The Crystal Kingdom (The Adventure Zone Graphic Novels #4)
Published July 13th 2021 by First Second, Paperback 272 pages
Based on the blockbuster podcast where the McElroy brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG and illustrated by cartooning powerhouse Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom takes this #1 New York Times bestselling series to haunting new heights.
A desperate call for help interrupts holiday celebrations at the Bureau of Balance, and sends Taako, Magnus and Merle on a high-stakes mission to find and Reclaim a fourth deadly relic: a powerful transmutation stone, hidden somewhere in the depths of a floating arcane laboratory that’s home to the Doctors Maureen and Lucas Miller. An unknown menace has seized control of the stone, and is using it to transform the lab into a virulent pink crystal that spreads to everything it touches.
It’s only a matter of time before this sparkling disaster crash-lands, but in order to find the stone and save the whole planet from being King Midased, our heroes will have to fight their way through a gauntlet of rowdy robots and crystal golems, decide whether they can trust the evasive Lucas Miller, and solve the mystery of what—or who—has put them all in peril, before there’s no world left to save.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
there's some uh SNAKES! and then the book's full of snakes, and you drown in snakes. it's all snakes. it's snakes all the way down. j.j. abrams wanted to take all this stuff out because it's real heavily laden with snakes and it becomes hard to follow because our heroes become snakes, and they are all married to snakes, and they use snakes as weapons! they eat snakes for fuel, and they become snake robots for a while. it's very confusing, got rid of most of the snakes. there's still a lot of snakes, but i mean, there's just a regular amount of snakes for the adventure zone, which, for one thing, is still an enormous amount of snakes.
Rating: really liked it
This series is just one of my yearly summer comfort reads at this point. TCK was a favorite arc on the original podcast, and this translation to the page was delightful. Noelle- my heart! Kravitz - love all the added flirting with Taako! And the ending for Maureen and Lucas - literally made me cry. I remember when the series was first coming out this was the arc where I was like... oh yeah. This is going interesting places. Also, I loved the behind the scenes material with the artist... I know next to nothing about how one adapts an existing property into a graphic novel, and it was very interesting to see how that process works
Rating: really liked it
the mcelroys: no bummers 😍🥰
corporeal barry bluejeans: you… found her? YOU FOUND HER??
Rating: really liked it
highest anticipated title for 2021! this is the arc when i fell in love with the podcast
Rating: really liked it
UPDATE 7/16
4.75/5
The things that stayed consistent from the initial podcast were pretty good. There's a much better foundation for the Taako/Kravitz relationship. Roleplaying a romance in an audible space with a character your brother plays is hella awkward for sure, so letting it flourish in this rendition gives it a stronger beginning. And again, I need to reiterate that Kravitz is very yummy.
I'm a little bummed they didn't keep the
buckwild way the Horny Boys obtained the Philosopher's Stone, but I completely understand why you wouldn't want to witness that whole procedure. You already have Upsy and the arm chop, we don't need another visceral visual for this book, pff.
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UPDATE 4/20 (hell yeah)
Kravitz got dropped in a recent online gathering for the novel and
why is he so yummy?(view spoiler)
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Aw HELL yeah, I'm here for Pan's lies and Kravitz's debut.
Rating: really liked it
God LIED.
where was Magnus swallowing the philosopher's stone? i wanted swirly guts
otherwise, Kravitz is hot hot hot and the boiz were peak greatness
let's not get started on the red robe and HER
Rating: really liked it
This series just keeps getting better and better with each new instalment and I almost can’t handle it! It’s just TOO damn good. It’s queer, it’s hilarious AND it’s gorgeous. Plus then you add dwarves and witches and monsters and magic and all these wonderful things mixed together makes my head want to explode. You can’t get much closer to perfection than that in my opinion. I just love how different and unique and ridiculous these graphic novels are, this one in particular. It takes the series to a whole new wacky and hilarious level and I couldn’t have loved it more. And I swear the illustrations get so stunning in this one that I almost have a hard time believing my eyes aren’t lying to me. Just read this graphic novel series okay?
Rating: really liked it
Pedals to the metal will always be my favourite arc BUT THIS WAS SO GOOD
I love all the little Easter eggs and all the character development. It really adds to the podcast so we’ll!
After finishing it I really wanted to go back and listen to all of Balance.
Rating: really liked it
Of course I loved this book. Did you think I wouldn't? Did you think the fourth graphic novel about my favorite podcast would suddenly disappoint and not punch me in the emotions yet once again? How foolish to even consider it. This volume is probably the arc that changed the most from the initial podcast, but that's not really a slight: cutting down on the number of fights to give the Millers and Kravitz more [meaningful] screen time was a great move. More Taako and Kravitz flirting? Love it. I can't believe Clint actually made me care about Lucas Freaking Miller. Yet again, I love all of the little in-jokes and foreshadowing that Clint and Carey throw in: No.3113's "hero time" was especially good, and by good I mean I put the book down and said "oh come on" out loud, and Magnus telling Avi he gave Garfield some of his blood before wondering, "I'm going to die, aren't I?" And then to end the book with the Seven Birds prophecy, the Red Robe's gift, and the silhouette of a certain spaceship? What a killer ending.
Bits I yelled at (to Basia over texts): literally anything to do with Team Sweet Flips, the return of Angus McDonald, Kravitz being extra handsome, they somehow made Magnus' line about Julia sadder???? which I did not know was possible, they kept the Della Reese/Touched By An Angel joke. Honestly, the only thing I was sad to miss was Lucretia's "hot diggety shit, that is a baller cookie."
(For real, though: Carey’s art suits this story so, so well, and her use of color is fantastic, especially in this book where the pink crystals are so dominant. Clint’s ability to streamline the rambling story they all created together is admirable, and I love so much that you can tell how much love went into this story, both initially and during the adaptation process. TL;DR - TAZ Balance made my 2019 (not a typo) bearable, it is near and dear to my heart, and getting to *see* and re-experience the story brings me massive amounts of joy. I am desperately, anxiously awaiting The Eleventh Hour (my favorite!) next summer.)
Rating: really liked it
I think we're finally getting to where the podcast actually picks up. A lot of the comics before had felt a little flat in comparison to the podcast, but I actually had emotions at the end of this book. The action in the art still needs a bit of work, but actually being able to tell anything apart in a room full of pink crystal is pretty impressive! Excited for the next one now!
Rating: really liked it
The most aesthetically pleasing, but not my favorite of the storylines.
Lucas <3
Rating: really liked it
i almost cried 4x 😌
highly recommend listening to the Crystal Kingdom OST while reading: https://griffinmcelroy.bandcamp.com/a...
Rating: really liked it
Perfectly fine! There's something about the TAZ graphic novels that always leaves me a little cold, but I found this one of the more interesting story arcs and enjoyed it as a whole, so maybe that's just me grumbling. I will say that not having Griffin's exquisite musical accompaniment to the graphic novel is a big step down from the podcast for this arc - that's inarguable.
Rating: really liked it
(c/p from my review on TheStoryGraph) Loved this one! I love the changes they made from the source material and oh boy did they do good things with Kravitz! It did also make me cry and give me goosebumps and remind me that I want to get a Seven Birds tattoo...
Rating: really liked it
4.5/5!
There were some things I missed that were included/more fleshed out in the podcast that were missing in the GN adaptation but overall it’s still fun and captures the spirit of TAZ! Also loved that they added more flirting between Taako and Kravitz
