been happier to say that. I think Rising Action is my favorite of the series so far, so it would have been quite a loss had I given up before now.



So you remember all of those questions we’ve been hanging on to since the end of volume two? Well I’m not going to say all of them are answered (because of course that isn’t the case), but quite a few of them are. I’m so happy to finally be informed about what was actually going on – I was never able to accept the final scene shown as truth, and was desperately looking for a way out.
There is so much that happens in this volume, and there’s also a ton of emotions to go along with it. I’m not even sure what I should and shouldn’t talk about – even tiny spoilers may be too much, given the chain of effect that happens here and there. Let’s just say that I loved this volume and I couldn’t be happier with the answers and revelations that occurred. Granted, I now have a new list of questions, but I’m going to take that as a good thing. A great series will always leave you wanting more, after all.
You might think that after four volumes of a series you’ve got a good grasp of what’s going to happen next – and you’d be wrong. I have yet to predict a single twist or turn in this series, and I love that. I love that I can’t take a guess at what will happen next; sure sometimes it’s nice to have a relaxing read like that, but when I’m looking for a series to sink my teeth into I don’t want predictability. I want to be surprised. I want to be started. I want to be alarmed. And sometimes I even want to be devastated. And this series really managed to do all of that and make it look easy.
I keep going over the critical reveals that happened during this volume. I just can’t get over them (and thankfully I don’t think I mean that in a negative way – such as the ending of volume two). They fit perfectly with the story being told, and yet I still didn’t see any of it coming. On the whole I’m thrilled with what went on here, and I’m finding myself anxious to see what happens next (ah, the advantage of being behind – it’s going to really hurt once I’m caught up, isn’t it?).
Looking ahead I see there are two volumes and a single issue story waiting for me. It’s sad thinking that I’ll be caught up relatively shortly – this series has been a whirlwind and it’s actually quite hard to believe that everything that’s happened so far has fit into just a few volumes. I know the series is still in print, so once I’m caught up I’ll probably cave and start reading the series in single issue format (based on the printing dates on the last few volumes I’m not sure I could stand the wait). One thing I know for sure; I’m dying to find out what happens next in the world of the Wicked + the Devine.


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