Graphic Novel Review – Through the Moon (Dragon Prince Graphic Novel, Book 1) by Peter Wartman, Xanthe Bouma (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Length: 128 pages
Publisher: Graphix
Release Date: October 6, 2020
ISBN-13 : 978-1338608816
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Dragon Prince Graphic Novel series
Source: Christmas Gift
Rating: 3/5 stars

“The Dragon Prince has been reunited with his mother, the Human Kingdoms and Xadia are at peace, and humans and elves alike are ready to move on.Only Rayla is still restless. Unable to believe Lord Viren is truly dead, and haunted by questions about the fate of her parents and Runaan, she remains trapped between hope and fear. When an ancient ritual calls her, Callum, and Ezran to the Moon Nexus, she learns the lake is a portal to a world between life and death. Rayla seizes the opportunity for closure-and the chance to confirm that Lord Viren is gone for good.But the portal is unstable, and the ancient Moonshadow elves who destroyed it never intended for it to be reopened. Will Rayla’s quest to uncover the secrets of the dead put her living friends in mortal danger?”

Series Info/Source: This is the first volume in the Dragon Prince Graphic Novel series. My son got this as a Christmas gift and I borrowed it from him to read.

Story (3/5): This is a short story that takes place after the most recent episode of the Dragon Prince (I think we left that in season two or three?). If you haven’t watched the Netflix series (which is absolutely amazing BTW) you will be completely confused by what is happening here. This is just a little blip of a story and honestly doesn’t add a lot to the broader story on the Netflix series. It is done in keeping with the style of the Netflix series though and was okay.

Characters (3/5): The characters stay true to form with the Netflix series. I didn’t feel like there was a ton of growth and there are a lot of characters from that series kind of shoved into this book. Again, I do love the characters from this series but felt like their representation here was just okay.

Setting (3/5): The Moon Nexus was interesting but again I feel like the magical, beautiful settings of the Netflix series weren’t as well portrayed in graphic novel format. It was okay but lacking a lot of the magic and beauty of the cartoon.

Writing/Drawing Style (3/5): In keeping with the theme of the rest of this review, this was okay. The drawing style stayed true to the cartoon, it just wasn’t quite as lush and beautiful. The writing style kept the same ironic tone of the cartoon but just wasn’t as humorous and funny. This whole thing was like a weak and unnecessary shadow to the original cartoon series.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but definitely something I could have skipped reading. Unless you are a seriously diehard Dragon Prince fan I would skip this. Me and my family absolutely adore the Dragon Prince Netflix cartoon series, but still felt that this was just kind of unnecessary and blah. I would recommend skipping and just wait for the next Dragon Prince season to release.