Graphic Novels Archives - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Pumpkinheads

By Brookelorren on October 24, 2019October 20, 2019Leave a Comment

I recently read Pumpkinheads, a graphic novel by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks. To be honest, I initially didn’t have interest in reading this book. I don’t really care for the title and I don’t read too many graphic novels. However, I’m really glad that I read it because it is cute and funny. It’s definitely worth five stars.

Josiah and Deja have worked at the pumpkin patch together for the past few years. Now they’re seniors in high school, and it’s their last night working together. They’re a little sad about it. Josiah is additionally sad because there’s a girl that works here that he has a crush on. The only thing is, he hasn’t been able to work up the nerve to talk to her for the past three years. Deja is about to make him change that.

The two spend the evening tracking down the girl of his dreams. Hilarity ensues, because this girl is not easy to find. Eventually, he does find her, but I won’t say what happens.

Pumpkinheads is appropriate for YA readers of all ages. Older middle grade readers might enjoy it also. I loved the two main characters. They have such a sweet friendship. The pumpkin patch setting is really cute too. There’s a map in the front of the book where you can follow their journey as they look for Josiah’s dream girl.

I loved the illustrations. I haven’t read a lot of graphic novels yet, but I enjoyed Faith Erin Hick’s style and would be interested in reading more books illustrated by her.

Pumpkinheads is the perfect October read if you’re looking for something that makes you think of Halloween but isn’t scary. I borrowed this book from the library, and there was a waiting list for this book. Happily, I got to borrow it before the Thanksgiving and Christmas season is upon us. I often read books several weeks (or more) before I get around to posting my review, but I wanted to make sure that I shared this excellent graphic novel with you while it’s still the season to read it. This is a quick read that I highly recommend. I’m passing it along to my boy to read before it’s due back at the library.

Prodigy (The Graphic Novel)

By Brookelorren on March 16, 2019March 14, 2019Leave a Comment

This week, I’m reviewing the Legend series graphic novels by Marie Lu. Today, I’ll be reviewing Prodigy The Graphic Novel, which is the second book. Since this is the second book in a trilogy, there are some spoilers for the first book here.

In Prodigy, June has just helped Day escape from his execution, but what’s already been done cannot be reversed. Day will never get his brother and mother back. As the book begins, they’re on the run from the colonies, and they need help from the Patriots, a group that Day has always shunned because of their more violent methods. When the Elector Primo dies, things are about to change. Should Day and June support the new elector, or should they support the Colonies? You’ll have to read either Prodigy the Graphic Novel or the original book to find out.

I’ve already given my opinion on the original Legend Trilogy, which is one of my favorite series ever, so I’d like to mainly talk about the graphic novel adaptation of this book. While I think it was well done, there were a couple of things that I thought it could have done better.

Sadly, one of my favorite scenes from Prodigy, where Day and June kiss in the bathroom in Las Vegas, was left out of the graphic novel. One of the things that I appreciated from the Legend Graphic novel was how much attention was paid to detail. While there was still a lot of detail in this book, there were a few things that were missing. When they get to Las Vegas, as an example, June’s hair is supposed to be spray-painted scarlet and Day’s hair is covered up by his hat, while it isn’t in the graphic novel (they do have June’s temporary face tattoo, however). Kaede’s vine tattoo seems to have disappeared as well (which I’m pretty sure was not temporary).

While tattoos and hair color are just little details, it does reflect how much attention was paid to the original novel. There isn’t any real reason to get it wrong.

Other than these small things, Prodigy the Graphic Novel stays faithful to the original novel. It still has the same basic story and the same ending. If you loved the original novel and need a quick reminder of the story before Rebel comes out, or just want to see this book in graphic novel form, I recommend it.

Legend (The Graphic Novel) Is Adorable!

By Brookelorren on March 14, 2019March 11, 20192 Comments

One of my Christmas presents to myself last year (with my gift card money) was getting a copy of the Legend graphic novels. I’m not really a graphic novel reader, but these were so adorable that I couldn’t pass them up. Besides, as a book reviewer, I’m starting to try new things.

Legend (in case you haven’t read the original novel) is the story of Day, who grew up in a poor family, and June, who grew up in a wealthy family, in the dystopian future country, The Republic. Fun fact: Day is related to Asher Wing from Warcross. Anyway, after June’s brother Metais dies, she goes to look for who she thinks is the killer. Things aren’t exactly as she thinks they are, and they end up on an adventure together.

The first thing that I notice about this book is that it’s adorable. The first few pages show 10-year-old Daniel (Day is a nickname) taking his trial, which is used to determine things like what high school (if any) you get into. 10-year-old Daniel is just so adorable you want to reach into the book and give him a hug, especially when you find out what happens to him.

Most of the book happens after they both turn 15 in this book. Legend the Graphic Novel follows he original storyline fairly accurately, although the order the story is told in had to be altered a bit to fit the format, there is less detail, and it’s not told form the 1st person perspectives of Day and June like the original novels.

One of the things that I appreciate about Legend the Graphic Novel is that it gets a lot of details from the book correct (unlike some movies that I’ve seen of popular movies ::cough cough Divergent::). The hair and eye colors seem accurate, most of the clothing seems accurate; even Kaede’s vine tattoo is correct. As someone who has written Legend fanfiction and strives to make sure I get the details correct, I appreciate that the graphic novel was done so well.

The fourth Legend book, Rebel, is coming out this fall. If you don’t have time to reread the original series and want to review everything before you read it, you might want to try Legend the graphic novel. It doesn’t take that long to read, goes over all the major details, and is cute on top of that. Happy reading!

The Iliad Graphic Novel

By Brookelorren on February 18, 2019February 18, 2019Leave a Comment

Let’s face it. The classics can be difficult to read. When I saw The Iliad in graphic novel form available on Netgalley, I decided to read it. It’s been a book I’ve been meaning to read for years, but have never gotten around to it.

This book makes it easier to read The Iliad, but I have to be honest with you: this book was still difficult for me. The book has a huge cast of characters, some of whom only show up on one page. This person dies, that god helps this hero out… it’s a little difficult to keep track of. In addition, there are a lot of place names to try to keep track of. After reading this book one time, I still don’t feel like I have a good grasp of this part of the Trojan War.

The pictures are pretty good, but they happen to be on a grand scale, which makes it more difficult to convey well through art on a book-sized sheet of paper. In the places where there are a lot of soldiers or ships, the pictures seem a little busy. I’m not sure what could be done about that though.

The book seems to be true to the original story, although I never managed to read it, I do know a decent amount of Greek mythology. I was surprised to discover that the story of the Trojan Horse is not part of The Iliad though. I would have liked to have seen that.

If you’re curious about this classic, The Iliad graphic novel is an easier way to understand the story. With the huge cast of characters and all the customs that are completely different than ours, it still isn’t the easiest book to read, but it’s certainly easier than the original Homer.