“Congratulations, you’re flourishing!” Criminals around the globe get this message along with an invite to an all-expenses paid cruise. The only ones who take the offer are those self-obsessed or deluded enough to believe they’re worthy of recognition. The cruise does not turn out as expected, to say the least, and the invitees all end up in a battle royale game instead. I’m a sucker for a good battle royale. Whether it be books (The Hunger Games), video games (Call of Duty: Warzone), or television shows (Squid Games), I find a fight-to-the-death premise to be diabolically fun. Nature’s Labyrinth is no exception.

Goodreads / Amazon / Mad Cave

Synopsis:

When eight former felons are left stranded on a deserted island with a murderous backpack strapped to them and nothing but a cartoon to help them through a deadly, constantly changing environment filled with danger around every corner, they have no choice but to result to violence in order to survive. Nature’s Labyrinth is a battle royale filled with high octane action, off-kilter humor, cutthroat reality TV-style betrayals and ever-shifting alliances, and totally unpredictable twists and turns!

In the middle of the ocean lies a remote island complex lined with traps and an ever-changing landscape. Created by a mysterious man known only as “Ahab”, the island was designed to test the wills of the world’s most notorious criminals. In a battle royale style game, eight violent felons will fight for survival and to the death over the course of three days of relentless action. The winner receives a wealth or riches and complete anonymity, but at the cost of keeping their silence about the island’s existence. What Ahab doesn’t know is that someone is on to him. Someone has infiltrated his island with the intention of revealing the truth about this twisted game.

Nature’s Labyrinth is an all-new six issue mini-series from writer Zac Thompson ( Yondu , The Brother of All Men , Undone by Blood ) and Bayleigh Underwood ( It Took Luke , The Sixth Borough ).

Review:

Set on a beautifully lush island, Nature’s Labyrinth appears, at first glance, like a very different book than it actually is. It has scenes of beautiful nature, yes, but it’s also full of gore, brutality, awful people, and a metric heck-ton of chaotic fun. Most of the commentary I’ve seen on Nature’s Labyrinth has mentioned it has a good deal of tropes and that it relies on those tropes heavily. While the battle royale trope has been around for ages, Nature’s Labyrinth tackles this sub-genre in a modern game show setting, which is fun if not entirely new.

The characters are all delightfully bad, and most of the “contestants” are just self-absorbed criminals. I found this fun, but it’s definitely not for everyone. I loved J., the main character, and found myself rooting for her throughout. She’s an incredibly fierce character with a lot of mystery surrounding her. Nasir is also a great character, though there’s very little mystery to him; he wears his heart on his sleeve so you always know exactly what he’s thinking.

Art:

Bayleigh Underwood’s art and Warnia Sahadewa’s coloring work perfectly pair in Nature’s Labyrinth. The world is vivid and bold, with striking gore and violence contrasting the lush forest setting. The character expressions were also excellent, and each character had a vivid personality based on their body posture and facial expressions alone.

Final Thoughts:

This is a really fun graphic novel. It’s campy and a bit ridiculous, but it also has a lot of heart and grit. Yes, this story is full of tropes and gore, but I guess I’m learning I don’t mind that so much. Nature’s Labyrinth shouldn’t be missed if you’re a fan of brutal science fiction horror and graphic novels with bold art.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

Thanks to Mad Cave for an advanced review copy! All the above thoughts are my own.