The unlikely friendship between an urchin girl and a boy from the city guard changes the fate of the Nameless City in this stunning first volume of Faith Erin Hick’s “The Nameless City” trilogy.
By Faith Erin Hicks
Colored by Jordie BellaireEvery nation that invades the City gives it a new name. But before long, new invaders arrive and the City changes hands once again. The natives don’t let themselves get caught up in the unending wars. To them, their home is the Nameless City, and those who try to name it are forever outsiders.
Kaidu is one such outsider. He’s a Dao born and bred—a member of the latest occupying nation. Rat is a native of the Nameless City. At first, she hates Kai for everything he stands for, but his love of his new home may be the one thing that can bring these two unlikely friends together. Let’s hope so, because the fate of the Nameless City rests in their hands.
I’ve never read a Faith Erin Hicks book I haven’t liked. “Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong”, “The Last of Us: American Dreams”, and “The Adventures of Superhero Girl” are excellent, and “Friends with Boys” is among my most beloved comics. I just cannot get enough of that book.
So when First Second announced a trilogy of graphic novels both written and drawn by Hicks, I got very excited. At the end of last year, this was among my most anticipated books for 2016. And it didn’t disappoint.
“The Nameless City”, the first volume in the trilogy, is different from Hicks’s other stories. Normally they are set in familiar contemporary environments (often high school), whereas this tale is set in a fictional East-Asian-styled world, a little like the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, but without the fantasy elements. And yet Hicks’s distinctive humor, pacing, and character work are all present. Again Hicks is exploring adolescents as they’re thrust into a new and unfamiliar world, but this time the world is much bigger than high school.
When the book begins, Kaidu (Kai to his friends) has newly arrived from his homeland, Dao, and is training to be a part of the city guard. Kai should keep his head down and focus on his training, but his curiosity prompts him to go out into the city on his own—he wants to see what the city is really like when he doesn’t have his father by his side. This is, of course, the inciting incident that leads to Kai meeting Rat, and it’s motivated by wanting to see things differently.
At its heart, that is what this book is about: seeing things differently, especially as characters struggle to reconcile what they’ve been told with what they’ve witnessed. Much of the story is told through observation. When Kai first ventures out into the city, he sees a group of street urchins. From his expression, it’s clear he has never seen poverty like this before. When the urchins look back at him, he shows discomfort. Not a word is said throughout the sequence, but by the end of the page we know how Kai feels, how the urchins feel, and we’ve learned something about the Nameless City.
These moments appeal to the reader’s empathy, inviting them to experience these moments along with the characters. This is a book you really feel.
And Hicks knows the power of observing details rather than having them stated outright. Rat has scars on her face and body, a detail that hints at what sort of life she has led without a single word being spoken. These scars can never be forgotten; they are with Rat in every panel. Even in her happiest moments, Rat’s suffering is written on her face. It allows this detail to just be a part of who she is, rather than grinding the story to a halt with expository dialogue.
And in the opening prologue, the Nameless City is introduced as a trade city, populated by many nationalities. This is reinforced silently throughout the rest of the book. Hicks has taken care to draw the background characters as individuals, with different attitudes, clothes, and skin colors. The population of the Nameless City is never drawn as a homogeneous group.
Continued belowThe book is also about being seen. Numerous key moments feature a character being observed when their guard is down, revealing a glimpse of the character behind the role they play—then they realize someone is watching and they change. The change reveals how they feel about this aspect of themself being seen, and how they feel about the observer. Most of the key sequences in the book involve at least one of these moments.
I love these moments. Hell, I just love observed character behavior, and clearly Hicks does too. It’s an important part of her storytelling. She frequently keeps the point of view locked in mid and close up panels so that the only element that changes from one panel to the next is the character’s expression. Of course, she could’ve gotten showy with her layouts, but she knows the power of keeping the panel locked. It makes the reader the reader focus on facial expressions and body language. The book relies on the strength of the chemistry between Kai and Rat, so Hicks invests in the space to make us genuinely feel it.
This is where the graphic novel format works to Hicks’s advantage. It provides her with the space to give each sequence time to breathe, to add panels where a character does something as simple as lower their eyes, or frown, or blush, or stick their tongue out, instead of going straight to the next line of dialogue.
Geez, how did I get this far into the review without mentioning Jordie Bellaire? Obviously she’s one of the best colorists in the business, and she makes every page sing. There’s a sequence in the middle of the book (the festival sequence), which I absolutely love. The Nameless City is transformed into another place, a little more dreamy, and so beautiful. One of my favorite moments in the whole book is in there, and the colors give it a heightened reality that’s just perfect.
In terms of the plot, everything flows smoothly. This is the first book in a trilogy, and clearly there are moments laying the groundwork for future volumes, but these moments never detract from telling this volume’s story. I found the book holds together as a standalone story very well. It wraps up in a way that’s satisfying, while clearly there’s more story to tell. My only complaint was a particular moment that struck me as a convenience for sake of the plot. I won’t say what it was as I’m trying to keep this review spoiler free, but it was a moment that pulled me out of the story and made me aware of the plot cogs turning. It was a bump that broke the spell, even if it was only briefly.
That said, I smiled a lot while reading this book, not just because of the humor (which is fantastic), but because I was happy alongside the characters. Just like Maggie and Lucy in “Friends with Boys”, I became deeply invested in the Kaidu and Rat. This is a book about observation that rewards being observant. As much as I enjoyed reading it the first time, I enjoyed it more the second time as new details jumped out. Something as simple as a glance takes on a new meaning.
And since it’s the first part of the trilogy, I get the feeling that there will be more in this book after I read “The Stone Heart” (the second volume), and more again when the final volume comes out. So as I offer my final verdict, keep in mind that it’s not really final at all. Ask me again what I think of this book after volume three is out.
Final Verdict: 9 – This is a layered reading experience, told with humor and sincerity. Like the best books, the characters feel real—like friends even. “The Nameless City” is Hicks at her very best.
