Scan barcode
reddyrat's review against another edition
5.0
As an unabashed Twilight fan, I couldn't even wait a day to pick up the second volume of the Twilight Graphic Novel, illustrated by Young Kim. The Graphic Novel - both volumes 1 and 2 - is a great addition to the Twilight Universe. Note that I say "addition." The Graphic Novel adds richness to Twilight, but is not strong enough to stand on its own. This is due largely to the inherent nature of a graphic novel - it is heavy on illustrations and lighter on dialogue. Through facial expressions and the short statements, you capture the gist of the plot, but not in the same way as a book full of words. Additionally, if you're not familiar with graphic novels or manga, you may have difficulty following the Twilight Graphic Novel. When I read Volume 1, I had never read manga and I was confused by the pace of the plot and the placement of the drawings. Fast forward 18 months and I have read a great deal of manga. It made a big difference in my comfort level with Volume 2.
While the Graphic Novel cannot fully replicate Twilight the book, Volume 2 like Volume 1, is a gorgeous work of art. Young Kim is an amazing artist. The characters are wonderfully depicted; they are living portraits. You see Edward's personality through the drawings: his broodiness, his arrogance, his humor, his temper, his kindness, and his desperate love for Bella. Subtle changes in facial features depict emotion perfectly. Bella is drawn just as I imagine her in the novel: slender, pretty but not too pretty, stubborn, passionate, and overly kind. Of all the characters, I am most pleased with Alice. She is perfect in every way that the movie Alice is not. She is drawn as very thin and delicate looking with short, spiky black hair - a feature the movies keep messing up. Emmett too is drawn well, bulky with dark curly hair - another thing the movies ignore.
The highlight of Volume 2 for me was not the baseball game or the final showdown with James. Instead, it was Carlisle's backstory, along with some of other characters' stories. Numerous pages were spent depicting the end of Carlisle's human life and the challenging beginning of his vampire life. Unlike the main story which is drawn in black, white, and gray tones, Carlisle's story was drawn in color that is best described as sepia. There are mixtures of black, brown, orange, and red. Not only does the color scheme separate the backstory from the primary story, but it also emphasizes the tumultuous nature of that time period. We see Carlisle's angry, bigoted father, the ill-fated vampire hunt, Carlisle's painful transformation, his despair, and then his reawakening as a "vegetarian." The visuals make these scenes much richer than the book. So much so, that I would go back and re-read the pages in Volume 2 before I would read the pages in the book to get the best understanding of Carlisle's story. The scenes of Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice's transformations are very brief, but similarly rich.
While the backstories were my favorite part of Volume 2, the baseball game and the ballet scene were still fabulous. I loved how Ms. Kim managed to convey suspense and anticipating through art, using more lines and faster flowing drawings. Even though I obviously knew what was going to happen, I was still nervous as I flipped through the pages. Like the book, the story is solely through Bella's eyes, so we miss much of what the Cullens did at the ballet studio. But the visuals still manage to give a slightly clearer picture of what happened than the novel.
On the whole the art is wonderful. I only had a few quibbles. First, I didn't like the way Ms. Kim drew lips. She drew lines on Bella's bottom lip, presumably to make the lips more visible, but resulted in looking like someone punched Bella in the mouth. Also, I thought the shirts the boys were wearing looked odd. They bunched awkwardly and had unusually high, almost Mandarin collars. Finally, I had difficulty telling Carlisle and Jasper apart. This is somewhat understandable though since their hair color and build are similar.
Otherwise, the art was almost perfect. I loved the incorporation of photographs into the pages. They added richness to the scenery. Additionally, the Cullen house was fabulous. A perfect depiction of the big, white Victorian described in the book. The artwork clearly conveyed the openness of the house, with lots of light and a sleek modern interior design. I've mentioned the use of color in the backstory scenes. The final prom scene was enriched with almost full color. You saw the bright blue of Bella's gorgeous prom dress and the brilliant brown and bronze of Bella and Edward's hair. There was also a beautiful twilight/sunset drawing that appropriately closed off the volume.
The Twilight Graphic novel, volumes 1 and 2 are a must read for any Twilight fan. It can never replace Twilight the novel and really shouldn't be read unless you're already familiar with the story, but it brings the characters to life in a way that even the movies do not. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5 (admittedly biased rating; probably deserves a 4 but all Twilight-related books get a 5 from me)
While the Graphic Novel cannot fully replicate Twilight the book, Volume 2 like Volume 1, is a gorgeous work of art. Young Kim is an amazing artist. The characters are wonderfully depicted; they are living portraits. You see Edward's personality through the drawings: his broodiness, his arrogance, his humor, his temper, his kindness, and his desperate love for Bella. Subtle changes in facial features depict emotion perfectly. Bella is drawn just as I imagine her in the novel: slender, pretty but not too pretty, stubborn, passionate, and overly kind. Of all the characters, I am most pleased with Alice. She is perfect in every way that the movie Alice is not. She is drawn as very thin and delicate looking with short, spiky black hair - a feature the movies keep messing up. Emmett too is drawn well, bulky with dark curly hair - another thing the movies ignore.
The highlight of Volume 2 for me was not the baseball game or the final showdown with James. Instead, it was Carlisle's backstory, along with some of other characters' stories. Numerous pages were spent depicting the end of Carlisle's human life and the challenging beginning of his vampire life. Unlike the main story which is drawn in black, white, and gray tones, Carlisle's story was drawn in color that is best described as sepia. There are mixtures of black, brown, orange, and red. Not only does the color scheme separate the backstory from the primary story, but it also emphasizes the tumultuous nature of that time period. We see Carlisle's angry, bigoted father, the ill-fated vampire hunt, Carlisle's painful transformation, his despair, and then his reawakening as a "vegetarian." The visuals make these scenes much richer than the book. So much so, that I would go back and re-read the pages in Volume 2 before I would read the pages in the book to get the best understanding of Carlisle's story. The scenes of Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Alice's transformations are very brief, but similarly rich.
While the backstories were my favorite part of Volume 2, the baseball game and the ballet scene were still fabulous. I loved how Ms. Kim managed to convey suspense and anticipating through art, using more lines and faster flowing drawings. Even though I obviously knew what was going to happen, I was still nervous as I flipped through the pages. Like the book, the story is solely through Bella's eyes, so we miss much of what the Cullens did at the ballet studio. But the visuals still manage to give a slightly clearer picture of what happened than the novel.
On the whole the art is wonderful. I only had a few quibbles. First, I didn't like the way Ms. Kim drew lips. She drew lines on Bella's bottom lip, presumably to make the lips more visible, but resulted in looking like someone punched Bella in the mouth. Also, I thought the shirts the boys were wearing looked odd. They bunched awkwardly and had unusually high, almost Mandarin collars. Finally, I had difficulty telling Carlisle and Jasper apart. This is somewhat understandable though since their hair color and build are similar.
Otherwise, the art was almost perfect. I loved the incorporation of photographs into the pages. They added richness to the scenery. Additionally, the Cullen house was fabulous. A perfect depiction of the big, white Victorian described in the book. The artwork clearly conveyed the openness of the house, with lots of light and a sleek modern interior design. I've mentioned the use of color in the backstory scenes. The final prom scene was enriched with almost full color. You saw the bright blue of Bella's gorgeous prom dress and the brilliant brown and bronze of Bella and Edward's hair. There was also a beautiful twilight/sunset drawing that appropriately closed off the volume.
The Twilight Graphic novel, volumes 1 and 2 are a must read for any Twilight fan. It can never replace Twilight the novel and really shouldn't be read unless you're already familiar with the story, but it brings the characters to life in a way that even the movies do not. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5 (admittedly biased rating; probably deserves a 4 but all Twilight-related books get a 5 from me)
elva08's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
jholloed's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe its because I am a visual person, but this is my favorite interpretation of this book. WAY better than the movie, mostly because Bella has expression in this one! Somehow this was meant for this format and seem more normal and less insane and dramatic in this format?
342718's review
2.5
petition for the scene where edward licked bella's tears to be in every adaptation
heidenkind's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe it's because it starts in the middle of the story, but vol. 2 seemed a little off and had some pacing issues.
Read the full review at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books>>>
Read the full review at Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books>>>
lifeand100books's review against another edition
4.0
As most of you know I’m quite the fan of graphic novels. Their uniqueness and ability to depict more than just the words written on the page really piques my interest. Therefore, although Twilight by Stephanie Meyer always seems to catch a lot of flak, I was determined to read it in graphic novel form and see if it matched my views on the novel and its movie adaptation. It has been split into two volumes, the first volume having been published in 2010. I read the first volume a while ago and enjoyed the illustrations immensely, so I excitedly dove into to the second volume and waited to see what Young Kim’s second adaptation had in store.
I won’t go into a huge summary, I think everyone is familiar enough with the basic storyline of Twilight to know it’s about Bella, a teenager who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. The second volume picks up with Edward and Bella in the infamous meadow scene that Meyer credits for being the inspiration behind the novel.
I know that Twilight gets a bad rap for poor writing/ridiculous storylines, but there is something about this adaptation that gives it its (pardon the expression) sparkle back. The scenes and dialogue that were chosen to grace the pages of volume two were very well done. Kim’s illustrations were well worth the wait between the publishing dates of volume one & two, and bring new light to the series. I enjoy the fact that even though the Twilight film was already out when these volumes were being drawn, Kim chose to draw them not to reflect the actors, but to reflect the characters. In doing so, I thought it gave the work some of its integrity back. The first film was sorta lackluster for me, so it was a treat to be able to see illustrations that matched what Meyer actually had in mind when writing. (i.e The meadow, the Cullen house, Rosalie and Alice’s prom gowns)
I also wanted to quickly note how awesome the covers for these two volumes are. When placed together they are a mural of Edward and Bella in the meadow. (Very cool touch) Overall, although I already knew what to expect from this work according to how I felt with the first novel, it was still a great read that gave me new insight into an old storyline. Meyer’s writing, coupled with Kim’s amazing illustrations made a great marriage that was highly entertaining.
Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)
http://wp.me/p18lIL-Ls
I won’t go into a huge summary, I think everyone is familiar enough with the basic storyline of Twilight to know it’s about Bella, a teenager who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. The second volume picks up with Edward and Bella in the infamous meadow scene that Meyer credits for being the inspiration behind the novel.
I know that Twilight gets a bad rap for poor writing/ridiculous storylines, but there is something about this adaptation that gives it its (pardon the expression) sparkle back. The scenes and dialogue that were chosen to grace the pages of volume two were very well done. Kim’s illustrations were well worth the wait between the publishing dates of volume one & two, and bring new light to the series. I enjoy the fact that even though the Twilight film was already out when these volumes were being drawn, Kim chose to draw them not to reflect the actors, but to reflect the characters. In doing so, I thought it gave the work some of its integrity back. The first film was sorta lackluster for me, so it was a treat to be able to see illustrations that matched what Meyer actually had in mind when writing. (i.e The meadow, the Cullen house, Rosalie and Alice’s prom gowns)
I also wanted to quickly note how awesome the covers for these two volumes are. When placed together they are a mural of Edward and Bella in the meadow. (Very cool touch) Overall, although I already knew what to expect from this work according to how I felt with the first novel, it was still a great read that gave me new insight into an old storyline. Meyer’s writing, coupled with Kim’s amazing illustrations made a great marriage that was highly entertaining.
Kimberly (Reflections of a Book Addict)
http://wp.me/p18lIL-Ls
8bluebutterfly8's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing illustrations. Way better than the actual book.