BLAME! MASTER EDITION 2: 09/24/24

BLAME! MASTER EDITION 2 by Tsutomu Nihei and Melissa Tanaka (Translator) (2015) continues the exploration of the overgrown structure where various organic AIs have run amok and pushed humanity to the margins or outright exterminating those who don't fit the profile. It's been four years between reading volume one and two for me and four years of working on the Road Narrative Spectrum project, meaning my take on volume 2 has probably evolved from where it would have been if I had binged these books.

Kyrii and Cibo are sent by the Administration to continue searching for the Net Terminal Gene amongst the surviving human populations. Along the way they discover a population living near the entrance to Toha Heavy Industries. The two have to contend with the autonomous Safeguards that are programmed to kill any human without the Net Terminal Gene who attempt to access the net.

Kyrii comes out of this mission with a newfound ability and Cibo makes the ultimate sacrifice, leaving the volume to close on a cliffhanger.

Having read so much more between volumes, BLAME now reminds me of a mix of Yokohama Station SF (2015) and Jeff Lemire's Ascender series.

The series continues to traverse the Road Narrative Spectrum. In the first volume things were slowly being set up and the reader's experience was more atmospheric than plot, framing Kyrii as an orphan traveler.

Now though Kyrii has a clear partner and together they are set up as protectors against the monsters in the machine, thus making it a scarecrow/minotaur dichotomy of travelers (99). As their location has now been better defined for the reader, it resolves into being a city (00) of sorts. The route, though, still remains a very dangerous maze (CC).

I plan to be quicker in reading the remaining volumes.

Five stars

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