Title: The Pretenders (The Cemetery Girl Trilogy #1)
Author: Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden, Illustrated by Don Kramer
Genre: YA Paranormal Graphic Novel
Number of pages: 128
Released: January 7th, 2014 by InkLit
Description:
She calls herself Calexa Rose Dunhill—names taken from the grim
surroundings where she awoke, bruised and bloody, with no memory of who she is,
how she got there, or who left her for dead.
She has made the cemetery her home, living in a crypt and avoiding human contact. But Calexa can’t hide from the dead—and because she can see spirits, they can’t hide from her.
Then one night, Calexa spies a group of teenagers vandalizing a grave—and watches in horror as they commit murder. As the victim’s spirit rises from her body, it flows into Calexa, overwhelming her mind with visions and memories not her own.
Now Calexa must make a decision: continue to hide to protect herself—or come forward to bring justice to the sad spirit who has reached out to her for help...
She has made the cemetery her home, living in a crypt and avoiding human contact. But Calexa can’t hide from the dead—and because she can see spirits, they can’t hide from her.
Then one night, Calexa spies a group of teenagers vandalizing a grave—and watches in horror as they commit murder. As the victim’s spirit rises from her body, it flows into Calexa, overwhelming her mind with visions and memories not her own.
Now Calexa must make a decision: continue to hide to protect herself—or come forward to bring justice to the sad spirit who has reached out to her for help...
Positives:
-The blurb above
really hooked me in. A great premise of
a girl who lives in a graveyard, has visions, and runs into danger. A lot of potential here as I was looking for
graveyard goodness.
-The art is very
beautiful and rich. When opening the
pages, the art is what finally sold me on trying it out.
Negatives:
-I’m new to graphic
novels, but I’ve read a good few now.
And this one just seemed confusing.
The story seemed to jump from scene to scene quickly and left me
thinking, “Oh wait.. What?” The
connections from scene to scene just weren’t there.
-I was disappointed
by the lackluster story. I mean it was
an –okay- mystery, but the confusion and predictability made the whole thing
just –okay-.
Overview:
You know what you
read wasn’t that good when you don’t have much to say about it. I don’t have much to say because I didn’t
feel like I actually got to know the main character much. Which, given, she doesn’t remember anything,
but I would have liked to see the character learn a bit more about
herself. The characters I did like was
the old man and woman. Their kindness
was written very well, although if I were them I would be a little bit more
cautious around some girl that is staying in the cemetery and steals from me.
Although I am all for
fantasy stories that –aren’t- realistic, there are just some things that need
to be realistic. Such as reactions
characters have to certain situations.
In this graphic novel, I found myself laughing here and there thinking, “What…
That’s all you’re gonna do?” It felt
like the main character went from being super freaked out to just aloof about
the situation. Not really a lot of
consistency there.
To end, I will say
that I am going to read the next one.
The premise is really creative, and I hope the author and artist can
develop the character and story a bit more.
Rating:
Recommended to:
-YA Paranormal
Fiction fans that have never tried Graphic Novels. It’s not too overwhelming and would be a good
place to start.
-Those who love the
author of the Sookie Stackhouse series, as she took part in this.
Not Recommended to:
-Long-time Graphic
Novel fans. I think some of the issues I
stated above may leave you feeling unsatisfied.
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