Valerian and Laureline v11: Ghosts of Interloch cover detail
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Valerian and Laureline v11: “The Ghosts of Inverloch”

After eight standalone books, we’re up to a second two-part adventure in a row.

This one gets off to a better start than the last.  There’s an ominous feeling about this whole book, even with the smaller moments. Of course, having read later volumes in the series, I know what the end product of this storyline will be.  It’s a tragedy in two parts.

 

What’s Happening?

Laureline is in Scotland in the modern day, waiting for Valerian to come to her after his off-planet mission. She spends the opening of the book riding a horse and living a model life.  It’s all pleasant and quaint.

I’m sure that Jean-Claude Mezieres, one time cowboy in the American west, enjoyed drawing horses for that many pages.  This is likely a great example of a writer working towards his artist’s strengths.

Laureline rides a horse

Valerian is off on another world, trying to bring back some kind of fishy creature from its home in the water.  Typical of Valerian, his earliest attempts to do so with brute force don’t work, so he needs to get more clever.  Still, there are a lot of great panels along this path.  It sums up Valerian’s character nicely, and he’s completely self-aware about it.

Valerian is off at sea on another planet, trying to pick up a creature who likes looking at the stars.

Neither knows why they’re doing what they’re doing, and the home planet of Galaxity is playing things extremely close to its vest.  There’s no briefing here for either of them. It’s all, “Do this, then this, and wait for word on more.”  They have to take it on faith that what they’re doing is (a) good and (b) worth it.

Given some of Galaxy’s issues in previous stories (“Return to Alflolol” and “Ambassador of Shadows,” in particular), that might be up for debate.

It’s unsettling, feels serious, and has everyone on their toes.  And, as it turns out, they should be scared/worried.  There are lots of bad things happening on earth, particularly as it relates to various nuclear stockpiles.

Did I mention the Shingouz are also back for more fun and games, using secretive information to get what they need to know about earth?

The Shingouz are back!

By the end all of the dramatic personnae for this particular play find themselves together on earth in a castle in Scotland. It’s glorious.

 

Life Comes At Me Fast

How many reviews ago was I excited by the fact that Christin never gets caught up in the usual time travel details with his stories?  He never worries about the effects of all these little changes to the timeline.  The book is allowed to run free and have great adventures, not get caught up in the silly little minutiae.

Then this book happens.  Here’s what Christin writes in an introduction on the credits page at the start of the book:

One does not trifle with spatio-temporal paradoxes!

And yet, that is precisely what Valerian and Laureline have done throughout their already long careers as agents of Galaxity, capital of the future Terran Empire!

It should therefore come as no surprise when action taken on Earth or beyond, in times near and far, ultimately end up being challenged!

Readers can of course read The Ghosts of Inverloch, followed by The Wrath of Hypsis, without knowledge of the books that came before.  But inquisitive minds can turn to other titles in the series: in particular, Chatelet Station, Destination Cassiopeia and Brooklyn Line, Terminus Cosmos as well as Ambassador of the Shadows and, most importantly, The City of Shifting Waters.

We wish you all a pleasant journey through the meanders of time and the hollows of space!

So, yes, he’s doing a two-part story here about the devastating effects of Valerian and Laureline’s work on the timeline, overall, with ties to lots of events in the past.

And I’m liking it so far.  Granted, we haven’t gotten that far into the details here yet, just a couple pages at the very end of the book that flashback to a couple previous moments in the series.

I have some big worries about what the next book might bring about, but I’m more excited for what this might bring.  Fingers crossed.

Recommended?

Yes.  It might be too soon to call, since this is only the first of a two parter, but I like the way this one feels. The foreboding element that sits in on this otherwise picturesque and calm album sets things off nicely.  I know things are about to change in the next book, but I’m ready to dive into it.

Valerian and Laureline v11: Ghosts of Interloch cover
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(This is Pipeline BD 100 review #52.)

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