Seven Secrets

With Seven Secrets, Vol. 1, author Tom Taylor and artists Daniele Di Nicuolo & Walter Baiamonte create a fast-paced, action-packed story with a surprising amount of emotional resonance.

While I am familiar with some of Tom Taylor's other recent comics work, I purposefully went into reading this book a bit blind. I hadn't heard of Seven Secrets until I came across it on NetGalley, but with a premise involving a mysterious order protecting secrets throughout history, I was instantly intrigued.

Overall, the story in this first volume of Seven Secrets is quite simple – bad guys want the Secrets, good guys make sure that doesn't happen. Even the book's colorful art helps establish the tone as a kind of Netflix anime. As with most comic books, the first few issues are mostly exposition and backstory for world-building. That said, it's the character work that makes this book enjoyable.

Amidst all the page-turning action, Taylor is able to somehow devote space to focus on the characters, which is no easy task when there are so many to introduce. You get a sense of who these characters are, their relationships, and the strain the Order places on them – even if all that is only quickly explored due to the fast pacing of the story. Still, the characters seem well developed enough and I can only predict will become even more so in future volumes. Characters of particular interest are Canto and Sigurd.

The one major downside I have to the story is the overwhelming secretive nature of the Secrets. I know, that sounds like I'm missing the entire point, but for six issues I'm being told how these Secrets have the power to change the world, but it's hard for me to care about their protection when I have no clue what they are or even how the Order first came into possession of them. Taylor does a great job of creating a world that's familiar, yet with enough questions to keep you intrigued – for instance, we find out the Queen of England in this world is a young Black woman, and when we finally do get our first peek at one of the Secrets at the end of the book, it raises more questions than answers – but a story can't be ALL questions. At some point, I'm going to need something definitive to go on. Luckily, the questions and little hints we get are good enough to continue reading; I can however see them becoming tiresome if they continue beyond the next story arc.

All in all, a very fun & quick read and a solid four stars. I am definitely looking forward to reading Vol. 2.

Thanks to BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for allowing me to read this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.