Early Graphic Novel Review - The Bramble by Lee Nordling and Bruce Zick (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade/Childrens’
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 32 pages
Publisher: Carolrhoda Books
Release Date: September 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0761358565
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for review
Rating: 3.5/5 stars


I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. Thanks to Carolrhoda Books and Netgalley for giving me the chance to review this book. When I saw this graphic novel about a boy finding monsters in a dark forest I was hooked and dying to read it. It ended up being an okay read, a little confusing at parts and the drawings were more sketches and seemed a bit incomplete.

A young boy is being teased and bullied by some older boys when he can’t catch them during a game of tag, then he falls into the Bramble. The Bramble is a mysterious world full of friendly monsters and an evil dark wave that threatens them. When he helps the monsters defeat this evil dark wave they celebrate with him. Soon he has to journey home, there he uses what he learned in the Bramble to deal with the bully he was having trouble with and to make new friends of the human type.

The illustrations are cute but have an unfinished feel to them. They are done mostly in muted browns and blues, which match the tone of the story well. Still the sketchy feel they had to them bothered me a bit, like maybe the illustrations weren’t quite all they could be.

There are very very few words in this book, it’s mostly told through pictures. Giving the sketchiness of the illustrations and the complete dependence of the story on these illustrations, you end up with a story that is kind of confusing at times. I had to go back and re-look multiples times to try and figure out what was going on in the story.

Still once I figured the story out it is a cute one. Basically the boy befriends the monsters and then uses his own strengths back in his own world to make new friends with the kids that were mean to him before. It’s a good story about friendship, using your strengths, and forgiveness. So there’s a good message here if you can follow the story.

Really this book comes across as a bit of a Where the Wild Things Are but for the middle grade age set.

Overall an okay book. I love the theme and the idea here and really enjoyed the positive story. I was disappointed in the unfinished feel the illustrations had and a bit disappointed at how hard the story was to follow. This was a bit like a Where the Wild Things are but for the middle grade crowd...and with poorer illustration. I would recommend taking a quick look at the illustration of the book before buying just to see if it appeals to you.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - The Walking Dead (Hardcover, Vol 1) by Robert Kirkman (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Horror
Size: 304 pages
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 2006
ISBN: 978-1582406190
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Walking Dead HC releases
Source: Gift
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I love graphic novels and zombies and have been wanting to read this graphic novel series for a while now. This volume 1 Hardcover edition is a compilation of the first two trade paperbacks in the series, Days Gone By and Miles Behind Us. While I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped it was still an engaging read. It’s more of a drama read than a zombie read. I guess I was really excited to read it and really expecting something special, so I feel a bit let down.

Rick Grimes, a small town cop, is in a coma from a gunshot wound. When he finally wakes up things are changed. The hospital is abandoned, the cafeteria is full of vicious dead things that used to be people. The worst is that his family is gone; he assumes they went to Seattle so he sets off to find them and try to figure out what’s going on.

The illustration is very well done. I enjoyed the illustrator for Days Gone By more than for the second book, Miles Behind. Mainly because it was more detailed artwork. The whole book is in black and white. It’s easy to tell what is going on in the illustration and easy to read facial expressions and things like that.

I absolutely loved the first book, Days Gone By. Rick is an engaging character and him meeting up with his family is wonderfully done. He’s a natural born leader who is doing his best to survive and find his family. It’s when he meets up with the other small group of survivors that things get a bit well, I don’t know...I guess just so typical.

These are very typical zombies of the shambling and flesh eating sort. When they bite you, you get sick and turn into a zombie after a few days time. Pretty normal zombie stuff. In this hardcover edition there isn’t any speculation yet as to what caused the outbreak or what happened. The survivors Rick runs into are sitting outside of Seattle waiting for the government to come help them...this seemed a bit naive to me. I mean if whole cities are overrun, why would the government be available to rescue civilians? And would you want them to, giving that means lots of stressed people crammed into some government facility? Anyway, I guess I have read too many zombie books.

The second book, Miles Behind, was way more drama than the first book. This one starts dealing with whom among the survivors is sleeping with who, who dislikes who, etc. etc. It gets very soap opera like with occasional zombie attacks sprinkled throughout. I get exasperated with people that do stupid things and make their situation worse. I mean really would you sleep with some guy after being away from your husband for a week because you think he is dead? Wow, that is some strength there, must have been a really solid marriage. The survivors attack each other, making things even worse. I understand these people are stressed, but why be so stupid and make things so much worse?

Eventually they end up at a farm with a guy who’s locked up zombies to cure them later. Yeah, okay totally read that scenario before a number of times...we all know how that ends up.

So while I enjoyed the detailed illustration and found the first part of this book very engaging, I started to get a bit annoyed at the second half of the book. Having these people surviving the zombie apocalypse isn’t enough, they also have to do a lot of really stupid things that make the situation worse. Towards the end I just couldn’t stop rolling my eyes every time yet another crazy thing happened that made their lives worse; especially since many times these things happened from the people just not thinking.

Let’s take a quick diversion to talk about the mess that is Rick’s wife Lori. Wow do I hate her. She has got to be the most incompetent woman on the planet. Why did Rick marry her? She is whiny, unfaithful, and can’t even raise a gun to protect her son from being eaten by zombies. Ugh, I disliked her. She doesn’t want Rick to take risks to help them survive, but also won’t take risks herself. She doesn’t want her son Carl to learn to protect himself because he is too young...seriously?! Many of the women characters in this book leave a lot to be desired.

As with many zombie stories you just know things aren’t going to end well. By the end of this book the level of stupidity coupled with all the bad things going on was just annoying and depressing. I didn’t expect this to be an uplifting read, but I did expect it to be a creative read that wasn’t just soap opera plus zombies.

Reading what I wrote above I don’t sound very positive about this book. I did enjoy the first book and I think it was well done. I did not enjoy how the second book turned into a soap opera with intermittent zombie attacks. Right now I am kind of on the fence about whether or not I will keep reading this series. So some feedback from people who are further into it would be nice. Does it get better? It is all just people making stupid mistakes and having increasingly horrible things happen to them to rachet up the drama? Do we actually get to a back story about why all of this is going on? Or is it just more of people being mean to each other, sleeping with each other, and dying?

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - Visitor in the Field (Rust, Volume 1) by Royden Lepp (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: All ages
Genre: Graphic Novel/Science Fiction
Size: 192 pages
Publisher: Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: December 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1936393275
Stand Alone or Series: 1st volume in the Rust series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars


This is the first book in the Rust graphic novel science fiction series. The second book is, Secrets of the Cell, and is already out. I found this to be a surprisingly engaging book with an interesting story, and very well done sepia toned illustrations.

Roman is having a hard enough time supporting his family farm when a young boy with a rocket pack, Jet Jones, crashes in his field while being chased by a giant robot. Most of Roman’s family thinks Jet is trouble waiting to happen, but Roman thinks Jet might hold the key to fixing the farm and saving his family.

Roman is a young man just trying to make ends meet on the family farm. He is practical and also willing to do whatever he has to to help out his family.

Jet Jones is a mysterious young boy who at times comes off as much older than the young age he appears to be. He has awesome mechanical skills and is a great helper around the farm. Only problem is that he seems to draw trouble in the form of giant robots.

The whole setting is an interesting one. The world is obviously recovering from some sort of giant world war. As part of this war robots were trained to fight in place of mankind. The cause of this war and who was on what side is still a mystery at this point in the book. The fact that the story is set on a farm gives the story a nostalgic feel, but then you have all of the robots that Roman is trying to rebuild in his barn and that adds a sci-fi twist to the whole thing.

The illustration is wonderful. All of the illustrations are done in sepia tones, again this gives a nostalgic feel to the story. The drawings are detailed, realistic, and portray emotion very well. They were easy to follow and told a lot of the story all on their own.

This volume ends with some huge questions unanswered. Who exactly is Jet? What happened to this world?

Overall I really really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was an entertaining read with excellent world-building, engaging characters, an interesting story, and wonderfully done illustrations. Highly recommended to those who enjoy graphic novels especially novels in the fantasy/sci-fi genre. I will definitely be picking up Secrets of the Cell.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - The Book of Ballads by Charles Vess (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Size: 192 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Date: October 14, 2004
ISBN: 978-0765312143
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped
Rating: 4/5 stars


I have had this graphic novel on my shelf to read forever. I finally got around to reading it; I originally picked this up because I love Charles Vess’s artwork and thought the concept of him illustrating a whole bunch of traditional ballads sounded really awesome. It was a very good read. Some of the ballads were retold in really wonderful ways, others were just excerpts from the original ballads.

This book consists of a series of traditional ballads. The ballads are first told via graphic novel format. Some are retellings and some are pretty much word for word from the original ballads. Then after the graphic retelling, the ballad is printed in its entirety.

A lot of these were just the ballads with pictures without much retelling done by the authors. There were a couple that really stood out though with excellent retellings done by the authors. The Two Corbies by Charles de Lint was a very well done retelling and delivered a fantastic story while still referencing the original ballad. The Black Fox by Emma Bull was also very well done, Bull gave an American twist to this traditional ballad.

Most of the Ballads feature supernatural being like fey or witches. All of the Ballads have fantasy or faerie tale bent to them.

Charles Vess’s artwork is as stunning as always. I was a bit disappointed that everything was in black and white, because I love what Vess does with color. Still the drawings were wonderful and did an excellent job of portraying the mood of the story. His artwork ranges from cartoonish (in the Galtee Farmer), to stunningly beautiful (in Tam-Lin and Savoy), and even to disturbingly ugly (in Alison Cross).

I also really enjoyed reading the poems in their original format. I love epic poetry and folklore and these were fun and interesting to read.

Overall an enjoyable read. I was a bit disappointed that so many of the “retellings” were just excerpts of the original ballads/poems. Still there were some excellent retellings in here as well. Charles Vess’s illustration was absolutely stunning and really set the mood for the stories. Recommended to those who enjoy fantasy graphic novels or are interested in folklore/fantasy poetry.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Early Review - The Misty Circus by Victoria Frances (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: All Ages
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 80 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1616550899
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Misty Circus series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. Thanks to Dark Horse and NetGalley for giving me a chance to review this book. This book was full of absolutely stunning illustrations paired with a gothic and sweet story.

The story is about a young boy named Sasha who has been abandoned by his parents. He ventures into the woods and befriends a black cat. Together they stumble upon the Misty Circus. As part of the Misty Circus they go on a number of adventures.

The illustrations throughout this book are absolutely stunning and beautiful. They all have a very beautiful gothic, sweet, and melancholy tone to them which matches the story perfectly. I really enjoyed looking at these beautiful and somewhat odd pictures.

The story is simple, sweet, and magical. The story has a gothic flare to it with deep dark woods and witches. The Misty Circus is a magical place. This book features two smaller stories. The first is about Sasha finding the Misty Circus. The second is about Sasha journeying to a land full of witches and befriending a lonely young witch. The story has a heavy French overtone to it, the poems are in French (with translation to English) and the pictures have a French flare to them.

These are stories that would be appropriate for all ages. Younger children might be a bit scared at the idea of Sasha’s father abandoning him and also maybe a bit scared of the witches.

Overall I really really enjoyed this book. It has beautiful pictures and a gothically sweet story. Sasha is a young boy that is a bit different and finds his place in life at the Misty Circus. The friendship between him and his cat is touching as well. I highly recommend this to those who love fantasy graphic novels; although this is more of a picture book than a true graphic novel.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Debut Author Reading Challenge

Early Review - Simon’s Cat in Kitten Chaos by Simon Tofield (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: All Ages
Genre: Humor/Cartoon
Size: 240 pages
Publisher: Akashic Books
Release Date: April 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-1617751585
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Simon’s Cat series
Source: ARC through Librarything’s Early Reviewers
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through Librarything’s Early Reviewer Program. Thanks to Akashic and Librarything for a chance to review this book. This was a super fun and cute read that cat fans of all ages will love.

This is the third book released featuring Simon’s Cat. The focus of this book, as the title suggests, is the addition of a new kitten to the household and how exactly Simon’s cat feels about all of that.

Simon’s cat started out as a web comic. For those who have followed the web comic, you know there are no words in the cartoons. So there are no words in this book, just the whole series of cartoons. The cartoons start from the acquisition of the new kitten, to later in the year when Simon’s Cat and the kitten are finally working together more.

All ages of cat lovers will find this book hilarious. My family and I just got a new kitten a few months ago and so we could relate, first hand, to a lot of the kitten antics that were in here. My six year old son laughed so hard he was almost in tears and my husband and I also found the book to be incredibly funny.

As you can imagine this book explore how a kitten can make an older cat’s life very difficult. It also looks out how a kitten and cat can work together to make a human’s life very hectic. As the book goes on there are even dogs, birds, bunnies, and hedgehogs involved.

The first portion of the book was the funniest. As the bunnies and hedgehogs got involved my family had a harder time relating to the comics and didn’t find them quite as funny.

The final part of the book gives instructions on how you too can draw all of the animals in this book.

Overall a very cute and funny read. Highly recommended to all fans of cat humor. The drawings are cute and the antics of the kitten and cat are pretty darn accurate. I really enjoyed this book, it will make a great book to sit on the coffee table to make people laugh.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Superhero
Size: 200 pages
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: April 14, 1993
ISBN: 978-1563890826
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars


I have had this book on my shelf to read for a while. I finally got around to reading it. It was a very very good read. It ties into the story of some of the top magic users in super hero history, has cameos from the Endless, and discusses the repercussions of using magic.

Timothy Hunter has been identified as having a great capacity for magic should he choose to use it. He is identified by the Trenchcoat Brigade (consisting of John Constantine, the Phantom Stranger, Dr. Occult and Mister E) and offered a choice to explore magic or not. Each of these practitioners of magic takes on him on a different type of tour. Timothy visits the past, the present, and the future and also the fairylands.

This graphic novel takes an interesting look at the history of magic (both in general and in the DC universe), the future of magic, and realms of magic. Each magic practitioner takes Tim on a different journey and each journey emcompasses one of four “books of magic”.

We meet a wide variety of magical characters throughout this story from more classical magical characters (Baba Yaga, Titania) to a number of magical characters that pepper DC comic history (including Gaiman’s own Endless).

The books of magic get more abstract as they continue, with the final book (the one looking at the future of magic) being the most abstract. The illustration throughout follows this trend. Each book has a very distinctive artistic style. Charles Vess (my favoorite illustrator of the bunch) illustrates the fairy land journey and this was a perfect match for his style. The final book which journeys into the future had a very abstract style that was my least favorite of the bunch, but still matched the story very well.

I will be honest in saying that a lot of the DC comic references were lost on me since I haven’t read a ton in this universe. I still really enjoyed the story of Timothy exploring all these different avenues of magic and learning about them. The story is written in a way that even comic ignorant people like me will really enjoy it.

There is a fun twist at the end of the novel as well that had me chuckling. I love how the whole thing was wrapped up.

Overall I really really enjoyed this graphic novel. It was well written and provided a good story about the dangers of power and magic. It should be appropriate for YA and older. I also enjoyed all the wonderfully different illustration styles as well. Highly recommended to fans of fantasy graphic novels and to fans of the magical side of the DC universe.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Fables Prequel) by Bill Willingham (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Size: 144 pages
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: March 5, 2008
ISBN: 978-1401203696
Stand Alone or Series: Prequel to Fables series
Source: Swapped
Rating: 5/5 stars


This is a prequel to the Fables series and it was very well done. I enjoyed learning the back stories on some of our favorite characters. I also enjoyed the variety of different types of illustration, all of which were unique and beautiful.

This is a wonderful installment where Snow White is held hostage by the Sultan and, in exchange for delaying her execution, she tells the Sultan a new story every night. All of the stories tell of the pasts of Fables characters we have come to know and love. The illustrations vary a lot in style but are absolutely fantastic.

We hear about the Frog Prince and his past, about Snow White and how her and Rose Red came to be at odds. Another excellent story was the one about how Bigby was born and came to be the Big Bad Wolf he is in current stories. The stories are very well done and just wonderful.

We also learn about about the exile of the Fables to our world. Some of this back story we already know, but this installment provides some extra background.

I really really enjoyed learning the back stories for all of these wonderful Fables characters. It adds a lot of depth to these characters we know and love.

The variety of illustration was fantastic. All of these illustrations are very well done but very different from story to story.

Overall a very enjoyable addition to the Fables universe. If you are a fan of this series definitely pick this up. I would actually recommend this as an excellent introduction to the Fables world and great stand alone read as well. Fans of fantasy graphic novels should definitely check this out.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Short Stories
Size: 96 pages
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Release Date: February 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0545055871
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped
Rating: 5/5 stars


This was a wonderful collection of short stories told in both written and graphic novel format that is 100% Tan in style and tone.

The stories are quirky and funny, sometimes darkly so. Covering topics all the way from abandoned missiles decorating people’s yard, to a daring nighttime turtle rescue, to a paper map that really does show the end of a city. The story all have a couple things in common; they talk about extraordinary things in a suburban world and they are full of irony.

I enjoyed all the short stories and the irony throughout. Tan does an excellent job of making these stories accessible on a number of different levels. They will mean different things to kids and adults, but both age groups will enjoy them thoroughly.

There is a lot of creativity in these stories and the drawings are fabulous. The drawings range from whimsical to eerie and everything in between...but they are always interesting to look at, quirky, and beautiful.

I love that I just never know what I am going to get from one story to the next. Every new story is an unexpected surprise. I also love that I can read most of these with my 6 year old son and he enjoys them just as much as I do.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of quirky stories and drawings. If you are Shaun Tan fan this is a must have. If you love graphic novels you have to check this out. Seriously this is a wonderfully creative and quirky read that will appeal to all ages. It’s something I absolutely loved and I can’t wait to check out more by Tan.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Graphic Novel Review - The God Machine by Chandra Free (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Size: 160 pages
Publisher: Archaia
Release Date: November 23, 2010
ISBN: 978-1932386875
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the God Machine series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

I stumbled upon this graphic novel while browsing the graphic novel section in Half Price Books. The absolutely stunning artwork on the cover grabbed my attention. When I pulled it down and paged through it I was hooked on the unique and fabulous art.

Guy Salvatore’s girlfriend has gone missing and is presumed dead. He is dwelling in a state of self pity and grief and manages to catch the attention of the Gods. Good God, Evil God, and Limbo God run things from a parallel realm and this boy is messes everything up when he sees them (humans aren’t supposed to be able to see the Gods). In the midst of much mayhem they try to figure out what the heck is going on here.

I cannot emphasise how stunning and beautiful the artwork is throughout this book. It is just wonderful. It’s done in a beautiful full array of colors and is just absolutely eye-catching...and at times a bit disturbing.

The story is decently done, but a bit ambiguous and scattered at times. It’s a very creative story but you have to really concentrate on what is happening to not get lost. The story bounces between Guy, the three Gods, and a number of Guy’s rather disturbing dreams.

It’s a fun and interesting read....and I just love, love love the artwork.

Overall this was a very good and interesting graphic novel. I enjoyed the artwork throughout a ton and though the story was very creative. The story is a bit ambiguous though and kind of jumps between different POVs, so you really need to concentrate on what’s going on. I enjoyed it alot and hope that Free writes future installments to the God Machine.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
- 150+ Reading Challenge