Die vols. 2-4

 Die vols. 2-4 (Split the Party/The Great Game/Bleed) by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, 496 pages.

25 years after they escaped the five former friends have been pulled into the world of Die, and they can't go home until everyone agrees that the game is over. Everyone alive anyways. After finding out that Sol is not only alive, but has been designing the game for them the last 25 years, this becomes divisive. It becomes even more divisive as our "heroes" decide which lives count as real in a fantasy world. If the tensions can't be resolved everyone can't go home. And soon the world pushes them to cooperation for much bigger problems, as everyone must ask what Die really is, where it came from, and what it wants/

After getting readers familiar with the premise in book one, the plot and characters can really start taking of starting in volume 2. I found the characters very compelling (if not always very likable) and seeing them engage with an also very interesting world is both compelling and thought-provoking. The series also has some interesting things to say about the iterative nature of creative invention. The plot lost me a little at the end (I do not enjoy non-linear causality as a plot point), but I found the story compelling enough overall that by that point I didn't really care. The character arcs end in a place that feels both satisfying and dramatic. This is a short series that packs a whole lot of punch and I would definitely recommend it, especially for people who are interested in getting into comics but not interested in dealing with the sprawling mess that is series that have been running for decades.