Myth of the Stone by Gwee Li Sui

Myth of the Stone Reviews

• 
  miza!

  
  It is about a young boy called Li-Hsu, who was in his room one night when he heard the unfamiliar voice, a dodo's voice. He was surprised as he thought dodos was an extinct species. When he asked the dodo, Mr. Cassowary, where he came from, Li- Hsu saw a door leading to a magical place, called dodo land, or a part of the Architrave. And so, the story continues as he turned into an Imp from opening a crock. So he enters a fantastical, fractured world upheld by four Columns. Arriving as the Great Gateway War draws to a start, Li-Hsu must fight bravely alongside a host of strange creatures in order to find his way back home.
  
  I like the story because it is fantastical, beautifully descripted and detailed. The story is also very mysterious as it is poetic and to me, it has well illustrated characters.
  
  
  I highly recommend this book to children and comic lovers because it is interesting and addictive, and the drawings are cute and detailed.
• 
  Chee Lian

  A book for readers of all ages. Interpret it as you will, but read it again a few years from now and it's something else, I'm sure!
  
  In Myth, i found gems like "The most natural thing in a dilemma like this is to return to where it all began." The writing is natural, unself-conscious, and the result is a beautifully worded tale with fantastical characters ready to spring out of the pages! There are many huggable characters too. Myth reminds you that merlions are friendly and amphibious, and moas can have the saddest moments. Throughout though... Myth gives you loads of haw haw haw moments!
  
  The afterword, glossary and other mythical bits were thoughtfully penned... and I found them most enjoyable to read!
• 
  Ming

  I feel it's more notable as a historical artefact, being Singapore's first English graphic novel, than as a strong graphic novel in and of itself. It reads like Tolkien-lite, which works for some readers but not others (like me). My biggest gripe, though, is that while the story is a decent read, it's feels more like a novella than a comic - the pictures don't really show much, and everything is in densely-filled balloons and captions. I think I'd like it better if it didn't come with any pictures, to be honest.
• 
  Meta

  I love Graphic novels. As a child growing up in Indonesia, I wasn't introduced to Marvel or DC. Instead, I was introduced to Donuld Duck, Tintin, and Asterix. But the one graphic novel I loved the most was My Grandpa's and uncle's old collection of Indonesia's own R.A. Kosasih and his graphic novelization of the epic Mahabharata.
  
  Since then, I get excited when I find Indonesian and other South East Asian comic books. This one is one of them. Such a great fantasy world with mythical and extinct creatures like the Garuda and the Moa. Plus a poetic language inside a comic book, that's something new! And double plus, we learn the meaning of living true to yourself through this book.
  
  Thank you Epigram for republishing this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have found this gem.
• 
  mezzogal

  A little bit of Alice In Wonderland meets The Chronicles Of Narnia. It was an interesting cast of characters that included many Asian icons, like the garuda, naga and even merlions. What I did not enjoy was the wordiness. There was too much description that should have been done away with and just shown using pictures. I also did not like the preachiness of the dialogue and the religious imagery. It got worse the further into the book. I began to get bored just when it should have been the climatic battle scene. All in all, it could have been a great adventure story, if only it had stuck to that and not tried to be too clever with its philosophising and moralising.
• 
  Frank Ashe

  Only of interest for Singaporean geeks. I can't understand why this was thought worthy of republishing.
• 
  Adan

  The book shows its age, and feels like it would have been a better novel than comic, but it is nevertheless enjoyable, and an important piece of Singaporean comics history.