Writer & Illustrator: Katie O'Neill
Letterer: Crank!
Editor: Arl Yarwood
Publisher: Oni Press, Inc
Release Date: 16th October 2018
Aquicorn Cove is the story of Lana, a young girl who visits her aunt with her father in the wake of a storm which has devastated her aunt’s village. While there she befriends an unusual sea creature and learns more about her aunt’s past, all while learning to cope with the loss of her mother. .This is an environmentalist fable, a slice of life story, and a come of age tale.
It would be hard to review Aquicorn Cove without mentioning famed Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. Much like The Lorax, Aquicorn Cove asks its central characters to examine the impact their actions have on the environment, and like The Lorax this is achieved with the aid of a magical creature who asks the human character to see the error of their ways.
It would be hard to review Aquicorn Cove without mentioning famed Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. Much like The Lorax, Aquicorn Cove asks its central characters to examine the impact their actions have on the environment, and like The Lorax this is achieved with the aid of a magical creature who asks the human character to see the error of their ways.
Where this book stands out however, is in its emotional core. Far from being the greedy cliches of other environmentalist works, the human characters in this book have a clear, sympathetic reason for why they are doing what they are doing, despite the damage it is doing to the world on which they depend. This isn’t a tale of unchecked avarice, but of people simply trying to do the best they can to survive in a changing world. It isn’t a loss of profits they fear, but the loss of their homes, and their way of life. There are no villains here, and the book is all the richer for it. The sympathetic nature of the human cast allows the readers to root for these characters and hope they can find a way forward, even if it means that something has to change.
The environmentalist message at the heart of of Aquicorn Cove is backed up by a story line very personal to the character of Lana. Although an exact time frame is never given for when Lana lost her mother, it is clear that her loss still affects both Lana and her father very deeply. Lana is at a point where she is starting to find her place in the world, and she is becoming more and more aware of just what the loss of her mother means as she grows. This is a loss the character feels more keenly now that she is back at her mother’s home, and spending time with her aunt Mae, who in many ways takes on the role of mother figure.
Without going into specifics, the seemingly separate story strands of the concerns of the village, and Lana’s personal feelings of loss do come together in a way that is not only satisfying from a storytelling point of view, but also deeply touching. The culmination of the journey of the village as a whole is also the culmination of Lana’s journey, and the lessons that have been learned by the characters over the course of the book are perfectly encapsulated in how the lessons the village learns and the lessons Lana learns converge.
Katie O’Neill’s beautiful writing is matched perfectly by her illustrations. Aquicorn Cove features soft colouring which works perfectly with the expressiveness of the line art to capture the mood of every see, be it the wonder of the sea, Lana’s moments of joy or sadness, or the terror of the storms that befall the village. There are no sharp lines and the book feels all the richer for it.
Aquicorn Cove is a beautiful book. Not only is it visually stunning, but O’Neill deftly combines ideas of personal and communal tragedy into a story about accepting the past and learning to let go so that you can move on into the future. O’Neill seamlessly integrates these different elements into a book which highlights the consequences of our actions, not with judgement, but with love.
The environmentalist message at the heart of of Aquicorn Cove is backed up by a story line very personal to the character of Lana. Although an exact time frame is never given for when Lana lost her mother, it is clear that her loss still affects both Lana and her father very deeply. Lana is at a point where she is starting to find her place in the world, and she is becoming more and more aware of just what the loss of her mother means as she grows. This is a loss the character feels more keenly now that she is back at her mother’s home, and spending time with her aunt Mae, who in many ways takes on the role of mother figure.
Without going into specifics, the seemingly separate story strands of the concerns of the village, and Lana’s personal feelings of loss do come together in a way that is not only satisfying from a storytelling point of view, but also deeply touching. The culmination of the journey of the village as a whole is also the culmination of Lana’s journey, and the lessons that have been learned by the characters over the course of the book are perfectly encapsulated in how the lessons the village learns and the lessons Lana learns converge.
Katie O’Neill’s beautiful writing is matched perfectly by her illustrations. Aquicorn Cove features soft colouring which works perfectly with the expressiveness of the line art to capture the mood of every see, be it the wonder of the sea, Lana’s moments of joy or sadness, or the terror of the storms that befall the village. There are no sharp lines and the book feels all the richer for it.
Aquicorn Cove is a beautiful book. Not only is it visually stunning, but O’Neill deftly combines ideas of personal and communal tragedy into a story about accepting the past and learning to let go so that you can move on into the future. O’Neill seamlessly integrates these different elements into a book which highlights the consequences of our actions, not with judgement, but with love.
