In MaXistra, Alev Inan offers us a world complete in its conception, from the monumental scale of its legends to every detail in the present. The brilliance of MaXistra is that these origin myths are no mere backdrops to the struggles unfolding in the narrative. They are, in fact, reflected in the very fabric of the modern world—from its clubs to its high-rises—and form central elements of the plot, in moving and ever-surprising ways. With its gradual reinvocation of the ancient magic and wisdom at its roots, MaXistra builds up to a riveting quest that makes each new turn more awe-inspiring than the next. This is a unique expedition, as in it the four tribes—once alienated through a history of genocide and adaptation to the rules of modernity—must travel to the heart of their very history in order to reconcile; to reconcile in order to restore; and to restore in order to prevent certain extinction. What at first appears to be the perennial journey for a destructive amulet turns into a dizzying and kaleidoscopic voyage in spacetime itself. For in MaXistra, the odyssey through personal and collective trauma is itself the most frightening one, as material as the wrath of a grieving mother whose cosmic tears threaten to wipe the world away. All must be faced for this world—our world—to be saved.
