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Bloody Bookaholic's Commandment:

Thou Shall Read Till Thy Eyes Bleed

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Review: Vampire Academy and Frostbite (The Graphic Novels) by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel (Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel, #1) Frostbite: The Graphic Novel (Vampire Academy: The Graphic Novel, #2)

Title: Vampire Academy & Frostbite
Author: Richelle Mead, Emma Vieceli (Illustrator), Leigh Dragoon (Adapter)
Series: Vampire Academy
Book #: 1 & 2
Pages: 144 - 144
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating: Photobucket
Goodreads Rating: 4.10 - 4.42
Published: August 23rd, 2011 - May 24th, 2012
Vampire Academy: 
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. 
 Frostbite:
The drama and romance continue in this 144-page full-color graphic novel adaptation of the second Vampire Academy novel, Frostbite, which was overseen by Richelle Mead and features beautiful art by acclaimed British illustrator Emma Vieceli.
Taschima's POV:

Rating (and review) for both Vampire Academy and Frostbite:

I am rating these comics based on the art, and the way the story is being depicted. It has nothing to do with the story itself (the Vampire Academy books are amazing). Let's just say, the comic was disappointing when it came to these things. I was expecting more.

Some of the problems I have with this comic are:

1. The art: It hurt my eyes. It bothered me at times. My main problem really is with how the characters are drawn (mainly, all the girls; most of the guys looked great). Why do all of them have such long faces? Like, seriously long faces. All of them are the same length, and it gets sort of creepy and annoying. Not to mention that some of these characters don't like at all how I pictured them (basically most of them, but I've managed to make peace with it... sort of), but that was bound to happen I get that, I just want them to at the very least be drawn well so they are aesthetically pleasing.

The characters that I sort of liked how they were drawn: Christian, Adrian, Mia, Dimitri, Rose and Guardian Hathaway. Again, I didn't like them all of the time, but I liked them more than others.

The characters that I hated how they were drawn: Lissa (she is the worst), Mason, Eddie, Victor, The Queen.

My Dimitri looks more like this:

description
 This is Amon from Witch Hunter Robin (aka my dreamy anime boyfriend).
2. The story: It's all... screwed up. You would miss some major things if you didn't read the books before hand (it skips scenes and story details). Like for example, in book two you are never told Rose and Mason are going out till like the very end were Rose by chance calls him "her boyfriend", the same with Lissa's pill in-taking, another detail that goes down the drain. The books also lack description. At other times it goes through scenes too quickly and without warning, one minute we are trying to grasp what the hell just happened in this scene and why the dialogue looks so choppy the next we are sent into a completely new scene (where the dialogue is even worse). This also doesn't help you develop some sort of connection with the characters, it's just not enough pages for it. It's just the bones of the story, but none of the meat.

Oh yeah, and the dialogue? It's like its trying to resemble the dialogue in the book but it falls short every single time. Lines that would give me a thrill in the real book fell flat in the comic. Like for example in VA when Dimitri finds Rose sort of hooking up with the boy Moroi and she is all like "Like what you see?", that line is awesome in the book, in the comic? Not so much. Then again, in the comic it doesn't give you enough time to get into the scene before it is ripped apart from you.

On the other hand, if you are a big VA fan like myself, then why the hell not try it out and add it to the collection? I'm keeping mine, I just wouldn't pay an obscene amount of money for them.

This goes to show that there will never be a good enough replacement for your own imagination. Not even colorful story books.

 

4 comments:

  1. I have only read the first adaptation and I completely agree with you the transition of scenes are really terrible and they leave out so much detail that these really aren't for people who have not read the books and I only honestly want to pick up Frostbite because I want to see how Adrian looks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. well, i completely disagree with you. i'm a massive fan of the books and your review is fucking awful!if people don't know whats happened because they haven't read the books, they can get off their lazy assies and get down the libary to read the damn books! what do you think? the books are going to include everyword so it is like the book? huh?

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  3. @Sandy Yeah, I agree, but I'm still probably getting Shadow Kiss, whenever it goes down in prize >.<

    @Kay That is also okay, it is your opinion. Now I have read Vampire Academy since the first book was out, re read them countless times, and I stay updated on everything VA related, so I consider myself a fan as well. These graphic novels aren't just geared for fans of the series though, they are also a way to catch the attention of a reader that otherwise would have never heard of the VA books, not only that but some people just like reading Comic Books/graphic novels more than books (it's not being lazy, it's just what they like), and because of this is why I think they wouldn't be so great for people recently introduced to the series. Being in comic book format doesn't mean they have to be a word for word thing either I agree, but it could have been done better (I've read other series that have been made into graphic novels so I know it could have been done better). It would be fantastic for everybody to go to their library, pick up a copy, and start reading, true, but not everybody has the time in their hands, or other things might come up.

    I respect and welcome your opinion. However this review is my opinion on these graphic novels, you may like it, you may not, and at the very least I hope you come to respect it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't read the novels, but just finished reading the first graphic novel (GN). I'm a big comic fan, but I read loads of novels.

    So here's my opinion considering I'm not familiar with original source.

    Visuals I disagree with you. I kind of like the style. I also think Emma did an amazing job with the panels considering how very devoid of any action the GN adaptation is.

    Although I didn't read the source I still felt like this was a weak adaptation. Mostly because it does not play to the strengths of the GN medium. Pacing seems really off. The constant narration/dialogue thing annoying, dialogue weak, and the only time things seem to be picking up is when it ends.

    To be fair I'm not much into the teen vampire bandwagon thing, but there seem to be enough promise in the GN to make me pick up the original source. I was also tempted to check book 2, but from your review it seems to fall in the same pitfalls of book 1.

    ReplyDelete

Read your opinion, I want. Leave a comment, you shall.

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