Sleepless vol.1 & vol.2 by Sarah Vaughn, Leila del Duca, Alissa Sallah & Deron Bennet Graphic Novel/Comic Book Review

 

This is a graphic novel/Comic series that ends in two volumes. Which is a much appreciated thing, in between the current reads I have. 

The reading of this series happened in an effort to read more of the physical books I have had on my shelves for a long time, le me tell you I need to read more of them ! Now on to the review.

I picked up these novels because the covers were beautiful, also because Sleeping Beauty is one of my all time childhood favorite stories and somehow I had gotten it in my head that it was a sort of retelling. Spoiler alert, not really though, it wasn't.

I enjoyed the first volume more than the second, to me it was a really high 4 stars, I am trying not to give single volume half stars and failing … It felt like an historical fiction in the era of Kingdoms, Saxons and such. Which I really loved, it was a very immersive read and the format in which the story was told, the pacing and the scenes were really well done. I loved the political intrigue of the story and the romance between Poppy (illegitimated daughter of the king) and our ML Cyrenic, her oath bound sleepless knight/bodyguard. The pet fox was super adorable, the magic really well integrated and a surprisingly wholesome and dark high-fantasy/historical graphic novel. Nothing in the story felt out of place, I loved the mystery aspect of it. 

The one thing that sort of disappointed me was the predictability of the novel, in the end nothing was really out of this world or original compared to other classic bodyguard/lady he must protect compared to traditional harlequin historical romances (similar to time travel, in the aspect that there are also magic elements in some historical romances). Which is not what I look for when picking up a graphic novel that is meant to be a high-fantasy in an historical setting, a classic fantasy as many would consider the setting to be. However the art was truly enjoyable, it was fun to stop and just admire the beautiful composition the artist had made and the choices in tones of colors. 

Overall they were a fun read, and a much recommended read for fans of historical romances, as I think this would be a good introduction to graphic novels or a slight fantasy (for what I usually read) as this is really heavy on romance, in my opinion. 

4/5 stars for  vol.1

&

3/5 stars  for vol.2

for a 3.5/5 stars overall.

beware the cliff hanger at the end of the first volume, also the second volume has a huge separation and so not as much interactions for a while.

Bookarina