AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman & Shane Oakley (illustrator)
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Books
PUBLISHING DATE: February 7, 2017
FROM GOODREADS: A celebrated send-up of gothic literature, beautifully adapted into a dark, brooding, and oddly comical graphic novel. Somewhere in the night, a raven caws, an author's pen scratches, and thunder claps. The author wants to write fiction: stories about frail women in white nightgowns, mysterious bumps in the night, and the undead rising to collect old debts. But he keeps getting interrupted by the everyday annoyances of talking ravens, duels to the death, and his sinister butler.
Shane Oakley beautifully illustrates New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman's satirical tale.
MY THOUGHTS: I am so glad I didn't order this from Amazon. It was in my cart and I resisted. Luckily I saw it on the library new release shelf a few weeks ago and it immediately jumped into my greedy little hands. I LOVE the cover and heck, it's Neil Gaiman, so I thought it had to be good. I'm not really sure what I expected, but this wasn't it.
This is a VERY short Gothic graphic novel. It tells the tale of a man trying to write a classic gothic literature piece and he keeps getting interrupted by his butler, some scary Aunt in the attic and a talking raven. I'm pretty sure it supposed to poking fun at Gothic tales but I think I missed something. I will say it is comical in places. The writer in the book finally thinks he is trying too hard to wrote some great piece spellbinding literature so he eventually starts another tale about an unhappy housewife and toast (yep, toast - not a typo).
The artwork is great and that's why it actually is a 3/5 read rather than a 2/5. It goes back and forth from black and white (the author's tale) and color (Gaiman's tale) which is a nice division. If you see it at the library and like dark tales or else are a huge Gaiman fan, then I'd say grab it. However, I can't recommend buying it and it literally took me under 1/2 hour to read it.
RATING: 3 PAWS
The cover does look cool, believe it or not I haven't ever read Neil Gaiman before though I did have one of his books at one time. The title is really really long that is funny, to bad it wasn't a better read.
ReplyDeleteThe artwork is really good. It's the only thing that made it a 3/5 read.
DeleteHmm, I think the title alone would put me off this book, plus, not a big Gaiman fan. Like you said, at least you didn't buy it!
ReplyDeleteYea, the title alone lost me but when I saw it on the new shelf, I couldn't resist grabbing it.
DeleteBy the time you say the name, you've read the book!
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteI'm 40% into Gaiman's The Ocean at the end of the Lane my first of his books I read and not liking it as much as I thought I was going to! I may try another of his books tough.
ReplyDeleteI want to read American Gods someday. Probably because the series is coming out soon.
DeleteI have only read a couple of Gaiman's books but I did enjoy them but I think I will pass on this one. Good think you were able to get this one at the library!
ReplyDeleteMost definitely. Glad I didn't spend the money.
DeleteThis looks like a scary one but I would probably skip it, given what you say. Gaiman's stuff doesn't appeal to me as much as it does some, although I do keep a lookout for one I might want to try. :) And that is quite the title!!
ReplyDeleteYea, I had to keep looking it up to type the post - not a good sign.
DeleteThat title is quite epic, isn't it? Sorry to hear about the actual inside of the book though :( It sounds like a book you'd love to get into doesn't it?
ReplyDelete