For me personally, I enjoyed this graphic novel version of "Hide" more than I did the actual full-text novel itself. I'm a visual person, and although I understood the plot the first time around, having the images right there in front of me and depicted in bright artistic renderings made the story much more alive. The art was fantastic, and the story-telling, although familiar, was intriguing and horrifying. I wish more novels were made into graphic illustrations.

I was one of the few people that really, really enjoyed Hide when it came out last year. So I was quite excited to see it adapted into a graphic novel. However, I think this just kind of ended up falling flat for me. I also think this got a bit too info-dumpey. I still think it's a very action packed story, but I liked the book MUCH more.

Hide strives to do a lot with an adaptation of an entire novel. I did not read the source material, but Hide itself stands pretty much on its own. I have several issues with its execution though. What is a pretty straight forward horror plot gets bogged down by overly verbose pages and too many characters to effectively make the deaths stick. It also does a disservice to the medium to have all the kills off page. The whole point of having so many red shirts or having a reality tv style cast would lend itself to really giving the pages space to breathe, but that is not achieved here. It’s greatest saving grace is the art, but the pages are so verbose that you get a headache from first glance.

I think it a bit of a disservice to the medium to result to inscribing full pages of a journal. Maybe one or two pages, but once it gets past 3 we might as well have not even done it. Add on top of this is completely ancillary to the plot because the character that gets the material never shares it with anyone else. If this is only for the reader wouldn’t it make more sense to tell the contents visually?? And this happens multiple times. In my opinion, a graphic novel is an opportunity to tell a story in mostly art, but Scott Peterson seems to think that we use as much text as possible and just illustrate the story. Don’t get me wrong when it works it works, but I think the ball slips more than it should’ve. Especially when the art is so good.

Then we have the problem of the kills. They develop this interesting monster and hide him which is fine but there are way to keep the monster hidden while also showing the kills. It really does nothing but add unnecessary confusion and save all the visually interesting material for the end. The trade off is unnecessary. Characters disappear on the page. We find out later that they are supposedly dead, but we end up unsure because we never had any indication that they had died. There’s a point in the narrative where a character remarks that it would be hard to turn this into a compelling show. The reader knows this all too well because so far it isn’t making an interesting book either.

Specifically when we have a visual medium, it is important to use that to keep the reader interested. I think we could have plus the interest of the book in so many easy ways that not doing it strikes me as lazy. It comes off that we were so interested in keeping the page count down that we ending making the pages overly wordy and cutting out all the things you’ve come to the book to see. What is a slasher book without interesting kills? The book saves itself in the end when it realizes it’s folly and actually starts showing you interesting material, but I don’t think many readers will get that far. Otherwise they may just skip till the end. Especially if they’ve already read the book and they only picked this up to see a visual representation of the story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Recommended if you like: Creature horror, Goosebumps by RL Stein, The Ritual movie on Netflix.


✨Thank you Netgalley/Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, Ten Speed Graphic for the eARC!✨

How far would you go for $50,000?

For everyone in the competition: just far enough to obtain the life-changing amount of money. Fourteen competitors go to an abandoned amusement park to play a high-stakes game of hide and seek but this game’s stakes are higher than anyone anticipated. Based on the novel of the same name by Kiersten White.
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I was REALLY excited to get this arc because the original novel has been on my TBR for MONTHS and I think this story translated really well to a graphic novel. The artists they chose, Veronica and Andy Fish, who took over the art for the 2015 reboot of Archie Comics as well as countless Marvel and DC series. Their art style is exactly what was needed in this story- the vibrant colors and deep shading added to the looming feeling that the characters have during the story and it was really effective in being reminiscent of old 40s/50s Batman comics as well.

I also really enjoyed how there was a narrator/narration boxes with background information in addition to the various character’s POVs because it allowed to reader to separate themselves from the character narration and allow for a feel of being a true spectator during the whole event.

In summary, I really liked this story even though there were some unanswered questions about specific plot points (spoilers on second page). I would absolutely recommend this title to anyone who wants to try the creature horror genre, but they aren’t 100% sold on it yet!

SPOILERS:
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One thing I felt like I was missing (and might be talked about deeper in the actual novel) was where and how the beast came to being. I read all the pages from the journal, and I still wasn’t 100% where the thing came from, and why these specific families were the ones to summon it? It honestly did not make a lot of sense, but I still really enjoyed the story. Also so was Ava (the good Ava) part of these families or?? Not?? That was not really clear to me. I just really feel like I lost a lot of context by reading the graphic novel before the actual novel.

I quite liked the nostalgic art style and coloring in this graphic novel. The characterizations were done well, which I always look for in graphic adaptations. The pacing in this novel was really well done and held the tension. The gore was a bit sanitized, and I wish there was more detailing for ambiance. I thought this adaptation was done well, but I found the overall story lackluster.

Hide: The Graphic Novel is a tense and exhilarating story of fourteen teens partaking in a hide-and-seek competition where the winner will receive $50,000. But there is something off-putting about the grounds where the competition will take place, and as they days go by, and people are "found", the truth begins spilling out of what this competition really is.

The main character, Mack was an enjoyable and fascinating character to read and learn more about as the story goes on. As she makes acquaintances, some reluctantly more than others, she can only hope that word doesn't get out of who she really is, and why she is so good at hide and seek...

The illustrations were so mesmerising and made the experience of reading this graphic novel that whole bit better! I haven't read the original book that this is made from (although I have owned it for a while... oops) but this take on it has got me intrigued and eager to read it!

The story overall was shocking to watch unfold. The images of the amusement park and what it truly hides amplified my interest and immersion of the story. I read it in one sitting.

There was also an lgbt+ relationship which surprised me and I loved it!

A huge thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with this eArc in exchange for my honest review!

zomg!!! I downloaded and read this the same day, which never happens, but that's how excited I was about it. I loooooved it nearly as much as I loved the original, and I would say the only misstep you made here was omitting the absolute baller author's note that is in the prose novel.

I think that the graphic novel for this worked even better than the actual work's writing style (in the audiobook, I should clarify, as I don't know if the actual book had helpful designs). It really helped differentiating pov, and there were some ULTRA cool horror shots for a book that, imho, wasn't scary

Hide: The Graphic novel was a lot of fun. It is a graphic novel about a group of people selected to compete in the ultimate game of Hide and Seek. To top it off they are playing in an abandoned amusement park. The graphics were very well done and easy to follow. The story was suspenseful and kept you guessing what was going on. I felt like the pacing in some areas was too slow and there were parts that were in the story that did not add to the plot.

Not what I had expected from the graphic novel. I had tried to read the book but that didn't go well for me but it was an ok adaptation.

I think this graphic novel is for those that loved the novel and want another edition.

I am honestly surprised at how close the graphic novel adaptation got to the source material. The narration style was purposeful and well-done. Although, I do have the background knowledge of having read the novel, I think the graphic adaptation did well in giving each of the characters a platform and emotional complexity. Obviously there was less depth, and much less background detail to the first few "losers" (of the Hide-and-Seek game - no spoilers) compared with the book, but that's just how the graphic novel format works.

I loved the art style and colors. I liked the way the Amazement Park was depicted, and the detail of the story as it unfolded. I do think I felt less emotional than I did when reading the original book, but again, this is likely because: A) I'd already read the book so I knew what was coming and B) There was less page-time for emotional depth so it wasn't built up the same as it was in the novel.

I really liked this adaptation. I'd even be happy to have it on my shelf next to the original.

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital ARC!

When I read the original book of this, I had enjoyed it but felt that it didn't quite hit the mark in some areas. The graphic novel adaptation fixed pretty much everything that felt off to me there. The format makes it easier to recognize characters, I loved seeing the horrors, there's faster pacing, it didn't feel like they tried to pull a very big twist, and it didn't feel like there were any unresolved elements. I think that reading the two together could be good (as the full book has more time to get into details of lore), but this is a very solid stand-alone piece that I enjoyed greatly.

Release date: September 12th, 2023

2.5, but rounding up. I read Hide last year for a video I did on my BookTube channel (https://youtu.be/XOF-m576OJA) and I did not enjoy it much. In fact, it was one of the lowest-rated books of the year for me. I wanted to give the graphic novel a chance though, because I did like the overall premise of the story and I thought that it would work better in a different medium. Soooo I decided to ALSO make a video reading this version of Hide to test that theory:

https://youtu.be/34eve7zkRbU

I did enjoy this way more than the novel. I think the imagery really helps the novel and I definitely was more intrigued and captivated by what was going on than I was while reading the same story last year. This shows how much format and medium matter when it comes to storytelling! I said in the video I think this would have done even better as a one season show where each night is a different episode. Unfortunately, as a graphic novel, it still wasn't anything exceptional. There were a lot of plot and character issues the book had that they sadly brought over into this adaptation that I just couldn't get passed. Overall, it works better this way and I did enjoy it, but it still wasn't a stand out for me.

See the video for my full thoughts and opinions!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ten Speed Graphic for an advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are, as always, my very own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc for review!
I really like the art style. I think that if you liked the book, you will also like this one. I have to say this book was really good all the way until 60% I remember that towards the end I got really confused and thought that a lot of things did not made sense and the same happen with this graphic novel. This read very young and some moments seemed a little naive, It started to bother me a lot towards the end.

Honestly this's very boring, half thru the novel and they kept introducing characters. The story is a huge meh.
The two stars are for the illustrators Veronica Fish and Andy Fish.
Huge disappointment.

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Sinceramente me aburrio muchisimo, mas de la mitad de la novela y seguian presentando personajes. La historia es un enorme meh.
Las dos estrellas es por los ilustradores Veronica Fish y Andy Fish.
Enorme desilucion.

I received a free copy of Hide: The Graphic Novel from Netgalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press in exchange for an honest review.

Hide is one of the most enthralling graphic novels I’ve read. I saw early on that a good part of the inspiration must have come from the Greek myth about the minotaur and the Labyrinth. As these fourteen teenagers/young adults compete for a $50,000 grand prize, they slowly find their numbers dwindling. Not by being found by seekers as they were told, but by dying terrible deaths. Why is this happening? Who is doing it?

I loved this full-colour graphic novel. It gave me mythological horror vibes, very similar to Lovecraft and his cosmic horrors. I highly recommend perusing this tale of terror.

This is a nice graphic novel of the popular book! I don't know which I liked better, the book or graphic novel! I need to make sure that I keep an eye out for future publications from this author!

I have read the novel version of this book, and gave it 3 stars. I don't know why I thought this would be much of a difference, but it was also 3 stars. The monster didn't look scary at all, to be honest. And so much of the story wasn't visual, but was reading all the old papers and recollections of the Family. Overall it was fine. I think most horror folks would be disappointed, though.

I read Hide last summer at release and enjoyed it so when I saw a graphic novel edition, I had to request it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The translation from a traditional novel to a graphic novel is fantastic. Genius idea and really the best way to read this story. Each panel is colorfully and brightly illustrated. I really like the vintage amusement park poster art. Color plays a key role in the art and illustrates the story so well. Perspectives between characters is really well done, which is super important to the story because in just written form, it was a huge cast of characters to follow. In illustrated form, it's much easier to keep track of all of them and their deaths ;)

When I read the original novel, Hide, I really fell in love with it. As soon as I saw there was a graphic novel edition, I knew I just had to read it.

The first thing I want to say is that I really appreciated the art in this book. I'm picky when it comes to art styles but I loved this. I can tell a lot of care went into making it, especially the environmental shots. A lot of horror media uses desaturated colors, which can make the art dull looking, so it was refreshing to see things look vivid while maintaining the creepy atmosphere.

For those deciding between which copy to read, I think both versions have their own merits. Because I read the original so recently, it was pretty easy for me to spot the tiny differences in the story. A few character details were left out, especially regarding Ian and Brandon's grandma. In the novel version, you get to see more of Mack's internal thoughts and conflicts.

Other than that though, the story remains pretty much the same beat for beat, and I feel like people who just picked up the graphic novel wouldn't feel like the story was missing anything.

Thank you Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for this ARC.