Beautiful rendition of a classic. The style of illustrations is exactly what I would envision: soft, natural colors that highlight the rural beauty of the landscape and the way the rabbits fit into it.

I think the lettering of the dialogue could be a bit more refined. At times I found it disjointed with the effects of the images. Nonetheless, I would have loved this as a child/tween.

I had listened to Watership Down on audiobook with my son when he was younger and was enthralled by the stories of these rabbits who fight and survive. It is quite an allegory of human nature at its best and worst. I wasn't sure how this story could be told in a graphic novel format, but I am really impressed with the beauty and execution of this book. Not only is it easy to follow the story through the drawings, the artwork is incredibly beautiful. At the end of the book, the authors thank Richard Adams' daughters who took them on a tour of the places in England where he set the book (apparently he had told the story to his daughters when they were young, and they had encouraged him to write them down). The loving care that went into this book both in how the story is told and the art shines through. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press, for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

I haven't read the original version of Watership Down yet but I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic version. The art style is beautiful and absolutely fits the story well. The pacing was okay for me too, it's not too fast that will make you feel like it's rushed but not too slow that will make you feel like it's too long to be a one-volume graphic novel. I loved how it made me feel various emotions which shows that they adapted the novel so well. Capturing and evoking emotions can be very hard when it comes to graphic novels because you have to make sure the pacing, dialogue, and art are doing their job properly and this ticked all the boxes. All-in-all, I enjoyed my read and even teared up at the end.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for an ARC of this comic in exchange for an honest review!

I stumbled upon Watership Down a little later in life, knowing full well of its status as one of those "Top 10 Films that Scarred You As A Child." At some point, I had seen the glorious intro to the film, where Frith bestows various gifts to the animals and El-Ahrairah displays his tricks and cunning, and that immediately sent me to the novel. It's a beautiful story, with lush descriptions of the downs and adventure that, while coming from so humble a place, keeps you interested from beginning to end. By some magic, James Sturm and Joe Sutphin managed to capture everything about this story that has delighted readers for decades.

Sutphin goes for a more naturalistic style, keeping the rabbits and other various animals expressive, but not too cartoony. It mostly keeps to a certain realm of reality, with colors that are more muted, but never do any sort of disservice to the setting. While I am a fan of styles that bush boundaries, this style is perfect for Watership Down that, while seemingly fantastical at times, is a very down to earth tale. There's a certain charm to it that comes from the simplicity of its setup, that is a group of animals just trying to survive.

Of course, not every plot point and character makes it through the process of adaptation. I am thankful that Sturm was able to include some of the folk tales of the rabbits, which was one of my favorite elements of the story. Naturally, to keep this story to a single volume and maintain a sense of flow, things would have to be reworked and shifted.

In my opinion, this graphic novel is an exemplary transfiguration on the original story that will please fans and hopefully entice new readers to the book.

“Watership Down: The Graphic Novel” - (4.5 Stars) (Pub Date:10/17/2023) by Richard Adams, adapted by James Sturm, and illustrated by Joe Sutphin was a soul-satisfying read and I feel relief that I finally know the structure of a story I’ve picked up and put down (and never finished) countless times since I was a child. The art is smart and subtle and I enjoyed the story as a “new-to-it” reader. While I read the arc on my e-reader app and the art is brilliant in this format, I plan on rereading the hard copy to get the full effect of paper weight, page-turning, and ink saturation.

Good Things: The art was beautiful, and the pacing and framing were subtle but impactful to the reading experience. The muted, classic color choices were thematically appropriate to the classic story, setting an ‘age’ to the book, despite its brand new adaptation. I appreciate the skill that went into creating distinct visual differences and personalities for rabbits, with slight shading or size differences, shared expressions within groups, and individual voices and markings to build characters without descriptive narrative. This seems like it would be hard to do, and Sturm/Sutphin nailed it.

Final Thoughts: I can’t speak to how well the adaptation was from the original source material because I never was able to get through the original 450 + page book, and while I’ve always been secretly ashamed of that fact, I can advise people who always wanted to know what the fuss was all about or folks who feel like “well-read readers” <except for skipping Watership Down>, this Graphic Novel gives everyone an entry point no matter their tolerance for longer narratives. While the adaptor asks the reader of his work to not use it as a replacement for the original, I believe that this work is a great stand-in for all of us who felt some small shred of FOMO with the Gen X classic.

I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read of this story 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 #watershipdown #clarksonpotter #tenspeedpress #tenspeedgraphic #richardadams @james_sturmish @joesutphin #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #arc #arcs

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Review Shared on Goodreads - www.goodreads.com/leah_cyphert_butidigressbookclub
Publishing Review 10/22/2023

Watership Down is a great book. From 1972 until now it's been great. I really enjoyed this reread of the classic Richard Adams book with the beautiful illustrations by Joe Sutphin. If you've never read Watership Down I highly suggest reading the book first but then keeping this for a reread one day to revisit what will be one of your favorite books.

Before Erin Hunter's Warriors series there was Richard Adams' Watership Down. A new graphic novel retelling of Watership Down brings new life to the classic story of a brave group of rabbits determined to create their own future, out from under a dictatorial leadership. This epic adventure is a full circle of life- adventure and the great beyond.

In this adaptation of the classic novel, a new generation of readers can fall in love and have their hearts broken by the tale of Hazel and his family of rabbits trying to find a home. One morning, Fiver receives a vision that their current home is about to be destroyed, and all rabbits inside will be killed. Only a small group believe Fiver has the gift of second site, so they set off to find a new home and establish a new warren. Along the way, they must fight the elements and predators, as well as overcome obstacles like not having any does with them to perpetuate their warren. This is a touching story that examines man’s impact on nature and the natural order as a whole.

Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by Richard Adams, adapted and illustrated by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

I loved this. Graphic novels don’t always hold my attention but this one grabbed it and then ran with it and I sped through this story so quickly!
This is an adaption of a classic story about a group of rabbits who must go on a dangerous journey to find a new home, with threats of humans, predators, and even other rabbits around every turn.
I have never read the original story (although this has definitely made me add it to my tbr) so I can’t say how this compares, but the graphic novel just by itself is magical and beautiful and made me grow attached to so many of these little rabbit characters.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves graphic novels, stories about epic journeys, or anthropomorphic animals!

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this arc in return for my honest review!

Check out Watership Down: The Graphic Novel on October 17th!

This is a fantastic adaptation of the classic novel by Richard Adams. Having not read the original novel in a really long time, I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel. The artwork was gorgeous and the story stayed true to the source material. If you're looking for a graphic novel all about courage and frienship then defintely check this one out!

Okay, look. Look. I’ll consume anything Watership Down. I’ve read the book three times. I’ve read the sequel, “Tales From Watership Down,” just as much! I even read the semi-connected “Plague Dogs.” I’ve watched the original movie countless times (and the “Plague Dogs” movie once, as well). I’ve seen the Netflix series. I’m on a quest to find the 1999 Canadian series, as bad as I’ve heard it was. Hell, I just saw there’s an audiobook version of Tales and bought it in under a minute, holy crap, I’m PSYCHED.

Ahem.

What I’m saying is, I love Watership Down. I’ve got skin in the game. I have Opinions.

And my opinion is…this adaptation is GOOD. Faithful, first of all. No weird plot differences, all the regular characters, and I think just about every plot point. I can’t recall anything missing between the book and the graphic novel, and that’s impressive. A roughly 450 page book turned into a 380-ish page graphic novel, and nothign important was lost? Nice.

The art style is a bit reminiscent of the original movie, but with a more earthy, sketch-like quality. Not an unfinished quality, but something that feels more organic, a bit more wild. A good job was done to visually differentiate the rabbits, which can be difficult, which such a large cast. A few of the side characters can get a little samey, but you never mistake anyone important. I especially like how Hazel and Fiver, brothers, are quite similar, but can still be easily told apart. They’re related, not identical!

as with all good adaptations of this work, the artists didn’t shrink from the blood. These are some murderous rabbits!

I do think a good bit of the visual aesthetic of the comic was lifted from the original movie, but it’s more homage than tracing. After all, we’ve got pretty good descriptions of the characters and world from Adams. You can’t stray entirely from the source material. (I’m looking at you, 1999 version.)

So, look. If you love Watership Down, this HAS to go on your shelf. If you’ve ever been interested in reading the book, but it’s a bit intimidating, then the graphic novel will be a quicker, more accessible version. And I think it’ll be enough to tempt you into the full text.

But damn, do not give this to kids. Please, do not traumatize another generation!

…I mean. Not until they’re, like, 10 years old, at least. Got to show them some classic rabbit murder sometime!

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

I’ll only be reviewing this on NetGalley due to this being a dnf (which is also why it has an average rating). I just didn’t enjoy the characters or the art style really. I do still enjoy some books geared for younger ages, just not this one.

This is as good as you would want from a graphic novel adaptation of the classic book Watership Down. The illustration work is stunning and appropriate for the story. Most of the themes of the book survive the transition to graphic novel beautifully and even add to the story in places. For those who have never read the book, this is an engrossing read, often hard and harsh, about the survival of a colony of rabbits (anthropomorphic in that they talk and reason, not that they walk on hind legs). For those who have read the book, this is a loving and respectful tribute that does an excellent job of staying true to the source material.

Story: When Hazel's brother Fiver has one of his premonitions about needing to leave their warren, Hazel doesn't question it and instead creates a group to make a journey to find a new home. Hazel makes smart decisions along the way but it is a dangerous journey. More worryingly, they are a group of bucks and will have to find does if the colony is to survive once it finds its new home.

The story is hard hitting - this isn't Beatrix Potter. The rabbits face very real perils - from outside and even from themselves and their own kind. From man and human technology to foxes, beavers, cats, dogs, and more. But the rabbits also make allies who make all the difference. It is a very engrossing story with a strong ending and several points upon which to ponder.

The adaptor was respectful of the novel and even worked with the Richard Adams estate to create a faithful vision of the novel. To keep the novel readable, some characters and stories did need to be cut out - but this book doesn't suffer from the exclusions. As a choice, the author chose to keep dialogue to a minimum and it was a great decision- this is infinitely readable simply because there isn't a lot of text interrupting the pathos and action.

The watercol0r-like muted hues perfectly capture the Hampshire countryside. Characters are given subtle visual clues to their identities (though at times it could be hard to distinguish which character was speaking). The action is well drawn, the illustration work clean and relaxed, and one could almost feel the wind, the soft rabbit hair, and the wet Earth of the warrens.

In all, I head not read the book in decades and it was a pleasure to return to the story of the plucky rabbits, their allies, their travails, and ultimately the search for a safe home. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Having never read Watership Down before, I really enjoyed it as a graphic novel. The illustrations were AMAZING and really helped to immerse the reader in the story. This was beautifully done and I would highly recommend it!

This takes the classic story by Richard Adams and transforms it into a really cool art format. I think the graphic novel makes a very large book so much less intimating. Perfect for animal lovers and lovers of the original. I think my favorite part was seeing El-ahrairah's tales illustrated!

A beautiful graphic novel retelling of the classic Watership Down. The art is stunning and really adds to the mood - the rabbits have such expressions that it really make some panels haunting. I appreciated the index at the back as well!!

This is a great way to make the original accessible for reluctant readers. I could see this helping classroom readings of the text; I always look for graphic novel versions of classics! Plus, who doesn't love a gorgeous graphic novel?


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

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eArc to review.

I cannot compare this to the original novel as I never read it but I have watched the film, loved it and new I needed to read this graphic novel.

The artwork is beautiful, the story is brilliant and heartwrenching and I recommend it to any fans of Watership Down and anyone who would want to read it, as long as it is age appropriate and people are offered any content warnings as this had me, a 23 year old, sobbing.

Absolutely fantastic.

Watership Down is a beautiful and enduring story of courage and hope. I saw this version and I wanted to know if it would be good as a graphic novel. After reading it slowly and thoughtfully, I can confirm that it is excellent as a graphic novel.

I watched Watership Down in the cinema as a young child and I can remember the haunting theme tune of the movie. I went into this version of the novel with some trepidation because as a child I was always so concerned that the rabbits would be hurt. Of course some of them are but they are following their dreams boldly and with courage.

This is a story of hope. Hope for individuals and for communities, and it also shows the hope of the unexpected. The artwork is just perfect for this story and it manages to tell the story without loading it with prose which is quite an achievement.

Reading this brought back childhood memories but it also created a thirst for more, and the need to read the story again and join with the courageous rabbits in their quest for a new home and peaceful life. In many ways it is the story of migration for the 21st century with climate change, upheaval, rejection and the search for new life. It is so wonderful to have this graphic novel which will bring this enduring story to a new audience.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I will preface that I’ve never read the original novel or watched the animated movie. But I have heard how much the movie traumatized many children who watched it (lol). So this was a new story for me that I knew nothing about going into. I thought reading the graphic novel version would be more interesting, especially since I’m a visual person.

Unfortunately, I did not like this story. I DNF’d it around 60%. I didn’t finish it because I became bored and lost interest in it. The story became complicated and tedious. All of the rabbits began to blend together and I couldn’t remember each one. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of and it just got confusing. Also, the words they used for different things and other animals were hard to pronounce and remember what these strange words meant. There is also a lot of violence, which I didn't expect. These are definitely not cute, cuddly rabbits that most people probably think about. They are vicious and savage, which was a surprise.

As for the illustrations, I liked them and thought they were pretty, but the colors were dull and muted. I prefer brighter, bolder colors. Nothing popped for me. It’s also a very long graphic novel, too long in my opinion. The story kept going on and on, and it just lost my interest. I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters. Also, there are a lot of text bubbles and reading for a graphic novel. I prefer a lot less words and more beautiful graphics. I don’t think this translated well into a graphic novel. I think it was too big of a story, so it should just stick to the chapter book format.

If someone likes this story and is familiar with it, they may enjoy this graphic novel. But as someone new to this story, it just wasn’t for me.

This beautiful graphic novel is a fine example of a great adaptation. The original book award winning book written over fifty years ago captured the hearts and minds of America’s young. The story follows a group of wild rabbits as they leave an endangered warren and journey to establish a new home. Any time a book is adapted into a video or graphic novel it is a challenge to stay true to the spirit and mood of the original work. James Sturn has done a fine job of winnowing the elements to include in this adaptation. The story is told in a gentle manner and includes the basic story as well as many charming tales told by Dandelion the storyteller. The original author’s pastoral setting set in memorable prose has been captured by the enchanting muted earthtone illustrations by Joe Sutphin. He also varies his style so that Fiver’s nightmarish visions and Dandelion's brightly colored stories each appear in unique manners. Whereas the original novel was recommended for ages 12 and up, I think that this graphic adaptation can also be enjoyed by children a few years younger. I would encourage anyone in middle grade or older to spend a few hours reading this book. I think that it may lead readers to seek out the original to read more of Dandelion’s stories and Bluebell’s jokes. Anyone who remembers the original fondly will also appreciate this book.

I would like to thank Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this unbiased review are entirely my own.