I went in with high expectations for this book after reading the first volume and I was not disappointed. The art and storytelling are amazing and I forgot halfway through that I was even reading rather than watching a movie or tv series,

Vol. 1 really set a high by for this series, and this second run took a turn by focusing on another time period and a different goal. However, this one still feels like a complete story that gripped me and gave my heart strings something to echo. I don’t think the premise was as cool as Vol. 1, but I think the story was just as powerful. It also taught me some cool history stuff. Definitely worth reading if you checked out Vol. 1.

Time travel to the ice age! Language is a barrier. Unfortunately, the common language is hate. Tawny’ is searching for her children who also time traveled. She must also keep herself alive. Animals, people, food are all challenges to her survival. Mother instincts drive her every action even when helping the enemy. BIPOC representation. VERDICT Good addition to libraries serving teens and adults that enjoy sci-fi graphic novels and will not get frustrated for having to fill in holes to connect the plot.

I have to preface my review by stating up front that I'm reading this series out of order, and now that I have read this second volume I really want to back up and read the earlier material, not just to make better sense of the story, but because it sounds so freaking amazing! In this volume encompassing books 7-11, a mother named Tawney finds herself transported through a time cave where she lands in 20,000 BCE Paleo America, desperate to find her missing children. In a twist that echoes future violent colonization, a group of Europeans called the Solutreans have invaded the land inhabited by Indigenous people, and Tawney is caught in the midst of the conflict. Unable to speak or understand the languages of the others, she tries to navigate this world and the human and animal dangers it poses. I admit that not knowing all of the backstory made it a little harder to piece together the narrative at first, but between the opening exposition and the pictorial context I quickly got up to speed and thoroughly enjoyed the story. I loved the main character Tawney, and her dedication, compassion, resourcefulness, and general badassery. The story is full of action and twists, and extremely engaging. The artwork is stunning - expressive, full of movement, it tells a story in its own right. How have I not read this series yet????? I'm obsessed, and need to start the whole thing from the beginning IMMEDIATELY.

Thank you to the author, illustrators, and publisher, and to Netgalley, for providing me with an advance reader copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Fascinating and super fun story. Awesome art work and a great characters! I enjoyed how the story developed. I can’t wait for the next volume to learn more!

Enjoyed the continuing story of the Earthdivers. Great characters, story, and artwork. Will definitely be ready for the next volume. #EarthdiversVol2IceAge #NetGalley

The time traveling dystopian series Earthdivers continues to branch out into possible futures and pasts for volume 2's Ice Age, collection series issues 7 to 11.

Unlike volume 1, the story line plays out with less back and forth between the past and the present, at least for the first few issues. Instead we focus on Tawny, who went into the magical cave and arrived in prehistoric Florida circa 20,000 BC. Instead of facing off against the Columbus and his colonial followers, Tawny is caught between the megafauna, a community of Paleo-Indians and Solutreans (Europeans who traveled across pack ice) while she searches for her children. In many ways it is just as brutal a the 1490s, but much more blood is spilled here.

And without the same time and effort to master language and the era as the main charachter of volume 1 did, Tawny continues to speak English and has to survive by her wits. At various points she is captured and imprisoned by different factions.

We then journey back to some of the present, switching between 2099 and later revealing more of the backstory from Volume 1 and how everyone came together. The one wearing glasses is desperate to get off planet, but instead is left beaten and ground bound. He finds the cave and forces Tawny's children to explore the possibilities of the time travel cave before they attack him and flee into the cave. The cave, where native Americans have always found safety under threat of attack.

While the story flows a little easier in volume 2, the weaknesses of the narrative remains. It is frustrating when the summary on the back of the book makes the events more clear than actually reading the issues. The keys to Tawny's journey are highlighted with key panels or important archeological discoveries, but even though we are at first just as lost as Tawny, she has the advantage of the author's mind while we are left to piece it together. What works in the script doesn't always translate well into the graphics.

Still, it's an interesting enough twist to the time travel canon that I'm interested to see where it goes from here, even if it might need lots of notes and to be ordered chronologically in story to make full sense.

4 stars

I have never really read a graphic novel before, aside from Calvin and Hobbes (not really the same lol).
I love SGJ and this looked really cool, so why not give it a go. I didn’t really take into account it was the second part but I didn’t let that bother me. The art is gorgeous and the story was pretty awesome and in line with what I expect from Jones.
I’ll definitely be looking into buying these as physical books and following the story now.
What a fascinating and unique storyline though. I love the imagination behind this.

Initially this felt like a distraction from the first volume's killer pitch (Indian travels back in time to assassinate Columbus), with another character going into the mysterious cave in search of her children, and emerging - well, look at the title. But, y'know, prehistoric megafauna makes for pretty cool comics too, and when it becomes apparent that an earlier wave of European invaders have made it across the Atlantic ice, the parallels become more apparent. There's also a welcome awareness that, whatever the grand currents of history, murdering children is not a good look - a theme I would have considered uncontroversial a couple of weeks ago, but here we are.

(Netgalley ARC)