He went to Canada, so that was a bit exciting (I'm Canadian). It's disconcerting having the narrator give current modern names for some places and not others, but oh well (e.g. Canada isn't named, Ontario isn't named, but Newfoundland and Iceland are). The heroine's hair changes colour with some regularity (though always in the yellow to orange range). And some jokes (or at least some writing which was obviously intended to charm or amuse) wear thin the third time the author makes them.

But, what lovely art, what a sweeping canvas—Foster will essentially send his characters anywhere, and I can't wait until (I assume) they discover the Silk Road, or sail to Japan. Sadly Volume 8 is a no-show ... I can buy 7, I can buy 9, but no 8 to be had for love or money. I've written to Fantagraphics to see if they have any intention of reissuing the next boxed set, and if not, yikes. I'm a completist ... it'll make my blood boil to end up with volumes 1 through 40-something and not have 8! [And they wrote back (that was fast) and said wait about 6 months. Joy!]

One reader mentioned that Valiant is a bit of a Mary Sue, and I get that. I liked that in this story he obtains his goal through lying and deception, and the author sort of mocks the villains who are so untrusting that they will probably not believes Val's lies. I mean, really! But Val suffers a crisis of conscience about attaining his ends through this deception, rather than valour, and it was a nice touch I hadn't noticed before for the character.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)