Review by Karl Verhoven
Over two previous volumes Florence Magnin has thrown one hell of a lot into her meshing of early 20th century period drama and the supernatural. Fantasy elements such as leprechauns accompanying travellers, the horror of possible vampires and definite ghosts sit alongside the story of French dancer Emilie inheriting a substantial property in Ireland via a long disappeared distant relative. The Exile adds science fiction, opening with an advanced civilisation exiling to Earth someone considered guilty of unspecified allegations.
Magnin’s SF setting is illustrated with the same colourful beauty she applies to the remainder of the locations, with Emilie’s Inheritance seemingly a series created to indulge an enjoyment of drawing lush scenery. She relishes the countryside, but is also decorative when it comes to the depiction of more austere settings, with hundreds of stones shown on a monastery’s walls.
After two volumes of taking in Emilie’s journey and what surrounds her without any great idea of what’s going on, The Exile explains much background while introducing additional mysteries such as the bizarre vision shown on the cover. Is it creature or construction? Perhaps it’s both.
There’s an increasingly wide brief, but Emilie remains the protagonist and the person around whom all plotting occurs. She’s important to three distinct groups as a relative of the long vanished Hatcliff, but exactly why remains concealed. Her experiences in Maeve, though, have revealed the supernatural if not the truth, and she’s sick of the deception. “You haven’t stopped lying to me since I got here”, she tells one Hatcliff Estate resident before making a departure he didn’t think possible.
In spite of the assorted dips into other territory, gothic mystery remains the prevailing mood, and Emilie’s determination just transfers her from metaphorical frying pan to metaphorical fire. With the broader scope now apparent, and a series looking so beautiful, The Dreamer is surely a compulsory purchase.
