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A review by hazelalaska
The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship by Philip Pullman
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It seems Pullman's more recent books have been a disappointment, which is a shame. I picked this up partly on a whim after seeing it at work, as I had no idea he had written a graphic novel.
I admit that if I hadn't been reading this to fulfill a prompt for a readathon, I probably would have dnfed it. I found I felt the same way about this that I felt about Paper Girls, which is that the premise was good but there wasn't enough space to flesh everything out, so it just ends up being confusing. There are multiple parties involved in the conflict, which led to a lot of characters being introduced at once, and for a while I wasn't sure who was on what side. This one also jumps around a lot between locations, which adds to the confusion. It wasn't until toward the end that I felt I knew what was going on and got interested in the story, but by then it was a little late. Maybe time travel graphic novels aren't for me, but I also wonder whether in this case it was the best medium for this story, as the plot and characters were both lackluster. I think Pullman could have done a better job in fleshing everything out if this had been a regular novel.
I admit that if I hadn't been reading this to fulfill a prompt for a readathon, I probably would have dnfed it. I found I felt the same way about this that I felt about Paper Girls, which is that the premise was good but there wasn't enough space to flesh everything out, so it just ends up being confusing. There are multiple parties involved in the conflict, which led to a lot of characters being introduced at once, and for a while I wasn't sure who was on what side. This one also jumps around a lot between locations, which adds to the confusion. It wasn't until toward the end that I felt I knew what was going on and got interested in the story, but by then it was a little late. Maybe time travel graphic novels aren't for me, but I also wonder whether in this case it was the best medium for this story, as the plot and characters were both lackluster. I think Pullman could have done a better job in fleshing everything out if this had been a regular novel.