Readers will give themselves over to the dreamlike, immersive narrative, trusting that Volume 2, A Game Without Rules will...
Fifty souls of diverse race and gender gather to witness the passing of great chief Matarka, and one of them will be her successor—if that person can win the cruelly arbitrary contest governed by the sorceress Niope.
As “a good chief should know the land,” she magically scatters the attendants, telling them that only those that come back “before the light of the next dawn touches the castle door” can advance to the next phase. Deacon’s signature soft-lined, muted-palette illustrations set into neat panels follow several characters plunked down across this medieval-ish fantasy land as they have strange, sometimes frightening adventures. As they meet, some help one another while others oppose; two make it back to learn a previously unexpressed rule: anyone who does not return before dawn will die—but they cannot speak this truth aloud. Small moments of humor and human decency lighten what could be a grim tale. The protagonist is the Kite Lord’s daughter, a blonde, white girl in a white-trimmed blue dress who visually recalls Alice in Wonderland. Like Alice, she feels trapped in a world ruled by nonsense; unlike Alice, she takes action to right it. Scenes switch among the players with cinematic authority, offering both unforgettable images and unanswered questions aplenty.
Readers will give themselves over to the dreamlike, immersive narrative, trusting that Volume 2, A Game Without Rules will be along soon. (Graphic fantasy. 12 & up)Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-910620-03-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Nobrow Ltd.
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...
A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.
The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.
Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The New Book Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...
A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.
Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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