Jessica (HDB)

What, oh what, did I just read? You'd think that after reading Volume 1 I'd have been absolutely prepared for what happens in Volume 2. Nope. Not at all. Not in the least. If anything, my emotions were already frayed enough that this read through was that much more brutal. I mentioned that everything was falling apart, right? Well, scratch that. Everything is exploding. Autobots. Decepticons. Cities. My heart.

First off, credit where credit is due, the art was a lot more solid in this volume. That made it a lot more enjoyable to read. I can forgive a lot, even mysterious space bridges, but it's hard for me to stay focused when the art style keeps changing. So, much love to this volume for fixing that. Also, I have to give a thumbs up to some of the new characters that were introduced! By far, and I've told Grim this already, Windblade is my favorite. She's the one in the back, and she's a total badass. Arcee has girlfriends! Love.

Okay, back to the meat the story. I'll let Magnus spell it out for you.

Yup, the universe is ending. In a horrible, diabolical way that only Shockwave would be capable of coming up with. The entire time I've been reading these series, I've been wondering why the ore was so important. Pondering why Roberts and Barber took their characters to so many different places, and put them in harms way time and time again. Now, I know. It was setting all of this up. The end of the universe. The end of Cybertron. The end of the Transformers.

Needless to say, this was a harrowing read. This whole volume is pretty much non-stop action. I was glad for Swerve and Whirl, who lent their own little pieces of levity to an otherwise energon-bath (see what I did there?). It was brutal. However at the heart of everything, underneath the fighting, was so much more. I saw Orion Pax remember why he was Optimus Prime to begin with. I saw him gain back his confidence, and reclaim his heroic demeanor. I saw two characters who couldn't be more different if they tried, band together to save the day. I saw death, but I also saw hope and growth. 

I can't say much more without spoiling anything, and I still have my hopes up that some of you will be tempted into starting this. All I know, is that I need some chocolate. Then I'll be ready for more.