Graphic Novel Review – Mazebook by Jeff Lemire (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Magical Realism
Length: 256 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Release Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN-13 : 978-1506723662
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Christmas Gift
Rating: 4/5 stars
“A lonely building inspector still grieving the loss of his puzzle-loving daughter receives a mysterious phone call one night from a girl claiming it’s her and that she’s trapped in the middle of a labyrinth. Convinced that this child is contacting him from beyond this world, he uses an unfinished maze from one of her journals and a map of the city to trace an intricate path through a different plane of reality on an intense and melancholy adventure to bring his daughter back home.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this in hardback as a Christmas gift.
Thoughts: This graphic novel is about a building inspector who has lost his family (his pre-teen daughter to disease and his wife to the divorce that followed). He lives a repetitive day to-day existence and has given up on anything else when he gets a strange call in the middle of the night from his dead daughter. She is trapped in a maze (she loved doing mazes growing up) and needs him to find her.
This was a decent graphic novel. I enjoyed the mystery and symbolism here. I sometimes found the illustration a bit had to follow. The illustration is done in a very sketchy and unfinished style, which isn’t my favorite. I did really enjoy how aspects of the maze were woven in and out of the panels. This is fairly ambiguous and the quest to the center of the maze seems to be somewhere between magical realism, delusion, and an internal mental journey.
This is a well done artistically and a very moving read as the inspector tries to navigate his own grief and confront what he’s done with this life since his daughter’s passing. There is a bit of a fantasy element as the whole city becomes a maze for him to solve.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a well done graphic novel. I enjoyed the story and some of the artistic elements. I did find the story a bit ambiguous at times and thought the illustration had a sketchy and unfinished feeling to it. I am glad I read this and will keep my eye open for other graphic novels by Lemire.
