I only know the TV series of Vox Machina so my feelings are from hat incarnation of everything (and by everything, I mean the D&D game it is based on, the videos, and anything online or other book formats). The creators of this collection are Matthew Mercer, Jody Houser, Matthew Colville, Olivia Samson, and Chris Northrop.
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Library Edition Series I & II Collection is a collection has the gang to be known as Vox Machina before they were The Gang. We follow several versions of our heroes (or really anti-heroes) groupings (after all, one version has a real dragon-man as a character) as they try and stop villains, monsters, steal things, proposition women of all ages, drink ale, turn gold into urine via ale, use said urine to try and stop someone from poisoning the swamp (yup, I was skeptical too), and break into towers. Siblings bicker, new friends’ bicker, old friends worry about each other and somehow, they all seem to (mostly) make it out alive, or at least not mostly dead. Each section covers an adventure or two and you need to pay attention to figure out what is happening, as sometimes people look alike, names are similar, or suddenly, a character appears to disappear from the narrative as quickly. There is innuendo, not so innuendo, language, bad jokes and puns and itchy scars that really turn nasty.
The artwork is typical fantasy, D&D, and comic-graphic novel. There is much in the way of showing the blood, the facial expressions (the twins tend to get “grumpy” from time to time, especially when they are not paid), the landscape, the little details might not be fleshed out, but everything is busily there. Due to the size of the book I had (a oversize coffee table book) it was hard to easily read the illustrations as they were large, crowded and the colors and shading made everything dark.
I think I would have enjoyed this as much if I had not at least known what I know, but if you know the entire situation, this is a great addition to a fans collection. Obviously not for young readers, as (again) there is sexuality, violence (a lot of violence) and that da** Percy who looks really hot in chains.
