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wrentheblurry's review
2.0
2.5 stars.
A creepy, gothic tale that slowly unfolds through nothing but dark artwork. The whole vibe is dark too, so it fits. I glanced over a few reviews, and it seems that even people that didn't like the story still love the art. I wasn't blown away by it at all. In fact, I found many of the characters looked too similar. The dark hair, the facial structure, their eye shape. I had to flip back and forth across pages to see who was who, and who was female or male. Eh, might just be me since so many others love it, but I guess I prefer tighter linework.
I found the story depressing, appropriately hopeless, a bit disjointed, and with just enough balance to nudge my rating to 2.5 stars. If I come across the second title I may pick it up, but I won't actively look for it.
A creepy, gothic tale that slowly unfolds through nothing but dark artwork. The whole vibe is dark too, so it fits. I glanced over a few reviews, and it seems that even people that didn't like the story still love the art. I wasn't blown away by it at all. In fact, I found many of the characters looked too similar. The dark hair, the facial structure, their eye shape. I had to flip back and forth across pages to see who was who, and who was female or male. Eh, might just be me since so many others love it, but I guess I prefer tighter linework.
I found the story depressing, appropriately hopeless, a bit disjointed, and with just enough balance to nudge my rating to 2.5 stars. If I come across the second title I may pick it up, but I won't actively look for it.
adelavmb's review
4.0
English review followed by Romanian translation of the review. - Recenzia în engleză e urmată de traducerea ei în română.
"Trapped on an island off the coast of Maine, the people of Hopeless find life a little darker and more dangerous with every day that passes. The number of orphans rises continually, but who can say what happens to their parents? Plenty of the bodies are never found. This is not the stuff of happy, careless childhoods, it is instead fertile ground for personal demons.In Hopeless, the demons are not always abstract concepts. Some of them have very real teeth, and very real horns."
Despite this description and what I am going to write, the story isn't all about demons, monsters and evil, but more about promoting values like courage, trust and compassion.
Salamandra is a girl gifted with magic, whose soul is very sad because she is liked by nobody around her. "My mother wants to drink me." she says nonchálantly about the woman that killed her brother. (Her father conjures demons.) Annamarie Nightshade finds the scared girl, who is hidding behind the furniture of her home, and takes her from home to an orphanage. She there encounters the same problem - no one wants to be her friend, except a mysterious mean blonde girl who seems to find great pleasure in Salamandra's suffering.
The only confort she finds is in a baby crow that has fallen out of its nest. It is great how a person that has not known love from her family can be so compassionate towards something so little and fragile! For me, Salamandra was a very intriguing character that continuously amazed me through her actions. She demonstrates a lot of bravery by trying to face evil and, despite having so little, she is willing to give it all up for the sake of another. One of my favourite moments is when, on being named a "witch", she stumblingly replies "I'm not a witch, I'm a... a... something else".
The dialogue flowed nicely, the gothic-style illustrations were amazing with their colour tones, and, though simple, the character design suited the story very well.
I would have liked this graphic novel to have been a little longer, but this series has great potential and I am looking forward to the next issues. I definitely recommend this to any gothic/graphic novel lovers.
*I received an e-book copy of this book from NetGalley.
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"Blocaţi pe o insulă din apropierea statului Maine, oamenii din Hopeless au vieţi din ce în ce mai periculoase şi mai întunecate cu fiecare zi care trece. Numărul orfanilor creşte continuu, dar cine poate spune ce se întâmplă cu părinţii lor? Multe trupuri nu mai sunt găsite. Nu e loc pentru copilării fericite, lipsite de griji, ci e un "teren fertil" pentru demonii personali. În Hopeless, demonii nu sunt mereu concepte abstracte. Unii dintre ei au dinţi şi coarne foarte reale." (traducere neoficială)
În ciuda acestei descrieri şi a celor scrise de mine în continuare, acest roman nu e doar despre monştri, demoni şi rău, ci se concentrează mai mult pe promovarea valorilor precum curajul, încrederea şi compasiunea.
Salamandra e o fată ce are darul magiei, al cărei suflet e foarte trist deoarece nu o place nimeni din jurul ei. "Mama mea vrea să mă înghită" spune ea cu nonşalanţă despre femeia care i-a ucis fratele. (Tatăl ei invocă demoni.) Annamare Nightshade găseşte fata speriată, care se ascunde în spatele mobilei din casă, şi o duce la un orfelinat. Acolo se înfruntă cu aceeaşi problemă - nimeni nu vrea să-i fie prieten, cu excepţia unei blonde rele şi misterioase care pare să găsească satisfacţie în suferinţa Salamandrei.
Singura alinare pe care o găseşte e într-un pui de cioară care a căzut din cuib. E grozav cum o persoană care nu a cunoscut iubire din partea familiei poate avea compasiune pentru o fiinţă atât de mică şi fragilă! Salamandra mi s-a părut a fi un personaj foarte interesant, care m-a uimit neîncetat cu acţiunile ei. Dă dovadă de mult curaj înfruntând demonii şi, deşi are foarte puţine lucruri, e dispusă să renunţe la toate pentru binele altuia. Unul din momentele mele preferate e când, numită "vrăjitoare", ea răspunde ezitând "Nu sunt vrăjitoare, sunt o... o... altceva."
Dialogul curge uşor, ilustraţiile în stil gotic sunt uimitoare prin tonurile de culori şi, deşi simplu, designul personajelor se potriveşte foarte bine cu povestea.
Mi-ar fi plăcut ca acest roman grafic să fie puţin mai lung, dar această serie are un mare potenţial şi de-abia aştept numerele următoare. Recomand această carte tuturor iubitorilor stilului gotic şi al romanelor grafice.
*Am primit o copie electronică a acestei copii de pe NetGalley.
cseanread's review
2.0
I liked the aesthetic of the art, though not necessarily the artwork, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Otherwise, this was kind of a wash for me. Plot was lackluster and poorly paced, and the characters are all terribly flat and unengaging. Overall, not one I would recommend, but I don't regret the time spent with it.
ninatest's review
2.0
So Im just not impressed. I found most of the art to be boring and the story to be lacking in everything. I was just not interested in the story. Not much to say, but I won't be continuing on
theybedax's review
3.0
Beautifully, haunting art. It had a decent story, but nothing that made me fall in love with the work.
rouver's review
2.0
Weird story, great illustrations but a bit dark (hard to see details). I'm still not entirely certain what this story was about, even after having read it. There's a little girl who's a witch, whose father could summon/raise demons...yet she's an orphan because her parents maybe turned into vampires & she killed them? I honestly don't know. So, witch girl is at an orphanage where an evil spirit haunts her & other lonely girls. With the help of the director's son, she must trap it so it can't harm anyone else.
Sadly, the library doesn't have bk 2, so I'm just going to have to stay in the dark on this one.
Sadly, the library doesn't have bk 2, so I'm just going to have to stay in the dark on this one.