The Exile is Diana Gabaldon’s first graphic novel. It gives the readers a fresh look at the original Outlander (or Cross-stitch if you’re living in Europe). It gives us Jamie Fraser’s side of the story and is illustrated by Hoang Nguyen. For anyone who is unaware, a graph novel is a story told in pictures and speech bubbles.
Being a die-hard fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, I was a little worried that a graphic novel would distort the view of Claire and Jamie in my head. But I found that after reading seven books, the Claire and Jamie I imagine are deeply rooted in my mind and no graphic novel can take that away from me!
While it retells the story of the first book in the series it also contains diverging storylines. Events involving both Jamie and his Godfather Murtagh; events that Claire is totally unaware of. I should also mention that it only covers the first half of Outlander.
A few of the drawings made Jamie look childish and, dare I say it, a bit on the ugly side! But other than that I think the artist did an outstanding job and really brought the characters to life.
It is hard to rate this as I’ve never read any other graphic novels. But if you are a fan of the Outlander series then I would recommend you read The Exile.
Describe it in two words? Fun and Different
I saw this in the bookstore and was definitely intrigued as I am a huge Outlander fan. I'll have to go back and pick it up!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way with movie adaptations - I always worry they won't match how I imagine the characters! But you're right, after a while your own vision of the characters is too ingrained to be replaced with anything else :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lucy, thanks so much for visiting my blog! I've also added your link onto my Google Reader. :)
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