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connie_flower's review against another edition
3.0
Ad much as I love the Hollows, I'm definitely more of a prose person than a graphic novel one - this took me a couple hours to read. But the artwork was amazing. Theres one page showing Ivy driving through the city on her bike at sunset and I LOVED it.
tkat's review
4.0
Blood Ties is the first graphic novel adaptation of a Hollows short story, that to my knowledge has never before seen the light of day.
This can essentially be seen as the prequel to Dead Witch Walking, as it deals with Rachael first being paired with Ivy before Jenks and their first job together investigating suspected black magic users.
I loved it. It's always so great when characters you've read about on paper are brought to life with pen and ink, and even better when its done well, which is just what happened here. I've seen 3 of my series make the jump from book to graphic novel and I have yet to be disappointed.
Greatly recommended for all Hollows fans.
This can essentially be seen as the prequel to Dead Witch Walking, as it deals with Rachael first being paired with Ivy before Jenks and their first job together investigating suspected black magic users.
I loved it. It's always so great when characters you've read about on paper are brought to life with pen and ink, and even better when its done well, which is just what happened here. I've seen 3 of my series make the jump from book to graphic novel and I have yet to be disappointed.
Greatly recommended for all Hollows fans.
trysarahtop's review
3.0
This graphic novel was just okay for me but I don't think it deserved a lower rating than 3. Here are the reasons why:
1. I loved that we got the chance to see how Ivy and Rachel met, their relationship is huge in the series so it's important to know how it all started.
2. I liked that we got an illustration of what the characters are supposed to look like, even if they don't fit exactly with what I've imagined.
3. It's nice seeing things from Ivy's point of view, and how mixed up she is about her feelings. It shows how much control she has over herself, and what a strong-willed person she is.
The story didn't really do anything for me. It didn't detract from the series but I don't feel like it added significantly to it except for the things mentioned above. If I were a new reader and I only encountered the graphic novel as an introduction into the series, I wouldn't bother reading the series. There wasn't anything there to keep my attention and make me want to read the whole thing. It's a graphic novel, and I found myself skimming pages and only looking at the illustrations. That is not good.
I'm not sure if Kim Harrison plans to make more graphic novels from Ivy's perspective but I encourage her not to. Instead, she should write short stories. Her writing is so much better than any graphic novel could possibly show.
1. I loved that we got the chance to see how Ivy and Rachel met, their relationship is huge in the series so it's important to know how it all started.
2. I liked that we got an illustration of what the characters are supposed to look like, even if they don't fit exactly with what I've imagined.
3. It's nice seeing things from Ivy's point of view, and how mixed up she is about her feelings. It shows how much control she has over herself, and what a strong-willed person she is.
The story didn't really do anything for me. It didn't detract from the series but I don't feel like it added significantly to it except for the things mentioned above. If I were a new reader and I only encountered the graphic novel as an introduction into the series, I wouldn't bother reading the series. There wasn't anything there to keep my attention and make me want to read the whole thing. It's a graphic novel, and I found myself skimming pages and only looking at the illustrations. That is not good.
I'm not sure if Kim Harrison plans to make more graphic novels from Ivy's perspective but I encourage her not to. Instead, she should write short stories. Her writing is so much better than any graphic novel could possibly show.
caroleheidi's review
3.0
This is the first graphic novel I have ever read, so I have nothing to compare it to in terms of graphic novel quality. I chose to buy it because I am a massive fan of Kim Harrison’s Hollows series and I wanted it for sake of completeness of my collection. I am reviewing this more as a fan of the Hollows than as a graphic novel critique.
I acknowldeged before I hit ‘buy’ that the characters would more than likely not be portrayed as I imagined them from the novels – they never really are when transferred into any medium involving images, be it gaphic novel or movie – but I wasn’t too upset by it. In fact, there were only two characters I immediately had to double take to work out who they were. The portrayals of Ivy, Denon, Quen and Piscary were brilliant, in fact, I was surprised at how quickly I recognised and accepted them. Kisten wasn’t bad, but when I thought about it I couldn’t say why he wasn’t right so maybe it was just one of those things.
I wasn’t keen on the visual portrayal of Rachel but I don’t think that I was going to be happy with anything because I have such a solid picture of her in my head – in a way I’m glad that this novel preceeds the other books because Jenks and Trenton weren’t involved and so I couldn’t rage at how wrong they were!
As far as the storyline goes, it seemed a little thin on the ground compared to the traditional novels – I understand that the perametres are different with graphic novels but I know that they are perfectly capable of portraying deeper stories than this. It was a nice set-up of Ivy and Rachel’s ‘get together’ and showed their relationship begin to form along the dubious line of friendship, irritation and almost-romance that runs through the whole series.
Aside from that, the case of the mysterious werewolf deaths and black magic witch coven seemed a little consequential and glossed over – like it was only there because it really had to be, not because the characters really cared about it.
I think some of this distance was supposed to portray Ivy’s emotional confusion and psychological issues as it is set when she is firmly one of Piscary’s favoured pets, but it missed the mark slightly and felt cold and detached.
The thing I enjoyed most about Blood Work was the section at the back about how the characters had been developed by the artists based on Kim Harrison’s descriptions and the interview section about how she chose which artists to work with. It was an interesting insight into what work goes into producing a Graphic Novel and I was fascinated.
Rating: 3.5/5
I acknowldeged before I hit ‘buy’ that the characters would more than likely not be portrayed as I imagined them from the novels – they never really are when transferred into any medium involving images, be it gaphic novel or movie – but I wasn’t too upset by it. In fact, there were only two characters I immediately had to double take to work out who they were. The portrayals of Ivy, Denon, Quen and Piscary were brilliant, in fact, I was surprised at how quickly I recognised and accepted them. Kisten wasn’t bad, but when I thought about it I couldn’t say why he wasn’t right so maybe it was just one of those things.
I wasn’t keen on the visual portrayal of Rachel but I don’t think that I was going to be happy with anything because I have such a solid picture of her in my head – in a way I’m glad that this novel preceeds the other books because Jenks and Trenton weren’t involved and so I couldn’t rage at how wrong they were!
As far as the storyline goes, it seemed a little thin on the ground compared to the traditional novels – I understand that the perametres are different with graphic novels but I know that they are perfectly capable of portraying deeper stories than this. It was a nice set-up of Ivy and Rachel’s ‘get together’ and showed their relationship begin to form along the dubious line of friendship, irritation and almost-romance that runs through the whole series.
Aside from that, the case of the mysterious werewolf deaths and black magic witch coven seemed a little consequential and glossed over – like it was only there because it really had to be, not because the characters really cared about it.
I think some of this distance was supposed to portray Ivy’s emotional confusion and psychological issues as it is set when she is firmly one of Piscary’s favoured pets, but it missed the mark slightly and felt cold and detached.
The thing I enjoyed most about Blood Work was the section at the back about how the characters had been developed by the artists based on Kim Harrison’s descriptions and the interview section about how she chose which artists to work with. It was an interesting insight into what work goes into producing a Graphic Novel and I was fascinated.
Rating: 3.5/5
audiobookmel's review
2.0
2.5 stars
Illustrations weren't very good. Story wasn't any better. Hard to follow and and I'm very familiar with the series.
Illustrations weren't very good. Story wasn't any better. Hard to follow and and I'm very familiar with the series.
raven9949's review
5.0
LOVE how the story is told in Ivy's point of view, something I'd like to see more off. Also love that we finally get the back story and not in bits and pieces like we would in the series. Can't wait for the second comic to come out or to see Jenks. ^^
ubalstecha's review
3.0
Author Kim Harrison has created a graphic novel telling us the story that we all wanted to know about, what happened when Rachel and Ivy first met. Told from Ivy's point of view, we see their first case, how they learned to trust and respect the other, and how Piscary set up Rachel as a temptation for Ivy.
The problem with any graphic novel adaptation of a literary is that the characters do not match with what you see in your head. So Rachel's hair is a little to curly, and Ivy is a little too short. Plot wise the story is OK, but lacks the depth and intricacy of a full length Hollows book.
Still, fans of the series will enjoy seeing the characters that inhabit the series in graphic form, especially Kisten. There is no Jenks, which means the story lacks the much of the wit of the novels too.
Take it or leave it.
The problem with any graphic novel adaptation of a literary is that the characters do not match with what you see in your head. So Rachel's hair is a little to curly, and Ivy is a little too short. Plot wise the story is OK, but lacks the depth and intricacy of a full length Hollows book.
Still, fans of the series will enjoy seeing the characters that inhabit the series in graphic form, especially Kisten. There is no Jenks, which means the story lacks the much of the wit of the novels too.
Take it or leave it.
huntmeg20's review
2.0
I felt like the artwork could have been better. good story but childlike drawing
stellardoc's review
4.0
Ivy and Kisten look nothing like the images I had for them in my head, but Rachel is almost spot-on. I enjoyed having a story from Ivy's point-of-view, especially in the story of how Rachel and Ivy met. This graphic novel is just as enjoyable as Harrison's novels, and I look forward to the next in the series. I miss Jenks, though, and hope he gets added to the story soon.