Woof
Hey, a free comic is a free comic. And this free comic was about one thing: fan service. Jacked dudes and scantily clad chicks.
I was amazed as I read this collection that there was no real main character. Sure, Ara was supposed to be it (she is on the cover and the book follows her) but we get so little out of her that she essentially equates to that of a background character. By the end of the journey ("Jirni"), I can't tell what makes Ara happy or miserable. I do know that when any danger strikes that she will literally kill you in your face. Every. Time. But is that a character? A warrior is a description, not a primer on a person's character.
The other "characters" are also bland. I mean, what was the point of Nylese? She did absolutely nothing in the story. Nothing. She was there as Ara had internal monologues. She sometimes wore pants and sometimes did not. She rejoined her people and had zero effect on the rest of the story - yet she was there for three of the five issues. And the mother Luna. Well, her past was to be shrouded in mystery so her character was limited to playing coy the whole time. And then we get the "big" reveal and feel cheated, since we knew her secret since the second book.
Torinthal is the only character to get a pass for being so one-dimensional, and that's because he is the bad guy. He is supposed to do bad things.
Some of the events in the volume are simply ludicrous. At one point, Ara gets into a fight. The fight is between herself and some dudes that don't speak her language. But then the matriarch steps in to fight and Ara suddenly realizes that the fight is spurred on by a mother's overprotective nature. Ara somehow communicates that she is not interested in wooing the boys. Then the scene ends and Ara is off on another adventure. Why include this? Why did Ara fight the dudes when sex was motivator? Shouldn't the dudes have been fighting each other and not her? How did she suddenly realize the mother's issue when the issue made so little sense in the first place? This scene did not advance the story. This scene, and others like it, was simply ludicrous.
Really, the only saving grace for this book is the art. Sure, the characters look good and all (because they are supposed to, otherwise you probably wouldn't buy this dumpster fire), but the locations are also fairly well depicted. And this is all that saves the book from a one-star review.
With so much better out there, why waste your time with Jirni? That said, I shall now go read the second volume because, hey, a free comic is a free comic.