Joining is gloriously indecipherable.  I’ve followed this series since the beginning, and its utter disregard for the audience’s sensibilities and needs are refreshing.

This is science fiction at its frustratingly best.  When you open a volume of Prophet, you are doing so on the narrator’s terms.  You are entering a universe you do not recognize, and, such as with the real world, life goes on and has always done so despite your opinions on the matter.

Prophet has some of the most detailed technology, alien life forms, and religion I’ve ever read in a book, yet the narrator delivers only the surface level of these things.  Most of it confuses the reader, yet, at my core, I believe there is great depth to everything the reader encounters – we simply don’t understand.  In Prophet, we are the true aliens.

In the hands of different writers or artists, Joining could be an absolute mess.  But it’s not.  There is something beautiful about it, something otherworldly and transcendent.  However, if you asked me to tell you what it’s actually about, I wouldn’t have a clue.

Take heart, though, there is a little guide at the back of this volume that offers accounts of things we’ve previously wondered.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say it explains anything clearly, but it does offer a new perspective.

I’m afraid I am not completely happy with Joining, though.  The characters from Youngblood continue to make appearances in this title.  And while I know they all originate from the same place, Prophet has entered a world all its own and it’s jarring to see characters like “Shaft” and “Badrock” in such an otherwise original work.  Keep in mind, I said the same thing about “Diehard” when he first appeared, but he has now won me over.

I don’t know where this title is going, nor do I particularly care.  I’m simply glad to experience it.