Book Review: Tales from the Loop by Simon Stalenhag

Books that blur the line between reality and fiction are those that I find most interesting. If done well, it's so easy to get lost in the worlds and stories that are created. Tales from the Loop by Simon Stalenhag is such a book.

By the way, this is a book that's funded by 3,890 backers on Kickstarters who pledged $321,680. Although I did not back the project, I'm glad it's also available for sale now to the general public.

This is a large format artbook with a matte cover and clothed bound spine. Inside, the pages are matte white, the high quality type.

The story is about how in 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world's largest particle accelerator. Yeap, something similar to the real life Large Hadron Collider but less technical because you don't have to read through the science of how it works. That facility, know to the population as The Loop, is built deep below the countryside, and the stories collected within the book are those from the area.

Perhaps the robot on the cover may have given you the clue that there are going to be robots. Yeah, and dinosaurs too. In that part of the world, things are a bit mysterious. There are dinosaurs and weird robots walking around, and they co-exists with the locals. One tale talks about how two giant Gorgosaurus Libratus attacked an ice-cream truck. There are other weirder stories because of The Loop.

The paintings from Simon Stalenhag are stunning. The way the subjects and landscape are basked in light is just beautiful to look at. You can also tell a lot of effort went into research and the designs of all the robots and facilities. Composition is fantastic too. Nothing is left to chance. Everything is properly designed. Together with the stories, it's a really mesmerising package to read and go through.

This is definitely one of 2015's best artbooks. Highly recommended.

If you like this book, check out KOLONIE: the forgotten frontier also.

Tales from the Loop is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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