30 Days of Night by Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.79 You Save: $14.20 (79%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.70 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of 30 Days of Night
Book Review: Very short, but not over done
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on other reviews on Amazon I brought this book with a little apprehension. But I knew its was being made in to a film so I thought it would be a cool chance to read an original text before seeing it on screen.
Its true that 30Days ahs very little if any characterisation, there are no back stories and very little happens before the vampires arrive. This does mean however, that the story is tight and not overly long with too much description, that art work is sharp and impressive; if anything it's cheapened by being part of a comic book. My only disappointment with the art was that characters never seems to look the same from one picture to the next, you know who everyone is but they never ever look the same, which is annoying as you'd expect a little consistency really... and then find something new when giving a bit more concentration the secound time around.
I really did enjoy 30days, but be aware that it's a short to the point, extremely gore based comic that's much more enjoyable to look at than read.
This goes for other books in the series also that follow a similar seemingly character/story less path, although if you want to its possible to find something much deeper within the book, but personally I expect the work to be done for me. If the writers and artist had wanted it to be, it could have been lots better and much deeper, otherwise it's an average modestly priced comic. I'd describe it has fun and not much else.
Book Review: I know why I bought this..
Summary: 3 Stars
..and it wasn't for the story, let me tell you! The story is diabolical, cliqued and completely overdone with some appaling attempts at wit and 'coolness'. So you're thinking..why the 3 star review? Let me tell you. This graphic novel, however short, is presented beautifully. The graphic part of the novel is 5/5. The style is unique, fresh and beautifully illustrated. Each page is filled with such atmosphere and stunning graphics that it's a pleasure to just flick through it.
In conclusion, don't buy this because you expect a fantastic story, it really doesn't fulfill it. But if you're an artist yourself, or just fancy looking at a brilliantly presented graphic novel to add to your collection then this is it.
Book Review: Great central premise but flawed execution
Summary: 3 Stars
Everyone seems to agree that the premise for Thirty Days of Night is quite brilliant and simple too. Indeed it's so simple that I'm surprised I didn't think of it given that I am also a fan of polar exploration. Putting my petty jealousy aside this a beautifully rendered graphic novel .Unfortunately the plot doesn't live up the premise and the characterisation and dialogue are quite often embarrassing .
The story's potential is there of course, A gang of vampires descend on a North Alaskan town just as the sun dips past the horizon for the last time for a month. The set up for the story is terrific but the rest is rushed , crude and the characters are so badly realised by writer Steve Niles that the reader in all likelihood won't give a blunt fang whether they live or die. Which sort of robs the narrative of any drama or tension. The sheriff hero is also a truly appalling clich?.
The artwork by Ben Templesmith is what really makes this book worthwhile with a truly nightmarish quality to it at times . The vampire genre could do with a renaissance -rather like one the zombie genre has undergone in recent years with cerebral , erudite allegorical books appearing regularly . 30 Days Of Night is a brilliant idea but without the depth of thought or writing craft to back it up. Shame , though it's definitely worth a look. Lets hope the upcoming film adaptation is superior , mainly because they got someone in to write a decent script.
Book Review: 30 Days of Night
Summary: 4 Stars
'30 Days of Night' is the first in the series of graphic novels written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Ben Templesmith. The story begins when a group of vampires flock to Barrow, Alaska where the sun sets for 30 days, allowing them to feed without the burden of sleep to avoid lethal sunlight. When the vampires' leader Vicente learns of this plan, he travels to Barrow to end the feeding, in order to preserve the secrecy of vampires. Because of the cold, the vampires' senses are weakened and a few of the town's residents are able to hide. One resident is Sheriff Eben Olemaun, then attempts to save the town and the lives of the few remaining townspeople, including his wife Stella.
After watching and thoroughly enjoying the incredible movie adaption earlier this month I just had to check out the novel to see what was the inspiration behind it all. Before this I'd not read a comic/graphic novel for about 10 years, but the medium didn't stop me from enjoying this book as much as if it was a "normal" novel. The illustrations are quite bizarre but work very well at keeping the nightmarish atmosphere and I noticed that the directors of the movie must have used some of the pages as storyboards for scenes in the movie as they were very similar. The story is amospheric, gruesome and exciting, but two things that did let it down slightly for me was that there were a lot of characters from the movie not included in this and the story was also a little short. This aside it is a truly great read and has re-introduced me to graphic novels and I have now ordered it's sequel, Dark Days, to see how the story carries on. Recommended to anyone who has recently seen the film and loved it as I have and is also the great start to a brilliant series of horror novels.
Book Review: Very Good but some grey areas.
Summary: 4 Stars
Great setting for an idea, without spoiling; a town in the grip of winter,a lack of sunlight giving the undead plenty af time to roam and cause havoc. However without wanting to be too critical (it is a good graphic novel) there were too many gloss overs as to who was who?, i.e. the bad guy in the bar? Was the new orleans connection given more detail?(very glossed over and who was she?).The art work is good but some pictures are a little confusing to look at (lots of dark greys and red splats here and there) but mostly the art work fits the story very well. however worth the 4 out of 5.