Absolutely awesome. I loved the book, and the graphic novel is just as amazing. I adore everything by this author. If you're a fan, grab this. If not, you'll be a fan after reading this.

Kiersten White is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning, and critically acclaimed author of many books, including The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, the And I Darken trilogy, the Slayer series, the Camelot Rising trilogy, and her adult debut, Hide. Kiersten lives with her family in San Diego, where they obsessively care for their deeply ambivalent tortoise, Kimberly. Her novel, Hide, was recently adapted to graphic novel format by Scott Peterson.
I was intrigued to read this graphic novel as a reviewer, as I have never read the original novel. Adaptations between mediums get a bad rap, especially between similar mediums like novels and graphic novels. There are a lot of arguments, with many valid examples, on both sides that adaptations between these two genres lose something. I wanted to see if that was true, and if I could tell what that was, as a reviewer.
Hide is based around the idea of a creepy, abandoned theme park. There is a theme park that’s fear/horror related. There are no maps, no guide posts, simply a maze of thrills and entertainment. At one point, a child goes missing. An employee is blamed, but the stain is still there, and the park shutters. Come modern day, and an orphan living in a shelter who simply needs some good luck and a fresh start enters a contest to survive a hide-and-seek style competition with a prize of $50,000 on the line. She and thirteen others enter the competition and spend a week in the ruins, getting found one by one. Only there’s something else happening, something they’re not being told. There are signs and hints of something worse happening, some deal made years and years ago with some creature that has recently woken.
As a graphic novel, this was a perfectly solid YA-level horror. The characters are appealing as misfits and outsiders, and their language and attitudes towards the world, social media, etc. Their approaches to the competition, and the questions they ask, are believable, so the mystery is palpable. The narrative and the way the characters are followed, the way their stories intertwine as they try to survive, makes sense. Everything works in the story. Furthermore, the art by Veronica and Andy T. Fish is clean and consistent with the story telling. This seems like a perfectly fine graphic novel telling a really well-crafted Faustian-bargain style of story for a YA audience. If anything is lost in the translation between novel and graphic novel, I cannot tell without reading the original. Coming in as a fresh reader, I was certainly entertained and engaged by this wonderful book, and strongly recommend Hide: The Graphic Novel to any YA-readers interested in horror or horror graphic novel enthusiasts.

An entertaining story, especially for those who like multiple characters and social media commentary, but it also feels a little unnecessary as a graphic novel.

*3.5 rounded up to 4 stars*

I think my favorite part about this graphic novel were the illustrations!!! Such great art and it really worked to give the creepy, unsettling feeling that the story demanded!!!

The premise of the story was really interesting and I can appreciate how the author and the person who adapted the original novel were able to convert a whole book into this graphic novel. I haven’t read the original Hide, but it didn’t felt like some details were missing when reading the graphic novel.

I do have to say that I was a bit bored at times, especially when I wasn’t reading about the very few characters that I was somewhat interested in.

However, I’d still recommend it to anyone who loves graphic novels and to feel unsettled. Especially in this time of the year 👻

Thank you to @netgalley and @clarksonpotter, @tenspeedpress and @tenspeedgraphic for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really interesting story line. I didn't read the novel, but it's great as a graphic novel! It was definitely a page turner; I was invested in the story until the very end. The content does get a tad bit heavy, so if you're not one for blood and murder I'd avoid this one. But if you're into blood, murder, and horror this book is definitely for you!

Thank you to Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, Ten Speed Graphic and NetGalley for the ARC.

**ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review**

Hide: The Graphic Novel by Kiersten White was a trip. This story follows Mack, a young girl with a traumatic past, who gets invited to a hide and seek competition in an old, run down theme park and it goes from there, meeting the other characters and progressing into this creepy, thrilling mystery/horror. As someone who doesn't normally do slasher/horror anything, I was curious about how it would work in graphic novel form, and I was pleasantly surprised. I feel that this medium worked well for me for this genre because it was able to portray the story in a simpler manner while still giving off the heebie jeebie vibes. The art was thorough and detailed, and the color palate was engaging. Still not a genre I'd want to read very often, but I did find myself wanting to see what would happen. This was a solid entry for perhaps newer horror readers to give you that thrill, but without the nightmares afterwards hopefully. :-)

If you liked the novel I'm sure you'll like this but it was just okay for me. I had tried to read the novel when it first came out but I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep all the characters straight without visual aid so I was happy when they announced there would be a graphic novel. The writing and art and everything like that was very good I just personally found the whole message to be incredibly heavy handed even though I agree with it 100% so that kind of took me out of it a little bit. This is just a personal problem that I have a lot of time with scifi and sometimes with horror like this so I'm sure it will be perfectly enjoyable to most people.

This one was pretty good. The ending was a little flat for me, but it makes me want to read the novel to see if its more rounded out there.

I read the original version of Hide last year, and I'm now giving the graphic novel version the same rating: three starts.

The graphic novel version solved some of my issues with the original novel, especially my confusing about the setting and the park layout. I loved the illustrations--the last page is especially epic.

The graphic novel version also felt significantly more shallow than the original, though, which I already felt needed more depth (especially when it came to characters and plot). My biggest issue with the graphic novel was that there were significant portions that flat-out confused me even though I read the novel within the last year. For example, some dialogue was too truncated and left a lot unexplained. Some major plot points were conveyed so briefly in only a set of visual panels with no text that I had to look at them again and again to figure it out. My gripe with the original was that the plot was promising but needed more depth. My gripe with the graphic novel is that the plot itself has become super muddy.

Overall this was a fun read, but it was a check-out-from-the-library book, not a buy-for-my-shelf book.

Thank you to Netgalley & Ten Speed Graphic for this ARC.

I was immediately sucked into this story. The art was fantastic but the story was so interesting, it held my attention it had my mind full of questions. What would anyone do for $50,000, this was a competition that had me at the edge of my seat.

This graphic novel follows fourteen people who have been selected to play a high stakes game of hid and seek inside of an old amusement park. The prize is life changing, fifty thousand dollars. All they have to do is be the last one standing. Little do they know that this game is the most lethal game of hide and seek that they will ever play. Can they survive? You'll have to check this one out for yourself!

This was a fantastic book. The artwork was top notch. The coloring of the amusement park really made it stand out. The characters were nicely drawn too but my favorite was the monster. It looked familiar yet eerie. Like something from this world, twisted and distorted.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to the ARC of this in exchange for an honest review, and I am super excited to share my thoughts on this one after having read the novel last year!

*******
I actually liked this better than the novel. I liked the promise of Hide when I originally read it last year but felt it was lacking something to make it great. I think the story just works better with visuals, like in the case of this graphic novel adaptation.

I will admit that I did not live this book when I read it. I was hoping a graphic novel would make it more appealing and while, yes, it was a bit more palatable, I still wish the story had been more about a creepy abandoned theme park rather than a weird ground demon needing to be fed.

3.5 ⭐️

This is the graphic adaptation of Kiersten White’s 2022 survival-horror-in-an-amusement-park novel Hide, which I did try to read earlier this year, but just could not get into it. However, it did work MUCH better for me as a graphic novel! Some of what made the text-only novel difficult for me persists here—namely the rapid, whiplash changes in perspective and jarring leaps in time—but having the visuals helps a lot! The artwork by Veronica and Andy Fish is engaging and bold.

After really enjoying White’s Mister Magic, I returned to this story much invigorated! I do now see a theme in her work, though. Without going into too much detail, I will say that the author’s Mormon upbringing plays as much a role in this story as it does in MM. I’m wondering how quickly I would have caught onto the plot if I hadn’t read that one first…

While I don’t think I’ll go back and read the source material, I’m glad to have experienced this harrowing story one way or another. But there are definitely ⚠️trigger warnings⚠️ needed for abuse, self harm, suicide, and general gore. Keep in mind that these issues are dealt with in a HIGHLY VISUAL manner.

I will definitely keep looking out for Kiersten White’s work in whichever format it comes, but I *do* think I’m done with theme park horror for a while! 🤣

Full review posted to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5440453541

Oooh this was a good read! Not what I expected, but good! Thank you #NetGalley! I would recommend reading this!

Although I have not read the original Novel Hide by Kiersten White, I enjoyed the graphic novel. The artwork was very beautiful and well done, and was a quick read. I enjoyed the premise of the book and the unique storyline. I felt like some things we missing though, and we didn't get the depth that I am assuming happened in the original.

I loved the paperback version. This graphic novel version of this thrilling story gives a whole new aspect to the tale. It colors make you feel like you are reading an old school comic book, which lends itself to full emersion into the story. It's twisty and a smidge unnerving. A wonderful story told in a whole new way.

I highly recommend to any horror fans, and fellow fans of Kiersten White's stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this awesome opportunity. Five stars!

Most people would jump at the chance to win $50,0000. In fact, some people would do anything in their power, even if it led to someone else’s demise. When 14 people are offered the chance to win big money, they’re each in it for different reasons. People, like Mack, are looking at the money as a chance at a new or better life. Others are hoping it’ll launch their brand into the limelight. Then there are the people running the competition who are willing to kill to get what they want. However they are involved in the competition, they’re each about to be tied to an old and abandoned theme park for the rest of their lives.

I read the written novel last year, so I was extremely excited when I saw that a graphic novel adaptation was on the way. I could see how the book would translate very well as a graphic novel, so of course I had to check it out. I’m excited to confirm that it does work very well as a graphic novel! This time around, we watch the 14 contestants along with those running the competition come to life through the colorful artwork. Plus, the art style truly brings the story to life with its vivid colors and beautiful drawing style.

Like before, we follow an interesting cast of characters leading up to the competition until its end. We get to know some characters more than others, but we follow Mack the most. There was less suspense this time around, and the Seeker is no longer visually scary. However, I think it still worked out great for its graphic novel format.

Overall, this feels more like a young adult version of the story because there wasn’t much of a scare factor and it lacked suspense. Despite that, I really loved the story. If anything, I actually like that you can choose how scared you want to feel and then choose which version of the story you want to check out based on that.

The strong supporting characters are definitely one of Hide’s greatest strengths (at least in its new graphic format). The other is the distinctive look of the Amazement Park. As rendered by Fish and Fish, each macabre attraction should charm a lot of horror fans. Full review here: http://www.jbspins.com/2023/09/hide-graphic-novel.html

“Hide: The Graphic Novel” by Kiersten White (3.5 stars) (PubDate-THIS WEEK!) is the graphic novel release of the 2022 novel of the same name and without having read the original novel. This version is a solid and interesting story stylistically rooted in comic-book writing and art. It was a quick read, and one that I would recommend for graphic novel horror genre fans as well as fans of comics in general.. What it lacked in depth, it made up for with murder and thinly disguised religious metaphor. Always a fun combo!

Positives: The premise, a reality TV-like competition of Hide and Seek on the grounds of an abandoned amusement park, is super fun. The park itself was creepy, designed oddly, and after years of neglect, had more fear factor than any other story element. I also liked the comic-book art of the novel, even though I’m not a frequent pure-comic reader.

Wish List: I feel like the art was good, but not what would have been best for THIS story. The form and shape of the panels and the connection points lost punch with the comic-style and, while I don’t know if the original novel had more depth, this version definitely didn’t. Different artistic rendition could have helped to add depth and connection. I felt interestingly informed, not truly engaged. I also wish that there had been a few less characters to keep track of. In the brief format of a graphic novel, this many characters felt cumbersome. I didn’t get a chance to really care about anybody, because there was so little space to get to know each one. I believe though, that comic fans would applaud the intense and rapid fire delivery of an action-packed story without all the belaboring that novel-readers tend to enjoy. Eyes of the beholder, and all that.

As always, I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read by netgalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press. The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #Hidethegraphicnovel #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #clarksonpotter

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Publishing Review 9/09/2023