Soul Machine
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A Wrinkle in Time meets Brave New World in this thought-provoking debut graphic novel about one girl’s quest to save her family's livelihood—and maybe existence itself.
Chloe, 14, and her 16-year-old sister, Lacey, make souls by hand in an empty old house in the countryside. When their supply of breth—the raw material needed to make souls—runs dry, the evil MCorp tries to force them to franchise and make synthetic souls instead. Chloe sets out to the big city in hopes of finding a new source. And maybe a way to modernize their business that Lacey is so determined to keep in the past.
On a journey to find a real breth crop, untouched by MCorp’s greedy hands, Chloe uncovers long-buried family secrets—and starts to question whom to trust and what reality even is.
A beautifully rendered debut, Soul Machine is at once a metaphysical science-fiction story and a nuanced exploration of big ideas: spirituality, family, consciousness, and connection, but also unscrupulous consumption, megacorporations, and how egomaniac entrepreneurs impact our lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Debut creator Globerman spins a surreal sci-fi odyssey about connection, commodification, and the nature of the soul in this bold and contemplative graphic novel. Ever since mega conglomerate MCorp bought out all the breth—raw material used to create souls—siblings Lacey and Chloe have been unable to procure any for their own soul-making business. Running out of options to make ends meet, brash and impulsive younger sister Chloe travels into the city of M-tropolis seeking new suppliers. As she searches M-tropolis, Chloe must navigate the sleek spiritual consumerism MCorp fosters; cooperate with covert Nuspiritualists, rebels standing against MCorp; and confront shocking revelations about her family. Emotive characters, whose skin tones echo the shifting pastel colors of the pages, paired with inventive paneling highlights the narrative's expressionistic, dreamlike quality. Negative space and fluid, sometimes distorted line art mirrors the protagonist's disorientation as she contends with existential ruminations on ethical living and consumption. It's a layered, lyrical, and darkly funny tale that balances emotional vulnerability with philosophical inquiry. Ages 12–up.
