I was given an ARC of this graphic novel through Netgalley, but it took me a little while to get around to it. More fool me, as this would have been a perfect Spooktober read!

This is a hard one to describe in one sentence, but if I had to give it a go it would be: What if you wrote a book about Hannibal and Will's relationship dynamic, but make it Sapphic, all narrated by Joe from You, who is actually a sentient house.

I'm going to do my best to review the different elements as I go, starting with the art style. The monochromatic drawings, offset with slashes of red, are really well done. They give the book a creepy, out-of-time feel that really enhanced the almost folkloric/fairytale aspects of the story to me. There are hints that the story is contemporary, in some of the clothing, but mostly it feels like this could be taking place anywhere, anywhen.

There is, of course, some disturbing imagery, as this is a horror graphic novel, but nothing feels excessive or overdone just for effect. There is also a surprising amount of female nudity, but it doesn't feel like it's done to titillate, but more to emphasise the primal elements of that character. It's literally removing the trappings of civilization from her depiction.

For the narration, I was surprised and pleased about the choice of narrator be the house itself. It put a completely new twist on things - like if Dracula's castle was the one who narrated the story. There are things the house doesn't get, nuances, and of course it doesn't have the same moral understanding that a human narrator would have.

The narration also allows certain things to remain mysteries - is Isla a supernatural creature or just a killer, what drives her? Are we seeing things as they happen, or how the house experiences things? That element definitely helps to create the creepiness of the atmosphere. Even Isla's age is unclear; we only know she is "a quarter" of the age of the house, but that could be anywhere from 25 to 100 or older, depending on our unnamed setting.

The house itself has an almost obsessive affection for Isla, who can do no wrong in its eyes. It is another twisted character in a story full of them. When it comes to the two human main characters, Isla and Marie, the narration also adds an opaque layer to their relationship - we don't know their motivations or true feelings, only what the house sees, so we have to read into what's being said through the drawings, rather than the narration, the two working together in a symbiotic way as you see in the best graphic novels.

All in all, it's definitely worth the four stars I'm giving it (one star removed for a bit too much boobage, and for some of the images being a bit too hard to parse on a few pages).

Content warnings: female nudity, murder, animal mutilation/killing, moderate gore, (mainly implied) domestic abuse, some (very mild) sexual content, cannibalism (implied, mainly), some child endangerment and parental neglect (early on)

I had issues with the Kindle ebook. Six pages of the comic would appear on a single page of the Kindle version, so I had to double-click each image to get the full comic page to show up large enough to read, and that left the text blurry so it was difficult to read and there was an occasion word I could not discern at all.

I thought the idea of having the storytelling perspective be that of the house was unique but at times it didn't feel like it worked for me, because actions would be taking place in the middle of the woods and the house still "saw' everything happening. The house used the excuse that its pipes were beneath the ground but...that would be a LOT of ground to have to cover, to be right in the middle of the action, all the time, every time. It didn't make sense.

I liked the serial-killing aspect and even the meshing of human and animal body parts, but the animal taxidermy itself was offputting to me personally. It's just not a thing I want to see. So because of that, I can't say I enjoyed reading this comic or would ever want to read it again. I did like the way it ended but the journey to that point was not enjoyable for me.

4.2/5

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Sentient, if silent, house (see An Unkindness of Magicians - 2021);
~ Well paced evolving mysteries and desires
~ Building interest and passion
~ Eerie horror in graphic art

The house tells us of Isla a hunter and killer whose compulsions have left her alone and Marie a battered woman who finds escape in the mansion Isla inhabits and the secrets it hides. Both women are on a collision course when desires cannot be ignored and sweet surrender to temptation becomes the descent into obsession that feeds a certain madness. The question remains, have both women found what they so desperately needed and how many secrets can one house keep?

✨Give it a read.

🌱THE MEH
~ TW: Brutality, domestic violence and hunting
~ Somehow requires more | Has room to evolve into more (novella/novel)

♡🌱 But that’s just me ;)

Graveneye is a graphic novel about a mansion hidden from the world filled with horrors and secrets. It tells the story of Isla, who is not all human, and Marie, a frail woman who cleans the manor. Graveneye graphic novel is confusing in places but is such a refreshing gothic horror.

What I liked:

- The artwork done by Anna Bowles is extraordinary. I hope she illustrates more graphic novels in the future
- The story is told from the house's perspective, which was unique and made the story very eerie because you didn't know what was going through Isla or Marie's head.
- There is a large build-up of tension in this story that you are just waiting for the explosion.

What I didn't like:

- Graphic depictions of animal death. This had its place in the graphic novel and was done with a specific purpose, but I did not enjoy seeing it.

4.5 Stars

I think the author had a great idea but the style of the graphics weren’t a good match for the narrative.

I received an e-copy of this graphic novel on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise really intrigued me but I honestly just felt confused reading this. Maybe it just went over my head and I missed something but I didn’t really get what was going on. I also didn’t personally like the artwork but obviously that is personal preference. I’m sure most people would enjoy this though and it’s just personal preference.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This horror graphic novel tells the story of a woman living in a secluded home from the house's POV.

Having the narrator of the story be the house was definitely a unique and interesting idea but unfortunately it wasn't pulled off as well as I think it could have been. There were some interesting elements to the plot but unfortunately this was mostly just a bunch of gore. The characters weren't well developed enough for you to really understand why they do the things they do or how they became the way they are. The most compelling character was the maid, Marie and even she wasn't fleshed out enough for me. It was a quick read but I didn't feel like the ending was very satisfying. The story touches on some important topics like mental and physical abuse, but I was really hoping to get more from the story than I got.

I suppose if you like dark, eerie graphic novels you could enjoy this. I think this serves more for those looking for a very atmospheric type of graphic novel than for those looking to be entertained by the plot.

Oh my gosh, I loved every panel of this! From the gothic narrative, to the brutal conclusion, all of it painted in the simplicity of black, red, and white on every page. This is a wonderful take on the nature of obsession, knowledge of self, the dynamics of abuse, and the way in which all of these things might be observed by something outside of the human scope. Highly recommended!

"Does the seeing never stop?"

Macabre and bloody, this graphic novel is haunting from the first frame. Told from the perspective of a house witnessing its master's descent into the depth of madness.

When Isla hires Marie as a maid for her large manor, she gives her complete run of the house. Every room except the cellar. That is Isla's lair, where her dark fantasies take brutal form. With a unpleasant homelife og her own, Marie seeks comfort within the walls of Isla's manor house. An odd, yet quietly intimate relationship forms between the maid and the mistress of the house. But the house itself knows Isla's dark hunger is always lurking, just beneath the surface.

Graveneye is a stunning graphic novel. Monochromatic with pops of brilliant red in conjunction with lyrical prose make this a reading experience not easily forgotten.

Overall I enjoyed this book but it left me with mixed feelings. It was a little slow paced and the unusual narration took me a while to get used to. I loved the monochromatic illustrations with pops of red. It gave the book a dark, foreboding atmosphere. The art was very graphic though so I wouldn't recommend this to anyone bothered by that, especially domestic violent and violence against animals. The story didn't end the way I thought it would and left me a little confused as to what its true message is. I would probably read it again to see if I could understand it better.

This was... Not all that great. I didn't really enjoy the story. I thought I would, but I was wrong.

“A house must endure, a house must preserve and most of all, a house must remember”

Graveneye is brutally dark graphic novel by Sloane Leong and Anna Bowles. It centres around the idea that a house is not what is made of horror but the people inside. Isla lives in a large ancient mansion which as stood the test of time and seen its fair share of horror. She hires a maid to help keep her home in order however Isla soon realises the maid comes with her own demons.

The story goes beyond the surface and looks deep into the troubled past and present of humans. Isla takes it upon herself to do this as she is cursed in her own way which the reader learns about as the story unfolds.

The harrowing story matches the graphic imagery perfectly. It cements the unsettling truth of what is being told through the gore filled images and the beautiful visual of the mansion in the surrounding woods. Quickly the reader gets the sense of the foreboding dread that seeps through from image to image.

Overall this was an interesting but dark horror story with a chilling end.

~This graphic novel is narrated by the house itself. The house portrays the owner, Isla, as a strong-willed, stubborn, and overly curious being. The owner hires Marie to help around the house and she is described as meek and a being who barely leaves a trace in the house.
~Graveneye displays the behaviors of people going through domestic abuse, especially the characteristics of the victim and although briefly, the abuser as well.
~Although, I don't often read graphic novels with this art style, I thought it suited the story and I really appreciate that.

CW: body horror, domestic abuse, blood

trigger warnings: taxidermy, animal death, murder, domestic abuse

I do love the way that this is illustrated - the kind of sketchy gloom of it. The choice to keep it in the limited color palette worked with the tragic vibe of the whole thing. Because for me this was a tragedy at it's dark red, beating heart.

For me this just didn't 100% land in a way I find hard to quantify. It's really well done and it feels like something I would love, but I think the decision to turn an abuse victim into a different victim felt...idk, off in a way that makes it impossible for me to recommend this book.

One of my favorite things about this graphic novel were the flashes of red as the only source of color, and I thought the illustrations were spectacular. I found it interesting that the "main character" or narrator was the house itself, which added to the gothic horror of the story. Unfortunately, while the illustrations drew me in, the story itself didn't do much for me. I felt the story was a bit vague, and I felt lost at times. While I enjoyed the gothic horror of it (though it was more horror than gothic), I felt the story dragged overall and ended up losing me in the end.

The house existing as a narrative theme is my most beloved horror trope so needless to say I was completely smitten with what was done in this comic. It's a simple story, melancholic and eerie, but it stands out compared to other House Horror media for its unique narration which has the sentient house as the stoŕyteller, acknowledging us, the reader, as it tells its story. The art style fit perfectly, the black and white really reflected the isolation and solitude of the story.

Odd story, good drawing, weird vibes. Should i say more?
Como que mi lado de vegetariana, odiaba la parte con los animales siendo despellejados, porque me da cosita. Pero mi lado macabro (thank you Edgar Allan Poe) me encantaba el detalle que le daban a los dibujos.

In the haunted house subgenre, it takes a special kind of book to stand out from all the other haunted house tales, both past and present. Graveneye by writer Sloane Leong and artist Anna Bowles definitely stands out as an original tale thanks to several unique aspects of its story and its medium. The fact that it’s a graphic novel is not the most unusual element of this tale of hunger and obsession, nor is it the fact that there is minimal dialogue in this piece. No, what makes this book stand out from all the other haunted house tales is the narrator, which is the house. Not a ghost in the house, but the house itself.

The story itself is actually conventional. Ilsa lives alone in her large mansion deep in the woods. Marie, the new housekeeper, knows there is something fascinating about the house and about its lone inhabitant. Brave, confident Ilsa is free to do as she wishes. Whenever she wants to hunt on her property, indulging in her bloody fantasies, she is able. Marie sees Ilsa’s freedom, as well as her confidence, and wishes she could live life as boldly as Ilsa. But Marie is too timid to escape the burden she is trapped under, and she does not realize the terrible secrets that Ilsa and the house keep hidden.

The house as a narrator speaks directly to the audience, not as something that was once human who has somehow become a house, but as a house that has somehow become sentient, a silent witness to the depravities of its residents. The house narrates not only as a dispassionate observer but also as an observer who only knows humanity from the strange actions it has seen as a house. Along with Leong’s strange narration of this Gothic tale, plus her eschewing of traditional dialogue, there is Bower’s artwork that sticks mostly to a black and white pallet, except when the scene calls for a visceral red. Haunted house stories sometimes sabotage their own scares by suddenly becoming loud to the point of being obnoxious. Leong’s show of restraint establishes tension that Bower’s minimalist art style only magnifies with its depiction of cold and colorless rooms nevertheless teeming with shadows and secrets. The house, the reader discovers, is the right person to tell this story. It has studied the past of where it was built, who has lived in it, and it’s as implacable as any structure designed to stand for hundreds of years.

Alright, this definitely enters the “horror” category. There are so many blood scenes and quite a bit of killing. It was very creepy. The story is told by the house and I liked this concept very much. We always say that walls have ears and eyes so why wouldn’t a house tell the story of its owner. It took me a few pages to understand it though.
Isla is a very interesting character. There is quite a lot of mystery around her and around Marie and what they think of one another. The drawings suited the atmosphere really well, using only black, white and red. As said, some scenes were very bloody and graphic which is something I did not enjoy a lot. Overall, I liked the book but did not love it, it’s not my favourite genre.
I recommend to people looking a horror graphic novel.
3/5

As someone who consumes a lot of horror related media, I have come to a point in my consumption where my reactions are more enjoyable than actually frightening. This graphic novel was exactly the kind of unsettling, stomach churning horror I want and wish there was more of. The simple black, white, and red art style was beautiful and much of the more intense moments genuinely made me feel uncomfortable, as someone who loves animals in particular. Highly recommend!