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Yonemura's graphic novel takes place in a near-future world where science has mastered the ability to customize life, resulting in the creation of fantastic creatures out of myth that are then housed in theme parks for public enjoyment. A young man named Yamano accepts a part-time job at a dragon park, where he discovers an ability to communicate with Vine, a benevolent and intelligent white dragon. On the night when the family of a government official arranges to visit the park, an eco-terrorist organization known as the Independence, who teach that biotechnology is a blasphemous usurpation of God's laws, launches a devastating attack upon the dragons. One of the terrorists warns Yamano that if he knew the secret of the creatures' intelligence, he would support them in their violent acts.
This book is an impressive achievement. It is excitingly paced, visually rich, and features a story grounded in real-world concerns about environmental destruction and the dangers of excess tech. The novel also contains some weighty musings on the relationship between thought and language. The temptation in writing a graphic novel is to let the visuals overpower the narrative, but Yonemura gives equal weight to both. He excels in distilling difficult concepts into simple terms, deftly dispensing with exposition about the nature of this future world in only a few pages while simultaneously introducing the conflicts that will fuel the story. Everyone assumes they have the ability to write a page-turning thriller; Yonemura has accomplished this and done so in a brainy way that elevates rather than diminishes the reader.