Oof, I’m falling way behind the various samples that I have cached. At the moment I have a couple-dozen mostly-finished posts that need some kind of push to get them out the door. Part of the issue is properly curating the images, and another, unfinished text. It’s always something.

Alright, here’s this one done.

“TESB” is a hell of a wild, adventurous ride, and a great one, at that. It has polished, clean-line art, a gripping, action-packed storyline, interesting, canny characters, strong world-building, and multiple plotlines woven together with a deft, confident touch.

On the surface, this might seem a touch like other swords & sorcery works, but the author loves to throw in twists, for example the ‘haughty damsel in distress’ is something of a naive weakling, yet she also has a darker, terrifying side that both consumes her and threatens others around her (it’s a long story).

Then there’s the the beastly fighter who saves the princesses’ bacon-- she’s worldly, yet is something of a linear thinker, while being far more of a self-interested mercenary than anyone’s savior. Meanwhile, she has a sorrowful past involving her lost child. The point being that these are robust, fairly complicated characters, consistently interesting to follow.

Perhaps part of what makes this series so intriguing is that Tommaso evidently draws upon a somewhat different set of influences than other swords & sorcery authors in the UK and States typically do, altho that’s just my speculation.

One thing that does seem exceedingly well done is the way he invests different groups with unique perspectives, looks and abilities. The relative lushness of such reminded me a bit of Dave Sim’s Cerebus and Jeff Smith’s Bone series. It’s got good worldbuilding, essentially.

Tommaso is also “nuclearpasta,” here:
https://www.deviantart.com/nuclearpasta

https://tenearthshatteringblows.com/