Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tuesday Review Day - Graphic Novels!!


Written by: Richelle Mead, Leigh Dragoon and Illustrated by Emma Vieceli
Publication date:  August 23, 2011 by Razorbill
Released in Paperback
144 pages

3 stars

Synopsis: After two years on the run, best friends Rose and Lissa are caught and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy, a private high school for vampires and half-bloods. It's filled with intrigue, danger - and even romance. Enter their dark, fascinating world through a new series of 144-page full-color graphic novels. The entire first Vampire Academy novel has been adapted for book one by Leigh Dragoon and overseen by Richelle Mead, while the beautiful art of acclaimed British illustrator Emma Vieceli brings the story to life.
My Review: I won't exactly be reviewing the story, more so my overall enjoyment of the book.

Here are a few characters I picked out to tell you how I felt about them:

1. Lissa Dragomir: I HATE the way Lissa looks. She's so plain and not as pretty as I had imagined. she doesn't have that royal or queen-like appearance Rose always talked about - how when Lissa was around other people she stood out and drew people to her.

2. Christian Ozera: I don't think I quite pictured Christian exactly the way he looks in the novel, but he's still very cute!

3. Rose Hathaway: I'm not happy with her look. I don't think she's tall enough but the rest is fine. Everything but her face. I don't know how I pictured her in my head but the face just isn't right for me.

4. Dimitri Belikov: I also don't care for Dimitri's look either. He's too wide. His head is huge! He look gigantic in a pro-wrestler kind of way. Half-naked Dimitri is the best look in the book!

5. Mia: She is definitely good at making you hate her all over again. I forgot how evil she was in the beginning of the story.

6. Victor Dashkov: He's older than I thought he was. Thinner, too. I thought he was a little more robust. Natalie was not at all what I thought.

I just hope they don't base the movie cast off of these drawings. Not that they aren't beautifully drawn, they just don't match the characters as well as I imagined. That's just my opinion.

There are a lot of panels on each page so there is plenty of story. For those of you that don't know, graphic novels are not something you read in place of the original, like, "Oh, I'll just read the graphic novel and know what the book is about." It doesn't work that way. It' touches on the key points in the book but, you're still missing a lot. Just like Twilight. You can't watch the movies and think you know the story. You don't.

There was one thing in the GN I don't r3emember happening in the novel. Christian was attacked by psi-hounds trying to protect Lissa and he was seriously hurt. He looked like he was dead, but then Lissa healed him or brought him back, but wouldn't that make him shadow-kissed? I'm confused.

The ending was a little awkward, kind of abrupt.

Overall: The graphic novel definitely gets you in the mood to read the novels all over again. It was fun to see all the memorable moments drawn out.




Written by: Alan Ball, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner and David Messina
Publication date: February 16, 2011 by IDW Publishing
Released in Hardcover
160 pages
3 stars 

Synopsis: Blood and sex mix on a hot rainy night at Merlotte's, when Sookie and her friends are trapped by a vengeful spirit who feeds on shame. People die and dirty secrets are revealed as Sookie, Bill, Eric, Sam, Tara, Jason, and Lafayette and are all coerced to dig deep and tell painful memories from their past-those things we all have locked within us that we never tell another living soul! Bon Temps, Louisiana has never been stranger, or more twisted, in a story co-plotted by TRUE BLOOD series creator Alan Ball, with a script by David Tischman (Bite Club) and Mariah Huehner, and lush art by David Messina (Star Trek: Countdown).

My Review: At first I was very confused. There's this "Doc Oc" looking creature right in the beginning that really through me off. I thought it was supposed to be related to either the book series or the TV series but it was a completely unrelated story. I should have read the preface by Alan Ball where he explains this.

Still, even though the beginning was a little weird, I started to get into it more and more. The characters don't exactly have the same face as the TV characters that I'm used to but they do sound the same, so it was easy to get into the flow of things.

Because this creature feeds off of people's shame, we get to hear all the main characters deepest, darkest secrets. It gives us a look on the inside of them that we don't always get from the tv show, or even the books. Juicy stuff!

The ending was a little weird, with Sookie telling this shame-sucking thing to hit the road and never come back. I love how Sookie is this tiny little human and she talks so big. Miss Bad Ass.

Overall: Fun and entertaining.

No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails