Graphic Novel Review – The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel by Jeanne DuPrau and Niklas Asker (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopia/Graphic Novel
Length: 144 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0375867934
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the City of Ember graphic novel series
Source: Bought
Rating: ?/5 stars

“In the spring 2003, kids, parents, teachers, librarians—whole communities—discovered and fell in love with Jeanne DuPrau’s story about a doomed city, and the two children who found a way out. Nearly 10 years later, that story, The City of Ember, is a bona fide classic, with over 1.7 million copies sold. Now experience Jeanne DuPrau’s vision anew as artist Niklas Asker faithfully brings to life the glare of the lamps, the dinginess of the streets, and the brilliance of the first sunrise.”

I bought this for my son at his school’s bookfair. Previously I had listened to The City of Ember on audiobook and thought it was okay but not great. I feel the same way about this graphic novel, everything about it okay but not great.

My biggest issue with this graphic novel is that I feel like it strips away a lot of the mystery and dank ambiance of the novel. The dialogue is stripped down as well and made very simple. I felt like a lot of the important underlying dystopian issues the novel addresses are simplified or just omitted from the graphic novel.

The illustration is decent and in full color. While I enjoyed the color palette used I wasn’t a huge can of how the people were illustrated…they all had very similar looking faces and bodies. Even given this the graphic novel was easy enough to follow.

Overall I thought this was okay but nothing special. If you were a huge fan of the original book (which I wasn’t) this might be a fun journey down memory lane for you. I would definitely recommend the book over the graphic novel because I feel like the graphic novel skims over a lot of the important issues that made the full length book special.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– YA Reading Challenge