Sunder, Tome One: Small Beginnings by Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, Mark Englert & Buddy Beaudoin

Small beginnings is right, as a humble young monk finds himself plunged into an epic quest over the course of this science fantasy adventure!

Zeek has only ever known life at the monastery. For the most part, he enjoys his work of transcribing books, even if he’d much rather be having adventures than copying them down. While kind and generous, he can also default to acting first and thinking things through later.

When he finds a weird book in the library, he’s literally stunned when it unexpectedly bonds with him. The Abbot is concerned, mostly because he knows this is probably the sign that he needs to let Zeek out into the wider world finally. Despite his misgivings, he tasks Zeek with finding out more about the book. There’s an apothecary in a nearby town who might know someone who knows more. Zeek is nervous but excited to think that he’ll finally be able to go forth on the adventure he’s always wanted.

At first, things some easy enough, as any conflicts are easily resolved with conversation and a little ingenuity. But when actual criminals enter the picture, Zeek quickly finds himself out of his depth. Luckily, he has allies in his quest… or does he?

This is very much a gathering the party and starting the epic quest kind of story, with a healthy dose of background (mystery included) for the protagonist Zeek. It doesn’t break into any new territory with its storytelling, but it’s still solidly entertaining. It’s a good springboard for the rest of the series, even if I do think it’s too soon to decide how good this one volume actually is without the rest of the story it leads into. Also, as a puzzle nerd, I appreciated that the riddle towards the end was challenging enough for the typical speculative fiction fan to not immediately know the answer to.

The art is nicely done, even if I did have to backtrack several times to make sure I was interpreting the action correctly. Mark Englert’s colors are lovely throughout, really bringing depth to Pierre-Alexander Comtois’ linework. Overall, this is a very promising, if not necessarily outstanding, start to a series that blends fantasy with sci-fi. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Sunder, Tome One: Small Beginnings by Pierre-Alexandre Comtois, Mark Englert & Buddy Beaudoin was published May 6 2025 by Mad Cave Studios and is available from all good booksellers, including