Graphic Novel Review – Tower of Treasure (Three Thieves, Book 1) by Scott Chantler (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Length: 112 pages
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Release Date: August 1, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1554534142
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Three Thieves series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“As an acrobat in a traveling circus, 14-year-old orphan Dessa Redd flies through the air with ease. Still, she is weighed down by troubling memories. But when her ragtag circus troupe pulls into the city of Kingsbridge, Dessa feels a tickle of hope. Maybe here in the royal city she will finally find her twin brother — or the mysterious man who snatched him away when they were just children.
Meanwhile, Topper, the circus juggler, recruits Dessa and the circus strongman, Fisk, for the job of robbing the royal treasury. Hungry and desperate, both agree, setting off a series of adventures that will take the three thieves from one end of the world to the other in search of Dessa’s long-lost brother.”
I saw this series at our library and picked it up. Both me and my 10 year old son enjoy middle grade fantasy graphic novels so this looked interesting. It ended up being a well done and entertaining fantasy graphic novel.
The characters are decently developed and Dessa has a lot of history that is presented in this novel . Dessa was fun to read about and full of determination to find her brother. She is helped along by a couple of goofy non-human characters named Topper and Fisk.
There is a lot of action in here as well as entertaining acrobatic stunts and thievery. Although the story is pretty straight-forward it does have some depth to it as well; there is unrest in the kingdom and you can tell the Captain of the Guard is a noble man who is troubled by the kingdoms larger scale issues.
The illustration is pretty typical cartoon style and is well done. It’s easy to follow what’s going on in the story and the illustration adds a lot to the story as well.
Overall I enjoyed this, it was a fun classic fantasy style graphic novel. The characters and story are entertaining the illustration is decently done and easy to follow. I would recommend to fans of middle grade fantasy graphic novels.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
