Cover Image: The Daughters of Salem

The Daughters of Salem

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Member Reviews

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

Abigail is 14 and lives in Salem, Massachusets, in the 1690s. After a happy childhood, Abigail has to realise that her transformation into a woman makes her prone to sexual harassment and that she isn't safe any longer. When she meets a young man from the Abenaki tribe in the forest, things change...

This re-telling of the Salem Witch Trials take on issues like gender politics, xenophobia and religion.

I enjoyed this re-telling and also thought that the love story between Abigail and Mkweh is very sweet. Looking forward to #2 as the story isn't finished yet...

4 Stars.

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Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Salem holds a strong place in the American psyche. In part, this is due to making students read Arthur Miller’s the Crucible. Perhaps it is the stories that surround the town of Salem itself. The story itself has been examined a variety of ways. Thomas Gilbert’s feminist take is not the first such.
Though it might be the best fictional take.
Gilbert’s story focuses on the young girls in the town of Salem, in particular Abagail, and how the women are controlled by the male dominated society. He also works in the culture clash between the Native Americans and the European colonizers.
It is a harsh story, but the way Gilbert tells it, it becomes a more powerful story. It tackles the issues of how a society views those who are different. The focus on the fear of the other as well as a woman’s ability to reproduce make this story and graphic novel timely.
It should be noted that some of the artwork and content material is graphic. The artwork is a perfect match to the story.

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It's okay. The author's intent is good, but it's a bit too obvious: "let's hunt the devil outside instead of within..."
It's a bit too wordy, too. I was hoping for more.

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The Daughters of Salem was a uniquely interesting graphic novel to read. I have never picked up a historical fiction GN before--never really realized that it was a genre, to be honest--but it was neat! The novel combines fiction and fact about main character Abigail Hobbes. Her once safe and amorous hometown becomes a place of prejudice and fear towards nearly everything--sexuality, filth, religion, outsiders (especially Native Americans). These scenes are violent at times and difficult to read and wrap your mind around because of their nature, but history just is that way sometimes.

The story itself, I felt, is a little sporadic because in the beginning it really is about Abigail and her setting up the story and in the town. She is a girl and a local boy gives her a small, hand-carved gift. To the women of Salem, this means entering womanhood. After this sequence, her eyes are opened to the hysteria of the adults. The world is broadened and this is where I feel the story line is broadened and Abigail is no longer the consistent story teller. I still liked the uniqueness of the novel and the time period, but it did feel too broad to me. It felt like it left off too suddenly, but I will keep an eye out for the next installment. I am eager to see where the series goes.

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I was looking forward to reading this new graphic novel. However, it didn't quite deliver for me. I thought the storyline was great and kept my attention throughout. Unfortunately I didn't care enough about characters to spend longer enjoying the story and I found the art style almost distracting. Despite this, I will be keeping an eye out for the next instalment!

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WOW...I was reading some reviews for this book and see a lot of negative feedback. Let me tell you this book deserves all the positive feedback it can get. It is so great.

The Salem Witch Trials everyone has heard of, or has read the history.
The Daughters of Salem gets pretty graphic in the loose history of the Witch Trials of Salem. From rape, murder, persecution all wrapped up in a sketchy illustrated style. I really loved this book. It set in the victims point of view mostly, so you get to see some really bad stuff. I really enjoyed the book.

Totally buy it.

Make sure you follow us on Instagram @Beedlethebardbooksleeves

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Okay so let me start by putting a list of Trigger Warnings since the author and everyone who worked on this book clearly don't know how to do that.
- A lot of grapphic images of violence, deaths, blood and cruelty
- Sexual assaults
- Racism (Even though given the time period the book is set in you can kind of expect it ? But it doesn't make it less violent)
-Violent acts of misogyny

Now, with all of that, it really didn't help me enjoy this book. At all. I had to pause my reading several time because I felt too trigger. But guess what, all of that could have been avoided if someone had just put trigger warnings !

Also the art style wasn't doing it for me and the overall plot didn't peak my interest very much.

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First I want to thank the publisher for letting me advance read this little gem.
I’m a huge comic fan, wether it’s new ideas,retellings, historical, you name it I love reading them. The art work for me in this one was a bit strange, was kinda scratch art/borderline realistic/old school. So I didn’t love the art, colors were good and made sense. Storyline however was where it excelled. You’re sent to a tale of old Salem back where the “witches” were started though it’s not massively discussed yet it’s left open for the next installment to dwell more into it. I wish it went just a smidge more into the characters it was set up and everything to discuss and get that storyline developed but som thing paused it and it took a left turn on the reader. I believe it did quite a bit of character swapping and I hope we see a bit more of Abigail and the man to figure out how that will end or if it’s to end tragically. Either way it was intriguing. End was abruptly on and the religious aspects were definitely leading into the next being that bad omens are happening.

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Part one of The Daughters of Salem was a great set up story for what is to come, however you have to wait to get to more plot. In this installment, we meet the main character and learn how things are changing in the town of Salem.

There is a lot to take in with this graphic novel - there is violence and gender issues, and a lot of religion and it is all more disturbing than anything. I am very interested in Salem and the Witch Trials and thought this would be an interesting fictional take, and it kind of was, but I found myself cringing more than enjoying reading it. And I know that that is how a lot of the history is too, but as a fictional piece I was thinking it would take it another route.

There was a lot of violence in this set up, people are brutally killed and the whole thing just made me anxious for what is to come. Overall, it is probably more accurate than I was hoping for, and if you are interesting in those true-feeling aspects, then this could be more for you.

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Although I could see the potential in this text, I was not able to sustain my attention and finish the narrative.

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read part 1.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I'm interested in the Salem Witch Trials, but I'm not an expert or anything. I enjoy the drawing style, even though it is a bit to bloody at times for my taste..

not horrible, not fantastic. 3 stars.

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Wow okay. That wasn't great, but wasn't completely terrible, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. At all.

I will say from the beginning, this is a re-imagining of the Salem witch trials, which I do not know a great deal about so I did do some quick research to see if there was anything that I didn't know before starting this.

I found this graphic novel not to be feminist, but I found it to be more oppressive towards women in the setting, without adding anything worthy within the topics it addresses. I understand that one of the topics it wanted to address was the xenophobia of the time, but I did personally feel it was borderline racist to the native Indian community within the novel.

This graphic novel confused me a lot. I'm still not sure what audience this book is aimed at. The writing was geared towards a young adult audience, with simplistic writing, which makes sense learning about the main character Abigail. The novel is written from the point of view of Abigail, a 14 year old. However, the writing did not match the illustrations for me or add anything to the written story either. The images were quite graphic, and I did find them somewhat gruesome and horrific at certain points. In saying this, I did enjoy the illustrations early on for the first 2 chapters.

Thank you very much to Europe Comics for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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I honestly was not expecting so exciting or enthralling a tale nor as graphic an intense scenes but this is not for the faint of heart. A very reality grounded, intense drama thriller with more than enough gore brought forth by the fearful and the ignorant. I eagerly await the next volume. All the characters resonate and propel the story forward with gusto and the whole of the community is encompassed in intrigue and scandal brought on by a simple gift and a girls affention for someone she is forbidden to associate with. The preacher is both intense, realistic, and ghastly in his fever pitched quest to use religion for power and person gain.

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This was so gritty and dark and gruesome, there were some panels I struggled to read, but some of the art was also beautiful, and the story was gripping!

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I don't know what, really, it was that I expected to find from <i>The Daughters of Salem</i> by Thomas Gilbert but it definitely didn't match what came. And I think this largely comes from the degree to which this graphic novel is, for lack of a better phrase, incredibly graphic. The disturbing images that manage to sneak in at various points were rather difficult to stomach and ultimately I found myself feeling increasingly nauseous at times; a particular moment with an innocent dog comes to mind immediately, though I wish I could burn that image from my brain. What this ultimately comes down to is the fact that I wasn't looking for a horror story when I picked this book up, but rather an honest account of the terrible persecution that women faced in this time period. It feels like a horror story is what I got. Which, honestly, is fine if that's what a reader wants to get out of this book.

I don't know if I feel as though the book really calls out how truly awful some of the oppression females faced back then actually was and is. The fact that the main character, upon turning thirteen, is shamed for accepting a gift from a boy who'd been her friend for many years was a deeply disturbing and uncomfortable moment, especially when paired with the illustrations that depict the moment. The religious folk were incredibly awful as people, but definitely seemed accurate as far as my knowledge of this time period goes.

I wasn't overly fond of the way in which the novel was narrated, read as a sort of summary overlaying the events that happened in the story rather than really delving into the characters themselves, which I feel left us somewhat unable to get to know many of the characters better.

And finally, I just don't care for how the book ended. The majority of the novel was focused more on setting the scene for the time, the world, and the general thoughts of the people. There was never any mention of witches or even the witch trials, but rather it set up an understanding for how women were thought of at the time. And then it ended on a cliffhanger, with a known uneducated woman screaming up to god in the rain.

Overall, I felt that this was more of a horror story than a way of accounting the terrible events that happened during this time in Salem. I wouldn't say there was a whole lot wrong with the book, but rather that it wasn't my cup of tea.

<i>I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </i>

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Interesting concept, strengthened by good artwork, but weakened by poor writing. I don’t know that this was ultimately successful and I would have a hard time handselling this title. I’m not sure what the market for this title is.

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There are what feels like thousands of retellings of the Salem trials, and this one, like many others, did not include any supernatural elements. Puritan life in New England is just creepy enough as it is, and its many horrific aspects can each be considered a trigger for that specific case of mass hysteria - this author chose a rather feminist point of view that thankfully did not exclude women as abusers and contributors to other womens' ordeals. Although I don't know how I feel about the (hopefully?) exaggerated presentation of girlhood/womanhood in this adaptation. The inclusion of Native American elements is not a new plot device for New England horror, but it worked okay here. The artwork - of course I was initially drawn in by the nice cover - has this messy visual appearance that ultimately worked well for the story, even though some panels' meaning isn't apparent right away. It did look great during the gory parts of it, that's for sure! When all is said and done, The Daughters of Salem is not a terribly unique retelling, but people with a special interest in Salem shouldn't miss it.

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Nice to see some original thought and interpretation of Salem. The strong background of the community and it's characters define a new slant on a old story An interesting fictional account of political and religious upheaval very different from Miller's Crucible. .

I look forward to the next installment.

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This comic does a tremendous job recapturing the mood of bigotry, mistrust and misoginy that dominated the Puritan settlers' harlem of Salem and ultimately led to the Salem witch hunt frenzy.

It is definitely not a comic for the faint of heart and is most definitely off limits for children and youngsters aged les than 15, but it will give you a vivid glimpse into a distant world whose dynamics, albeit reversed, we have seen in the recent #metoo hysteria. A very interesting read.

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I received an advanced digital copy of this graphic novel from Netgalley.com and the publisher Europe comics. Thanks to both for the opportunity to read and review.

I'm not quite certain where to begin. Mr. Gilbert alludes to "the problem of femicide happening in Western societies claiming to uphold modern values and to denounce a society that has veered too far to the side of the patriarchy". He humbly likens his work to that of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'. A humble claim indeed.

And that's just in the letter to his readers. From there, it's poorly written and poorly illustrated nonsense pandering to the current poli-social climate. There's a very specific audience that Mr. Gilbert has written this for, and within that demographic it will probably become as referenced as Ms. Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale'.

I'm not certain which Western societies Mr. Gilbert is referring to, but I would suggest he learn the meaning of the word "femicide". Historically speaking, he should done more than glean a few historical names from Wikipedia. I am by no means an expert on the Salem Witch Trials, but even as a well read, armchair history buff on the subject, his artistic liberties with the stories and tragedies of real people were just too far fetched.

This was, in a word, terrible.

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