Dark One
By: Brandon Sanderson
My Rating: Four out of Five Stars
Best for: 12 and up

So that’s a graphic novel? Huh.

My graphic novel experience has been limited to the middle grade stuff my kids like to read, so I don’t much experience to compare with Dark One. I’m happy to share my thoughts as a graphic novel noob, though!

Brandon Sanderson is a story teller, and one thing I love is the way he experiments across mediums and platforms to tell his stories. Short books, long books, audio books, graphic novels, video games, board games, RPGs…he’s done it all. In this graphic novel, Brandon Sanderson’s world building comes through loud and clear. His fingerprints are all over!

How would you like to be the subject of a prophesy? It might be pretty cool to find out you’re destined to save the world. But…what if you discover your prophesy goes a different direction? What if your prophesy names you the Dark One, fated to destroy and shatter?

What do you do then?

That’s the question posed to the hero of this story, and as a premise I’m hooked. The characters and their emotions, the intrigue, the suspense–I felt it all and I didn’t really expect to while reading a 225 page comic book. So win for graphic novels!

I couldn’t help but feel like I’d rather be reading the story in traditional prose, though. I’m not sure if that’s because this particular story doesn’t translate as well as a graphic novel, or if I’d feel that way reading any graphic novel. I also didn’t really love the illustrations. I thought the people looked weird. Again, I’m not sure if it’s the format I’m not used to or if I’d like the work of a different artist better.

I’ll be reading the next installment, whenever that appears. I follow Brandon Sanderson pretty closely, and I haven’t heard much about book 2. No content concerns, although I don’t see younger kids being interested in the subject matter. I’ll say best for 12 and up.

Get your copy here

Happy Reading!