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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Full review and more up on my blog:https://chaininteraction.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/in-the-pines-erik-kriek-book-review/
This is a collection of murder ballads. That description alone called to the morbid human in me, I like something a little twisted, a little dark and you can’t get much weirder (without wandering completely into the realms of fantasy) than these murder ballads. These are stories in which people die and then generally there’s some kind of otherworldly element such as a haunting or similar. If you like a ghost story you’re pretty much guaranteed to like these stories.
I thought the illustrations were – for want of a better word – lovely. They definitely fit with the tone of the stories and they are certainly interesting to look at. This was the perfect medium in which to tell these stories.
The thing that stopped me from liking these stories as much as I otherwise might have was the lack of women. I think out of all the stories there’s one (maybe two?) in which a woman is the strong character. More often than not they are simply either murdered or cheating on their husbands with their best friends. I think this is representative of the source material as opposed to this particular author/illustrator but there were a good number of stories that could have been edited/adapted to reflect a more balanced world. Maybe that’s straying too much from the core ideas of the book and these stories, I’m not sure, but personally that was what hindered my enjoyment.
My rating: 3/5 stars
I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is a collection of murder ballads. That description alone called to the morbid human in me, I like something a little twisted, a little dark and you can’t get much weirder (without wandering completely into the realms of fantasy) than these murder ballads. These are stories in which people die and then generally there’s some kind of otherworldly element such as a haunting or similar. If you like a ghost story you’re pretty much guaranteed to like these stories.
I thought the illustrations were – for want of a better word – lovely. They definitely fit with the tone of the stories and they are certainly interesting to look at. This was the perfect medium in which to tell these stories.
The thing that stopped me from liking these stories as much as I otherwise might have was the lack of women. I think out of all the stories there’s one (maybe two?) in which a woman is the strong character. More often than not they are simply either murdered or cheating on their husbands with their best friends. I think this is representative of the source material as opposed to this particular author/illustrator but there were a good number of stories that could have been edited/adapted to reflect a more balanced world. Maybe that’s straying too much from the core ideas of the book and these stories, I’m not sure, but personally that was what hindered my enjoyment.
My rating: 3/5 stars
I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I had just finished reading an article about "In The Pines" (covered by Nirvana), so when I saw this graphic novel later the same day, I had to pick it up.
It's fine. 5 short graphic stories about old, fabled murders. I was hoping there'd be more of a "musical" hook to it, since it's expressly about murder ballads.
It's fine. 5 short graphic stories about old, fabled murders. I was hoping there'd be more of a "musical" hook to it, since it's expressly about murder ballads.
This was a neat little read. Artist and author Erik Kriek has taken five folks songs from the "murder ballad" genre and turned them into a series of sinister and sad vignette's of murder most foul. From a young woman dallying with a sinister escaped convict while her mother is away to a man who'd rather hang for a murder he didn't commit then ruin the reputation of his lover by using her as an alibi, there's a little something for every classic true crime lover.
Kriek's style is very languorous and meandering. There's a lot of flow to everything like character's clothes or the horizon of the forests and endless countryside where most of the stories are set. His pallet is all greenish grey shadow and the faces of his characters are sort of flowing like a river all the time, everyone's got big lips and haunted eyes, characters drawn kissing or having sex seem almost to be melting into each other. There's a deep feeling of melancholy to every story even the ones where the bad guy gets his just desserts, which I suppose makes sense as we are talking about murder. But there's also a sort of magical, folk tale quality to each story that gives it just enough magic to keep things from being entirely depressing.
I really enjoyed this. It was a quick read before bed but I found myself really getting lost in each panel and very intrigued to seek out the songs each story is based on. My own experience with murder ballads is more or less limited to "Tom Dooley" and I think I might just have to remedy that.
Kriek's style is very languorous and meandering. There's a lot of flow to everything like character's clothes or the horizon of the forests and endless countryside where most of the stories are set. His pallet is all greenish grey shadow and the faces of his characters are sort of flowing like a river all the time, everyone's got big lips and haunted eyes, characters drawn kissing or having sex seem almost to be melting into each other. There's a deep feeling of melancholy to every story even the ones where the bad guy gets his just desserts, which I suppose makes sense as we are talking about murder. But there's also a sort of magical, folk tale quality to each story that gives it just enough magic to keep things from being entirely depressing.
I really enjoyed this. It was a quick read before bed but I found myself really getting lost in each panel and very intrigued to seek out the songs each story is based on. My own experience with murder ballads is more or less limited to "Tom Dooley" and I think I might just have to remedy that.
Murder ballads given the graphic novel treatment! Reminding me a lot of the old EC comics (The Vault of Terror and Tales From the Crypt). The only thing that would have made this better would have been to include the lyrics of each song picked. But still, loved it!
Simple, striking, interesting read.
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/book-reviews/in-the-pines-by-erik-kriek
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/book-reviews/in-the-pines-by-erik-kriek
Would recommend listening to the songs as well as reading the stories. It just was a bit short and simple as a bound volume, although the drawigs were beautiful.