(which I still haven't seen.)
I just finished reading my first book of the year, "Sailor Twain" by Mark Siegel.
It was first published as a web comic that updated a few times a week, so that may explain the problem with the resolution that I'll describe later (though I won't give anything away about the plot.)
Set in the 1880s, it's a graphic novel about a steamboat captain who sails the Hudson River. Since the subtitle of the book is "or The Mermaid in the Hudson," I don't think it spoils anything to say that the title character encounters a mermaid early on in the novel and must deal with her presence as well as some of the eccentric people who work and travel on the ship.
The art consists of beautiful charcoal drawings that enhance the mood of the novel and really gave me the feeling of the time period. While at first I found the art childish, as I went along I found it enhancing the story. And, of course, once a book has a sex scene, it's hard to find it childish anymore.
The story has secrets, mysterious, and lore, and while I thought the ending was an excellent thematic summation, readers who enjoy tidy endings where everything is explained may be dissatisfied.
I thought that the characters were well-developed, but the climax and resolution of the book seemed so short in comparison to the building action. I wish the author had spent a little more time with the denouement, but the framework he had built for himself may not have been able to deal with it. Basically, the whole story is one big flashback framed on either end by a conversation between two characters, and once the climax happens, there's no reason for their conversation to continue. Maybe I just wish there had been more for me to read, which should be taken as an endorsement of the book.
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