This classic story was brought to life beautifully by this company for Illustrated manga classics. I have read the original novel and watch different adaptations based on it and I can say that this adaptation was more or less faithful to the original. I do enjoy the fact that I could enjoy the story again without reading the tedious original novel. This book get straight to the point for the main situations of the story and portrays them in a riveting way. I definitely would recommend this manga to others who are fans of Charles Dickens.

The Electronic copy of this wonderful graphic novel was provided by the publisher via Netgalley website.

This is a beautifully depicted version of the classic by the great Dickens. The story is as compelling as in original novel.
I greatly enjoyed reading and admiring the artwork which heightened the experience tenfold.
The story is about a boy with humble background who craves to become a gentlemen and claim his place next to his first love. We see our young Pip going through life-changing events and facing a lot of hardships. The story centers around his ambitions, and all in all great expectations toward life.

The graphic novel was beautifully made in a Japanese manga format, where you read from the back of the book, right to left. I really enjoy this formatting as I am quite familiar with the style due to reading many mangas. The scenes and the characters are done intricately which I really appreciate in a graphic novel. Often sometimes, the background of the scene. might be neglected, but this was not the case with this novel.

Overall, the experience was very enjoyable and I was left wanting more.

I was auto-approved by the publisher Udon Entertainment through NetGalley to review this title.
I always found Charles Dickens <i>Great Expectations</i> rather spooky and dark, but it is one of my favourite classic stories.
The comic was able to keep the eerie feeling I always get when reading this story and it also portrays the harshness of young Pip’s childhood.
Overall, it’s a great addition to the Manga Classics series and I would recommend it.

I obtained a free copy via Netgalley for a true and honest review!

I found this such fun read! I don't really read magna comics but I really enjoyed this.

I attempted reading Dickens too early on in life and never went back to seeing if I would have enjoyed them in later life. This was one of the books I was oddly okay with when I was done(if I am remembering right) but I did not recollect all of it before starting this book.Despite that, it was an interesting read. Unlike the Edgar Allan Poe version I had read earlier(Manga Classics: The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe adapted by Stacy King), there was a lot more conversation in this one, which had to be trimmed for the format and I think some of the effect may have been lost there.It was an exciting read though, solely because of the drawings and the emotions (sometimes exaggerated for emphasis). I would not mind trying more books of this kind again,

This story is a long standing classic, for a reason. This book deals with so many different concepts wrapped in a complex, convoluted story of a young boy trying to reach his goals. I've read the book itself before and I really liked this formatting. The artwork itself is really good and it allowed me to read the story with greater ease. Some things are lost in this, but its largely unnecessary things.

I literally just finished a re-read of the original Dickens, and I still can't tell if any real artistic liberties were taken here. Why can't my brain process classics? What is wrong with me?

Nevertheless, I really and truly enjoyed this manga. I'd read the similarly done version of The Scarlet Letter and was so blown away, so I was really excited for this one. And I think this is a must-read for anyone who, like me, isn't quite intelligent enough to read, understand, and enjoy classic novels.

The artwork is so gorgeous. Estella is breath taking, and Miss Haversham is beyond intimidating and actually kind of scary in some parts. The language and storyline flow so smoothly, it doesn't feel like you even need to have read the original. Kids needing to do book reports, maybe take note?

There are a few more of these Manga Classics out there, and I really want to get on the ball and read those originals so I can enjoy the Mangas, as well. Maybe I'll read the manga versions first, actually.

This graphic novel will be perfect for those who need help understanding Dickens' writing. I remember being confused when I first read it all those years ago. As I read this, it actually helped my reading comprehension and understand some passages I didn't get as a teen.

Thanks to NetGalley and UDON Entertainment for the opportunity to read and review Manga Classics! Manga Classics include Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, which is true to the original classic with added cliffhangers to keep manga readers interested and eye-catching illustrations. After the story ends, the details of adaptation from classic literature to manga lets us see into the transformation. Each story in this collection follows these same guidelines! Impressive artwork and transformation!
Manga Classics also include The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (the only color is the scarlet letter A, which makes striking illustrations!), Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, The Stories of Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven. The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red death and The Fall of the House of Usher; Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and many more!
5 stars for books that make classics accessible and understandable to every reader!

Manga Classics: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Stacy King, & Nokman Poon

3.25 stars

The tale of Great Expectations is a famous one, but most people only hear it and passing and don’t realize that it is a Dickens novel. It follows the story of Pip, a young man living in poverty and destined to follow his sister’s husband’s footsteps as a blacksmith. He stumbles upon a convict and is scared that this will lead to his arrest and shame. He stumbles into the great rooms of Miss Havisham’s mansion and the lovely Estella. Miss Havisham has been secluded into her house for more than twenty years and still wears the wedding dress she was abandoned in. Estella is her revenge against men for the wrong she faced. Pip loves Estella with all his heart, but is a poor boy. That is, until Pip comes into his Great Expectations and an anonymous donor funds his ability to rise into London’s high society as a young man. It’s a simple story and it is wonderfully adapted in this edition. I liked this adaptation so much that I picked up the audiobook of it and bought myself a personal copy. Since then, I have read Great Expectations and I think that is what is so wonderful about this series. It introduced me to a story that I knew was famous, but didn’t necessarily want to read. However, this story is vast and it struggles as a manga. There was a lot cut and this is a very abridged version of the story. This is particularly due to Dickens’ writing style. It is simple, but it doesn’t feel complete without seeing the words on the page. The art is quite nice, but it isn’t the strongest of the manga classics and for that reason it didn’t hold a special place in my heart.


Art Scale: 2.5

My biggest problem with Great Expectations is Pip. He is a rather boring character in this adaptation and notions are silly and quite frivolous. However, after reading the source material, I think this intentional as the story is told by a much older Pip who is reflecting on this time in his life as a silly young boy and man.


Estella is a real piece of work. She isn’t redeemable by any means, but she was nurtured to be cruel, unforgiving, and cold. It makes an interesting nature versus nurture debate. The majority of Great Expectations characters are detestable. That’s what makes them so memorable! Ah, Mrs. Havisham is one of my favorites in classical literature.


Character Scale: 4

Overall, this adaptation made me interested in picking up the original work and I think that it did its purpose. It was also nice to finally be introduced to Dickens outside of A Christmas Carol. I would recommend this if you are unsure about whether you would like Dickens or if classics intimidate you, but you want to know what people in literary discussions are referencing. You could be pretentious without a lot of effort (or just pick up the actual novel because I preferred it more).


Plotastic Scale: 3.75

Cover Thoughts: It’s interesting, but not a favorite.

Thank you, Netgalley and Udon Entertainment for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure about reading Great Expectations again, even in manga form. It's my least favorite Dickens, and while I think it works better in a more visual medium, I'm still not a huge fan. That said, it's definitely an improvement!

Classics are always one of those things that most people WANT to read or SAY they will read but most of us never get around to it. Most classics are massive and tedious or they have complex writing that deters readers. But if you really want to get the overall concept of a classic without having to read the entire book then these mangas are the perfect thing for you.

The specific classic is about Pip. He helped an escaped convict and that one task set his entire future in motion. I really enjoyed this story. I got to see how horrifying Miss Havisham truly was and how horrible Pip became. I loved the story but I also loved the sections that the artist decided to use in the book.

I received an eARC copy of Great Expectations by Stacy King and @mangaclassics, so a huge thank-you to @netgalley and @udonent. This book is already published, so if you are interested I highly suggest picking up a copy
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While browsing through Netgalley, I came across this super fun Manga / Graphic Novel series that are retellings of classic fiction and I am just so excited!! I read Great Expectations first but honestly can’t wait to look into the others in the series as well. The art is so pretty! I read the original Great Expectations by Charles Dickens for the first time in tenth grade for school, but I have read it at least three times since then because I enjoy it so much. Getting to experience the story through a different media style was such a fun experience. I would definitely suggest this series to any Classic Fiction fans!

Actual rating 3.75 stars

Reading manga is a huge challenge for me. This is my second one ever so far; first being Yu-Gi-Oh! R, Volume 1 (if you want to, check out my review here ) . I mention this because rating this manga was a huge deal for me. (I even debated about it after a long shower lol). Anyway! I was between "I enjoyed it" and "I really enjoyed it".

One of the pros, it was a manga and experiencing this kind of reading is very interesting. A Con, it was a manga a reading this was kinda hard. I had to go back to some "squares" because I was reading it wrong. Let alone that I started to read the manga backwards as if it was an actual book and spoiled the ending because of it. (I didn't know I had to read from right to left? alright?! Lesson learned! A good thing was that I already knew what the story was about. I hadn't read the original book, I only watched the 2012 movie version. Still counts!

Speaking of the manga and the content itself, I loved the design, very accurate. Specially Pip, who looked younger than his age and that contributes to his whole naive personality. Dickens created this story with lots of twists and turns of fate which leads the reader to be left with nothing but frustration. When you reach the end of the book you think that it was a bad ending, that it is not meant to be that way. On the other hand, you are glad. And that varies depending on the perspective of which character you are seeing it from.

All in all, I felt like this manga was very accurate to the story (even though I haven't read the book) it is very fast paced (it only took me two hours) and you can understand the flow of the story perfectly. However, it didn't wow me. I expected what was going to happen, for obvious reasons. Still, highly recommendable.

This book tells the story of Pip, a boy with great expectations for his future.

The art is absolutely beautiful, it's detailed in the right way.

The story is very interesting, it sucked me into Dickens' world.

The characters are amazing and seeing them (literally) grow made me feel connected to them.

Before, I wasn't really interested in reading Dickens, however, this manga changed that.

Rating: 4 stars

As a fan of the book, I was impressed with this manga version. The artwork is amazing and as for the condensation, the structure and story flowed easily.

Book Review
Title: Great Expectations
Author: by Charles Dickens (Author),‎ Stacy King (Editor),‎ Crystal Chan (Editor),‎ Nokman Poon (Artist)
Genre: Manga/Classics
Rating: ****
Review: Following my previous reviews of Jane Eyre and The Scarlet Letter I was excited to pick up a manga adaptation of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. In the opening of this adaptation we meet Pip who lives with his sister and her husband because both of his parents are dead. One night he meets a mysterious man in rag in the churchyard who demands he brings him a file and some food while Pip doesn’t want to steal he does because he is quite frightened of the man. While the man has no name, we know he is an escaped prisoner from the prison ship and he is chasing another escaped prisoner Compeyson. When the criminals are eventually recaptured the mysterious man, Pip helped doesn’t turn him in, but Pip still feels incredibly guilty about the stealing from the only person that has ever been kind to him.
We then jump forward a year, when Pip learns he is going to be taken to Miss Havishham’s house by his uncle the following day. As we approach the ¼ mark in the story, Pip meets the strange Miss Havishham and the beautiful Estella, during this meeting Pip realizes how much lower in class he is than them and is determined to become better and smarter but attended the evening school with his friend Biddy. After spending many years in Miss Havishham’s service she calls Pip to talk and he thinks that she will offer him the chance to be with her foster daughter; Estella but instead she dismisses him when he becomes Joe’s blacksmith apprentice, but Pip is beginning to feel that this life is miles beneath what he wants out of life, but stranger things are happening all around him. One night he finds Joe in the pub talking to a man who had the file Pip gave to the escaped prisoner although with a shilling a two-pound notes, it almost felt that a thank you. Soon after an argument in the smith’s yard Joe heads off to find Pip only for them to return home and finds his sister has been attacked.
Four years into his apprentice with Joe a lawyer by the name of Jaggers come to take Pip to London and turn him into the gentlemen he has always wanted to be as per the instructions of his benefactor. Soon Pip is leaving his old life behind a starting a new one, while he believes that Miss Havishham is his benefactor I believe it may be someone else altogether. As we approach the halfway point in the story, Pip arrives in London and is sent to live with the Pocket family where he meets Herbert who he met once before at Miss Havishham’s house and he learns more about the mysterious woman’s past which is quite tragic. However, he and Herbert become fast friends as Pip is studying under Herbert’s father. After a while Joe visits with a message that Estella has returns from Europe and is eager to see him, so he leaves at once for Kent. However, when he arrives he finds himself and everything around him much changed. As Pip grows into a man he is falling madly in love with Estella and seeks to better himself so that he can be seen as a potential match for her. However, when she passes through London on her own journey she gives Pip many hints that he cannot understand but it almost seems like Miss Havishham is playing with his heart, dangling Estella the one person he truly wants but never letting him get close to her.
As we cross into the second half of the story, Pip witnesses a strange scene between Miss Havishham and Estella where it was clear to me that Estella is saying how can she fall in love when Miss Havishham has taught her that love is evil and corrupt, but Pip still doesn’t get the message and 2 years later he still dreams of one day marrying Estella, when a mysterious man appears at his door. The man turns out to be his benefactor and the convict he helped all those years ago; Abel Magwitch. He stays with Pip and when Herbert returns he tells them the story of his life. We learn that Abel used to work for Compeyson and he worked with a man called Arthur who are the men who conspired to take Miss Havishham’s money and Compeyson is the man who left her at the altar. He and Herbert together agree before Pip can break ties with this man he must get him out of the country. However, Pip needs to see Miss Havishham before he can move on with his life, and she tells him that it was a plot to make him love Estella and never let him marry her and Estella herself tells Pip that she doesn’t love him and is to marry another man destroying all the hope Pip had.
As we cross into the final section of the novel Pip has decided what he wants to do with his life and the kind of person he wants to be. However, before he and Herbert can go through with their plan of smuggling Magwitch out of the country Miss Havishham requests he visits one final time. It is here she confesses why she asked for a daughter and treated Estella the way she did but now there is no way the damage she inflicted can be reversed. Pip also makes another discovery through Jaggers that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter, but Pip can never reveal this information to anyone especially Estella as it would ruin her life. Upon his return Pip is greeted with a strange letter about Magwitch meaning someone else beside those he trusted knows about his benefactor and he must find out who. When Pip goes to the set location his is attacked by none other than Orlick someone he had grown up with whose own benefactor is suspected to be Compeyson and just when all seems lost Herbert comes to his rescue. They all know that because someone else knows about Magwitch they must get him out of the country as soon as possible.
Despite Pip’s optimism Orlick betrays their plans to Compeyson who tells the police, on their way to get Magwitch out of the country they are stopped, and a fight ensues, killed Compeyson and severely injuring Magwitch who died the day before his execution after hearing his long-lost daughter is alive and well. However, with Magwitch dead Pip’s debts soon caught up with him and soon takes a toll on his health but Joe nurses him back to health. But Joe soon leaves, and Pip feels that he hasn’t been forgiven for his earlier treatment of his family but when he returns home he finds Joe and Biddy are getting married. In the end Pip returns to his roots and goes to work for Herbert in his company in Cairo and many years later has the funds to return to England where he meets Estella once more much changed from the last time they met and while they never enter a relationship they will always be friends.
Overall, I really liked great expectations, but I was hoping for a romance somewhere in the story but even the relationships that are present aren’t really looked into, but it doesn’t take anything away from the story. Also, I must commend the artwork once again as it is superb. Highly recommended!

A nice classic retelling!

Great Expectations is another story that I’ve never read in its original format. While it’s been on my list to experience for years, I’ve never made it much of a priority. This ignorance helped me enjoy the manga differently than I have with stories I’ve already read.

While some people might have objections to how characters are illustrated in the manga versus their descriptions in the story or have an issue with plot elements that didn’t make it into this version, I’m not going to discuss these points.

My ignorance going into this manga is refreshing for me because it helped me to enjoy the story for what it was. Written by Charles Dickens, Great Expectations is a story about wealth, poverty, love, and good versus evil.

Thanks to popular culture, I was already familiar with the story and its characters. From the beginning graveyard scene to the beautiful Estella, my rough understanding of the book guided me during my reading of the manga version.

The Manga Classic adaptation of Great Expectations is well-written, with the scenes following nicely between chapters. There is a bit of a slow down near the middle of the story, but otherwise, I found the manga a fast novel to read through.

The illustrations in the manga are as perfectly drawn as I’ve come to expect from the series. The characters come to life with panels filled with love, cruelty, hatred, kindness, and loneliness. I thought Pip, Joe, and Estella, in particular, were captured beautifully.

Overall, the Manga Classics adaptation of Great Expectations is an interesting story that only has a couple moments where it drags a little. Whether you’ve experienced the story before, or are a new reader, this is a wonderful way to experience the classic tale.