Red Sonja: Worlds Away Vol. 4 TPB (RED SONJA WORLDS AWAY TP) Paperback – June 4, 2019

The stories continue to be great. The artwork is excellent as well. This is a really enjoyable series. Have fun.

Good but not spectacular installment in the Worlds Away series by Amy Chu, it certainly wasn’t bad, it just didn’t feel like a whole story, not when compared to volumes 1, 2, and 3.We rejoin Red Sonja back in the Hyborian Age, who finds she has been gone for years from her time/place thanks to her escapades in modern day New York and elsewhere. Trying to regain her reputation and “work through some rage” she finds that her sword is not only unbalanced but has a history behind it, belonging to a Cimmerian named Skath. Told through a series of flashbacks relayed to Sonja via a blacksmith, Sonja learns that the sword pretty much made Skath invincible and a powerful leader, but once he lost the sword fighting a dragon, he fell on hard times and lost his kingdom. Still alive she is told, she decides to journey to Cimmeria and find this Skath, who may wish to reward Sonja for returning his sword.Accompanying Sonja are two mainstays of the Worlds Away series, Lera and Taya. Good to see the continuity they provide with the other books in the series, good to see other strong female warriors in the setting, and also nice to see some character development with these two (most especially Lera). Missed are Max, Professor Wallace, Spike, and Holly but I didn’t really expect to see them in this collection. Kulan Gath is gone…mostly, though there is some blowback/fallout from his reign, though this blowback/fallout is a bit unsatisfying (important at first but then apparently dropped as the story progresses, though as this tale is unfinished maybe it will appear again?).The remainder of the tale details Sonya, Lera, and Taya adventuring in Cimmeria, finding Skath, and dealing with the usurper of Skath’s throne. As with other books in the series, the average, common person is not neglected and have something of a voice as well. There are also monsters, not as prominent in earlier books in the series and most of the monsters we see are in single panel flashbacks, but they are there. The dragon involved in Skath’s tale of woe are illustrated and are nice but not as imaginative as some of the other monsters in the Worlds Away series.Positives, I continue to like the art style, particularly of Carlos Gomez. I also like the sense of humor they give Sonja, the better detailed world than seems typical for Red Sonja stories, and like the diverse ensemble cast (though pales a bit in comparison with the previous installments in the Worlds Away series). There is also a neat subversion of expectations very early on in the book, not really hugely relevant overall to the story but it is nice and unexpected. Also a very nice cover art gallery at the end, though perhaps with somewhat less a range of styles this time around. Negatives, the smaller cast, several of the supporting characters are missed, the overall story felt very incomplete, the chief villain is nowhere near as villainous or as powerful as Kulan Gath (and to an extent we find, sorry if this is a spoiler, Skath is sort of his own worst enemy), and it just felt less epic. Also I miss the stranger in a strange land vibe of Sonja in modern day USA but I guess that can’t be helped.I wasn’t unhappy, it just didn’t feel like a complete product. It didn’t seem Skath’s saga is enough to carry a reader all the way through a volume 5 (though perhaps Kulan Gath’s legacy might pad it out a lot). I think how a volume 5 finishes the story arc if there is a volume 5 (I don’t read the comics, just the trade paperbacks, so I don't know if this is on the way) would affect a lot how I ultimately viewed volume 4.

Really fun read

👍