Devolution by Rick Remender
Published 2020 · 83,600 words · about 4 hours at an average pace · Science Fiction, Graphic Novel
How hard is Devolution to read?
Devolution scores 26 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 22 out of 100
- A pulp science-fiction comic relies on short captions and dialogue in plain genre language. It sits near Asterix-level accessibility, with only a few invented terms such as 'Still Sapien'.
- Sentence structure: 20 out of 100
- Comic dialogue and captions use brief, direct sentences. Nothing suggests nested or demanding grammar, much like the plain declaratives of Orwell.
- Abstraction: 28 out of 100
- The premise of devolved life and a hunt for an antidote is concrete adventure, driven by action and creature encounters. It stays close to Asterix's pure adventure rather than philosophical content.
- Information density: 30 out of 100
- Comic pacing spreads a straightforward quest across images, so the reader absorbs little new information per page. Worldbuilding about mutated creatures adds some, but it stays light.
- Narrative indirection: 22 out of 100
- Visual storytelling in a pulp quest narrative tells readers what happens directly. Like Asterix, it asks for little inference.
- Symbolic density: 30 out of 100
- Devolution as a concept carries a loose allegorical charge about humanity's fate, but grindhouse pulp keeps the symbolism on the surface, below the signposted allegory of 1984.
- Ironic distance: 25 out of 100
- Pulp and grindhouse homage invites some genre winking, but the survival story plays mostly straight. It is closer to the sincere end of the scale, near Hoover's direct engagement.
- Resolution withholding: 30 out of 100
- A quest for an antidote promises a clear goal and a payoff. Serialized comics can leave threads open, but the story is built around achieving that goal.
- Structural complexity: 25 out of 100
- A serialized comic following one band of survivors on a linear quest has a simple structure, comparable to the linear shape of Beach Read.
How Devolution is regarded
Devolution holds a literary regard score of 21 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.