Early Graphic Novel Review – Will o’ the Wisp (Aurora Grimeon) Hardcover by Tom Hammock , Rebecca Taylor , Megan Hutchinson (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Paranormal
Length: 216 pages
Publisher: Archaia Entertainment,
Release Date: December 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1936393787
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in the Aurora Grimeon series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this graphic novel to review through NetGalley(dot)com. It looked like something right up my alley. I enjoyed it but wished that the artwork had been a bit better.

After Aurora’s parents are poisoned by mushrooms, Aurora is sent to live with her grandfather, Silver, on Ossuary Isle. Ossuary Isle is an island of graves deep in the Southern Swamps. There Aurora explores the eerie gravesites with her uncle’s raccoon Missy. Aurora is also introduced to hoodoo and stumbles into a great evil on the island.

This graphic novel had a lot of things I liked and some things I didn’t. I enjoyed the eerie settings and Aurora’s tragic yet curious nature. Aurora gets deep into trying to solve a mystery as residents of the island start disappearing. The mystery was well done and super creepy.

Aurora lives with her strange uncle Silver. I thought it was endearing how at first Silver is very indifferent to Aurora’s presence, but as the book continues he starts to enjoy her presence and depend on her. The character growth for Aurora and Silver was well done for such a brief story.

I also enjoyed all of the hoodoo that the book goes into detail on. Aurora learns ways to protect herself with hoodoo from the local witch woman. Each chapter starts with a detailed hoodoo recipe for dealing with a problem.

The main thing I did not like about this graphic novel were the illustrations. In some of the illustration Aurora is beautifully illustrated. However in many of the illustrations faces are obscured and lacking detail, making it hard to tell what our characters are thinking. Aurora’s grandfather always looks a bit unfinished and sketchy. Some of the side characters are hard to tell apart. Many of the frames have a very cartoonish look to them which is not my favorite. Lastly I thought that the text-bubbles were not at all in keeping with the style of everything else; they were very jarring and distracting.

Overall I am glad I read this and enjoyed the story. This is a super creepy story with gothic tones to it and a paranormal twist. It was a good read. However the illustration left a lot to be desired and the text bubbles were distracting. I would tentatively recommend to fans of paranormal graphic novels. Make sure to take a look at the artwork before purchasing and determine if it’s something you’d like.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge