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kelleemoye's review
3.0
I didn't like this one as much as the first, but it is still well done, interesting and will hold a reader's attention. I wish there were more historical fiction graphic novels.
saidtheraina's review
2.0
This series makes me sad. It DOES get better as it goes along - as you get to know the characters. But it does not achieve what it wants to be. It feels contrived and not like the high adventure historical fiction it could be. Here's a piece of a review I wrote for another source:
Although the topic is fascinating and unique for this audience, there is a contrived feeling to this series. It feels just a little too dogmatic. The reader never truly connects with the characters, and the illustrations, though in beautiful full-color, feel amateurish and uneven. Purvis excels at drawing places and does not excel at drawing people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of human figures in this story. Although this topic is important and worth covering in an adventure-style historical fiction graphic novel like this, hopefully many other cartoonists will follow and be more successful at using this format to its greatest extent.
Although the topic is fascinating and unique for this audience, there is a contrived feeling to this series. It feels just a little too dogmatic. The reader never truly connects with the characters, and the illustrations, though in beautiful full-color, feel amateurish and uneven. Purvis excels at drawing places and does not excel at drawing people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of human figures in this story. Although this topic is important and worth covering in an adventure-style historical fiction graphic novel like this, hopefully many other cartoonists will follow and be more successful at using this format to its greatest extent.
mjfmjfmjf's review
4.0
A fine quick read. The story isn't moving along all that quickly. But what there is of it remains interesting. Mostly peril not violence. And the flavor of the time and place. The characters and setting are compelling, I wish there was more to this.
chelseamartinez's review
3.0
Good middle-school level graphic novel about the French Resistance that students will be able to see themselves in, showing the variety of small contributions adults and children made to resistance efforts and the varying viewpoints and political/tactical choices that different resistance factions took.
jenjenpelly's review
3.0
I enjoyed this second volume a lot. The historical allusions were well integrated into the narrative, and I continued to feel involved in the characters as they've developed in response to living under Nazi occupation. The pacing issuers from volume one were not completely resolved, but this one was more cohesive than the last. I will definitely try to finish the trilogy.
falconerreader's review
3.0
I like this one a bit better than the previous one. Stakes are, if anything, even higher, and the question of what is the "right" thing to do gets even murkier.
backonthealex's review
4.0
Defiance is the second book in the Resistance trilogy by writer Carla Jablonski and artist Leland Purvis. It begins in 1943, a year after Book 1 ends. Tensions are now higher and supplies are lower. To make matter worse, the Germans have formed a paramilitary group of Frenchmen called the Milice to do their dirty work, as well as instituting a policy of sending young French men and women to labor camps in Germany to help in their war effort. Paul Tessier, his older sister Sylvie and younger sister Marie are still working underground with the French Resistance.
Paul is still posting his anti-Nazi pictures around the village, but now he is also directing his skills towards the Milice. And he is getting impatient with the resistance movement using propaganda instead of weapons, on orders from Charles DeGaulle in London.
One day, after making a propaganda delivery, Paul finds the house empty, and his mother in their winery cellar demanding more wine to convert into fuel.and pouring heating oil into the ancient casks used to age the wine, and ruining them, infuriating Paul even more.
Paul’s older sister Sylvie is asked by her boyfriend Jacques to cozy up to the Germans to try to get information for the resistance. But Sylvie storms off because she feels she is being used. Jacques tells Paul about the Marquis, resistance workers who are hiding out in the woods, and that he wanted Sylvie to find out how much the Germans know about Marquis.
Jacques is sent to Germany for labor service, but when she finds out he escaped and is hiding out with the Marquis, Sylvie changes her mind about helping the resistance by gathering intelligence through flirting.
Paul finally is seen hanging up one of his anti-Nazi posters and realizes he, too, must go into hiding. But will he be able to find the Marquis and even if he does, will they allow his to become one of them?
Once again the combination of Jablonski, Leland and Sycamore have produced an excellent graphic novel about events effecting the French in World War II. I have read some criticism of this second book in the Resistance trilogy that it does not stand alone. Yet, if you read the brief description at the beginning of the story and the Author’s Note at the end, Defiance can easily be read as a stand alone novel, though, of course, it is better if read after reading Book 1, Resistance.
Another criticism is that the artwork depicting the female characters is confusing. I also thought this when I read Resistance, however, after a few pages I realized there is an each way to tell everyone apart. Each character wears the same color throughout. So - Paul wears a blue shirt, little sister Marie wears pink and though Sylvie and Aunt Celia both wear green, they are easy to tell apart.
The only thing that mars this otherwise excellent graphic novel is a lack of explanation about who Marshall Petain and General DeGaulle are and the role they played for France in World War II. On the other hand, if you are using this as a text in a class, it is definitely a teachable opportunity. Otherwise, Defiance is a exciting, informative novel based on real events in France while it was under Nazi occupation.
Book 3, Victory, will be available on July 17, 2012 and I am really looking forward to reading it.
This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
Paul is still posting his anti-Nazi pictures around the village, but now he is also directing his skills towards the Milice. And he is getting impatient with the resistance movement using propaganda instead of weapons, on orders from Charles DeGaulle in London.
One day, after making a propaganda delivery, Paul finds the house empty, and his mother in their winery cellar demanding more wine to convert into fuel.and pouring heating oil into the ancient casks used to age the wine, and ruining them, infuriating Paul even more.
Paul’s older sister Sylvie is asked by her boyfriend Jacques to cozy up to the Germans to try to get information for the resistance. But Sylvie storms off because she feels she is being used. Jacques tells Paul about the Marquis, resistance workers who are hiding out in the woods, and that he wanted Sylvie to find out how much the Germans know about Marquis.
Jacques is sent to Germany for labor service, but when she finds out he escaped and is hiding out with the Marquis, Sylvie changes her mind about helping the resistance by gathering intelligence through flirting.
Paul finally is seen hanging up one of his anti-Nazi posters and realizes he, too, must go into hiding. But will he be able to find the Marquis and even if he does, will they allow his to become one of them?
Once again the combination of Jablonski, Leland and Sycamore have produced an excellent graphic novel about events effecting the French in World War II. I have read some criticism of this second book in the Resistance trilogy that it does not stand alone. Yet, if you read the brief description at the beginning of the story and the Author’s Note at the end, Defiance can easily be read as a stand alone novel, though, of course, it is better if read after reading Book 1, Resistance.
Another criticism is that the artwork depicting the female characters is confusing. I also thought this when I read Resistance, however, after a few pages I realized there is an each way to tell everyone apart. Each character wears the same color throughout. So - Paul wears a blue shirt, little sister Marie wears pink and though Sylvie and Aunt Celia both wear green, they are easy to tell apart.
The only thing that mars this otherwise excellent graphic novel is a lack of explanation about who Marshall Petain and General DeGaulle are and the role they played for France in World War II. On the other hand, if you are using this as a text in a class, it is definitely a teachable opportunity. Otherwise, Defiance is a exciting, informative novel based on real events in France while it was under Nazi occupation.
Book 3, Victory, will be available on July 17, 2012 and I am really looking forward to reading it.
This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
chwaters's review
4.0
Book 2 of the Resistance series is where this trilogy really begins to pick up steam. The Germans are now firmly rooted in just about all parts of France, even the unoccupied portion. The French police are nearly as bad as the German soldiers. Everyone in town must watch what they say and to whom they say it. Paul, Marie and Sophie are all trying desperately to help the resistance while keeping their family out of trouble.
It had never occurred to me that children would be as big a part of the resistance as any adult might be and these kids go above and beyond the call of duty. One can only imagine how much faster a child would grow up under such circumstances. Indeed, even little Marie, the youngest, handles her duties with a diligence generally reserved for those several times her age.
It had never occurred to me that children would be as big a part of the resistance as any adult might be and these kids go above and beyond the call of duty. One can only imagine how much faster a child would grow up under such circumstances. Indeed, even little Marie, the youngest, handles her duties with a diligence generally reserved for those several times her age.
rainbowbookworm's review
4.0
The Tessier siblings are at it again. In this book they learn that there are consequences to their actions against the Germans and that these could be fatal.
akmargie's review
4.0
Its actually a complex story with many iteresting characters. Interested to see how the series develops.