Calum Petrie reviews The Witcher: Fading Memories #3…
The mystery of Badreine, a case of unnatural and hard to explain events, has caught the attention of Geralt of Rivia. The further down the rabbit hole he goes, the more the mystery comes to truth, yet the tighter his predicament becomes.
The last issue revealed the flashbacks of a mage’s upbringing, influence of magic that allowed Geralt to see the true source of the wild magic in the area. Issue #3 picks up with him waking up in a prison cell with the mayor issuing him one single last warning to leave the village and not poke his nose into the town’s affairs any longer.
Each issue in this series has had some underlying secondary story, all with dark and ominous undertones. The reason I love these is that I immediately have to read the issue a second time and the context starts to fall into place as his seemingly second narrative pulls the story together. It is a wonderful technique that allows the reader to see the same issue for the first time twice.
In this particular issue Geralt sets off to Gladsko (not Glasgow), to find “yhe best medic in all of Poviss”, the man tended to the mage of Badreine in the mage’s youth. The mystery means more to Geralt at this stage than payment, he cannot leave things in their current state and needs to liberate and remove the danger from the situation.
The issue’s final pages are an excellent display of visual storytelling, the dark and harrowing images of a battle quickly overwhelmed coupled with an underlying second narrative. These combined pull the strings tight and bring everything together for one final climactic window before cutting to the end of the issue.
I wait patiently for the next issue of Fading Memories. The Witcher is a compelling character to follow and the world he inhabits is believable and already well established. I am extremely happy to follow this character to the end of time. This story is a dark and twisted tale of lies, sickness and the journey to the truth.
Rating – 8/10
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