V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, David Lloyd Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.70 You Save: $9.29 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of V for Vendetta
Book Review: Can I Give it Six Out of Five?
Summary: 5 Stars
An absolute masterpiece!
I have never read a graphic novel and got into this through the film (worth a watch). I make a point of never reading the book of the film and thought i'd give it a try.
The story is a dark, chilling, orwellian style warning, of the results of facism. Like 1984 you can see this vision of the future around you now in the form of CCTV, and the war of words brought by the war on terror.
The graphics are great, especially like the ghoul like bishop.
If you've never tried graphic novels, try it. You might, like me love it.
Book Review: A stern warning of things to come...
Summary: 2 Stars
For those who have read Orwell's 1984, V for Vendetta has nothing new to offer. In this comic book, Moore is re-treading that road, like so many other writers of science-fiction. The dystopian England of the book is a carbon-copy of Nazi Germany, rather than a fictional creation designed to satirise the modern world. It has no relevence to the Britian we live in.
In addition Moore decided to set his comic book in what was then the near future- 1998. This has to be one of the worst mistakes in sci-fi, as it quickly dates the book or film. Orwell got away with it, but by the time the actual 1984 came to pass, the book was already a modern classic.
The other essential element of comic book writing- the artwork- is fairly good. It looks good and the grim backdrop to the story is drawn in a darkly atomspheric style.
Book Review: England Prevails!
Summary: 5 Stars
The film version of 'V For Vendetta' in all honesty, wasn't half bad. That said, it still isn't a patch on the graphic novel. Alan Moore's skewered take on a future totalitarian England is by some distance the most relevant and terrifying comic/graphic novel i've ever read. A creepy meditation on the loss of identity, freedom and personal liberties, this should be mentioned in the same breath as Moore's equally brilliant 'Watchmen'.
'V', an enigmatic terrorist with a smiley facemask and unnervingly pleasant demeanor, saves a young girl from certain death and plots to blow up London with his young protege. In a series of increasingly disturbing flashbacks, we slowly come to understand his motivation, and find ourselves in a confusing situation. Nothing is black and white, the good guys are really bad, the bad guys are really good, and you find yourself rooting for a character you should really despise.
How messed up is that? It's hard to believe that this was written 20 years ago. Corporation's controlling everything. Terrorist's plotting against the faceless powers-that-be. Just look out your door and you'll find the world of 'V For Vendetta'. That horrible feeling of being watched, and a world slowly collapsing into oppression, the novel seems to be getting to close for comfort.
And with David Lloyd's dingy, saturated art work, the atmosphere of 'V For Vendetta' is second to none. The worst bit about the novel is knowing that it will have to end. But that only means you'll have to read it again, which is no bad thing.
So if you still don't know who the man in cell number 5 is, it's about time you found out.
Book Review: ESSENTIAL READING just as good as all these 5 star reviews make out
Summary: 5 Stars
Just thought I'd add my own opinion to the pile of customer reviews praising this graphic novel through the roof. I've come to comics fairly late and I find comic book mile stones to be funny things. I find that some of them leave me scratching my head and wondering what all the fuss was about in the first place. Others age like wine and reward careful re-reading. V for Vendetta is definitley the latter. The story does miss a beat, the art work is top notch and even the recent medicore movie adaptation doesn't detract from it's power to shock, move and inspire the reader.
This is a book that doesn't require any previous appreciation of comics to get totally lost in. Best of all it's as quintessentially English as tea, Dad's Army and the Queen's speech. Absoluely essential reading!
Book Review: Wicked
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this graphic novel, I read it a long time before I saw the film, and I still think the novel is better! If you have never read a comic/ graphic novel before, I highly recommend this one.