House of Night: The Graphic Novel, #1

Originally Reviewed At:Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 4 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: NetGalley
Reviewer: Me


House of Night: Legacy (House of Night: The Graphic Novel #1) contains five issue, Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Spirit. Based on the bestselling series by author P.C. Cast, House of Night, issue #1 of this graphic novel series follows the life of Zoey Redbird, a sixteen year-old vampyre fledgling, as she finds strength and determination to become the leader of the Dark Daughters. Zoey is apprehensive about her new assignment because it means she will have to be a leader, a position she never wanted and believes she doesn’t deserve. In order to understand why the Goddess Nyx marked her and to see if she truly has what it takes to show more lead the Daughters, Nyx gives Zoe five tasks to complete. Moreover, if she successfully learns her five lessons, she will be deemed ready to lead the Dark Daughters.


In each of the five stories, we’re given a glimpse into the House of Night history by following the lives of famous vampyres who were each associated with one of the five elements. The purpose of each is to essentially teach Zoey some important life lesson about humility, sympathy, asking for help, among others. There is never a dull moment in this graphic novel, and I must say I thoroughly the enjoyed story.



Never having read the House of Night Series, I didn’t know what to expect with this graphic novel. Nevertheless, I am pleasantly surprised at how interesting and rich issue #1 was, giving depth to a story for those of us who might not have found out about this series otherwise. The author goes into tremendous detail as each vampyre’s life is retold over several pages. You can also see growth and character development with our main character Zoey, which is sometimes hard to accomplish in this type of setting (i.e. a novel vs. a graphic novel/comic). I also enjoyed the entire cast of side characters who each had different personalities and I can see them appealing to a wide variety of teenagers.



Overall, House of Night: Legacy is another surprise hit for me. I think it is perfect for anyone who is a fan of all things paranormal and not just for those people who have read the books. The art work also flows cohesively with the story. With each element, you can see the colors transition to fit the overall tone of that section of narrative. It’s a fun read with a wealth of detail and I highly recommend it! show less

I have to say I was just a little bit disappointed with this. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as I had expected. I had a problem with the fact that the storyline & characters didn't mesh well with the books. It was more humorous than the books, and makes light of several of the situations that Zoey faces.

I honestly wanted to like this, because I enjoyed the books, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was just me, I didn't like that it strayed so much from the way the main characters acted in the books. The dialog just didn't seem to match what I would have expected from the characters.

However, the artwork, both on the cover and inside, was great. I loved it. Being a fan of the series, it was really nice to have a visual show more representation of the characters that I have grown to love. Fantastic artwork.

I guess overall I would say that you may like it if you were a die-hard fan or if you haven't read the books yet and want the general feel of the House of Night world. It was good, just not as good as I'd hoped.

***Review copy received from NetGalley*** show less

I received a copy of this book for free through Netgalley, in exchange for a review.

I have read the first three books of the House of Night series, as my sister owns them - I think I actually read them all in two days. They're very easy reads, but the characters are so vapid, shallow and frustrating that this series is often the target of snarky reviews. So even though the series had not previously impressed me, I wanted to give the graphic novel a try because I love the cover art, and I like graphic novels.

My immediate thought was that it wouldn't be fair to rate this book on the story, since I didn't enjoy the books too much - but actually, it's not too bad and isn't just a graphic novel adaptation of the first novel. Somehow the show more characters are different, although we barely see the personalities of anyone but Zoey, and she's lost her bitchy, hypocritical ways.

Anyone who has read the books will remember the opening scene - some random guy just appears next to Zoey at school, points at her and BAM! She's a vampire. Seriously. I'm so glad this just skipped straight over that part and starts about a month into the school term. This also means it skips the slut-shaming and various other frustrating things about Zoey.

The basic story covers Zoey trying to fulfil five tasks set by Nyx, and involves her and her friends reading through their Fledgling Handbook, which recounts stories of previous famous vampyres and the elements, all of them historical figures. These historic narrations were really interesting - the Odysseus one even has a completely different art style which is really lovely and abstract compared to the rest of the book. However, there were a couple of issues with these scenes. One is about Boudicca and is set in 'Briton'... that's the people of Britain, not the country itself. It also claims that Boudicca travelled to the West Midlands after laying siege to Londinium, but she in fact moved on to Verulamium which is in the east (yeah, my ancient history nerd is showing...). On a more serious note, I would say that the novels are suitable for young teens, but the graphic novel has some more disturbing scenes which may make it only suitable for older readers.

I enjoyed the use of several different illustrators throughout the book - the main story was drawn by one artist, whereas others contributed full page drawings between chapters. However, this means that the story art looks nothing like the cover art, which is a shame. That's not to say it's bad however - it uses an interesting mix of bright, bold colours in contrast with the 'dark' story matter. The characters have striking, angular features which work very well, but some of the panel backgrounds are a bit plain, and there's a lot of empty space.

Overall, I was quite surprised by this book - Zoey is practically a different character, the art style is lovely, but the characters honestly fall a bit flat and the stories are rather disjointed. There's not much to connect them together, just Zoey and her friends going 'Oh, let's read more of the Handbook'. If the House of Night series was a disappointment to you, but you still read more than one, I think you'd be surprised by this graphic novel. It feels more like a side story than part of the main plot, but then I've only read the books once, and it was a while ago.

Also posted at my blog, Rinn Reads. show less

http://www.owltellyouaboutit.com/posts/house-of-night-legacy/

I’ve read the House of Night series for years. I loved it when I first started reading it and slowly grew out of it, but I keep reading because I want to know what happens to these characters. I have yet to read the last book, but it’s on my shelf waiting. When I saw that a graphic novel was coming out, I decided to check it out. I expected it to be a graphic novel adaptation of the first book or something, but this is more like an extra for fans of the series.

I’m not crazy about the art. It’s the faces I don’t like so much. The shading makes their noses look weird sometimes. Sometimes their heads look way to big for their bodies too. I did like the stories though. I show more love the way the Cast women have retold ancient myths and history with vampyres. I also enjoyed the flashbacks Zoey had to the first book. I was more interested in seeing scenes I knew adapted than a totally new story. This is a collection of five comics. Think of it like five short stories, each dealing with a different element and a different lesson.

If you’re a House of Night fan, you’ll probably enjoy this graphic novel. If not, it will be really confusing. I don’t like the art very much, but that’s just an opinion. You might enjoy it more. show less

Zoey's life has drastically changed in a very short amount of time. So, when she becomes the new leader of the Daughters of Darkness it's no surprise that she is doubting herself and feeling lost.

Going into reading this first issue I thought it was gonna be Marked (book #1) in comic book form. But it's new scenes that take place in the storyline of Betrayed (book #2). I enjoyed the story. Especially the part that tells the story of Freya the Viking Goddess. The art inside is pretty good, but I love the art work of the covers much more. The girl depicted on the cover is close to how I picture Zoey. Fans of this series I will love the new story.

Er... I don't know how to rate this. I don't have any thing against the story. It's actually unique. And well, it's new. It's like a short stories of the books. I thought that I would be reading the same thing over again (just with visuals), I thought wrong. It still the same but they added a short story that is not in the main series. So I guess I'm quite okay with it.

3.5 stars.