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A review by silvernfire
Agatha H. and the Airship City: Girl Genius, Book One by Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio
4.0
For some reason, telling the same story in prose and as a graphic novel is a challenge. For every graphic novel that falls flat when retold in words alone, there's a "comic-book adaptation" of a prose novel that leaves you wincing. Since I love the Girl Genius webcomic/graphic novels, I was braced for a not-all-that-great story when I started reading this novelization. The novel was much better than I expected, but not five-star material. In the end, it's the original version's humor that doesn't survive the translation to solid prose, but the story is solid enough.
What it boils down to is this: when the Foglios are narrating something original to this novel, the story shines. When they're relating a scene from the graphic novels this book is based on, the story is still decent enough, but it feels well-worn and sort of flat. And since the authors are adding bits to scenes from the graphic novels—a little back story here, a character's thoughts there—this means the story quality can change from one paragraph to the next, and back again in the third, while in terms of the story, you're still reading the same scene.
So is it worth the read, if you've read the original already? A qualified yes. I think all those little additions will add a lot to my next rereading of the graphic novels. Sometimes a little expository lump really is the most efficient way to give the reader necessary information, and prose novels are better for that than graphic ones. But a reader already familiar with the original should probably go into this accepting that it won't be perfect.
What it boils down to is this: when the Foglios are narrating something original to this novel, the story shines. When they're relating a scene from the graphic novels this book is based on, the story is still decent enough, but it feels well-worn and sort of flat. And since the authors are adding bits to scenes from the graphic novels—a little back story here, a character's thoughts there—this means the story quality can change from one paragraph to the next, and back again in the third, while in terms of the story, you're still reading the same scene.
So is it worth the read, if you've read the original already? A qualified yes. I think all those little additions will add a lot to my next rereading of the graphic novels. Sometimes a little expository lump really is the most efficient way to give the reader necessary information, and prose novels are better for that than graphic ones. But a reader already familiar with the original should probably go into this accepting that it won't be perfect.