Obsessed with this dark, queer erotic fairytale. A lady Bluebeard werewolf ensnares a mousey lover in a trap, builds a shrine of her and eats her abuser alive. Also, told by the haunted house. Glorious, 5 stars, read in the dark by candlelight.

*Thanks to NetGalley and TKO Studios for providing me with a digital ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.*

What a clever and original idea to have the mansion as the narrator! Loved the many references to various types of wood, trees, and plants; the house calling young Isla a "sapling", for instance.

A good story, with a lovely gothic art style apt for the setting and genre of the graphic novel.

This was a really cool concept... But in execution it fell short. This is the story of a werewolf and her maid who comes to clean the house, and how they fall in love - but told from the perspective of the house.

I was having a hard time connecting to the story. Having the house tell the story is cool, but in execution it left me feeling distant from the characters. I like to be immersed into my books and with graphic novels I find it especially easy as there is an added element of design. But with this story I was not only disconnected from everything, but also bored.

I just wanted a lot more.

The art style wasn't bad, but I wasn't personally in love either. I do like the limited color choice.

Thanks to Netgalley and TKO Studios for giving me this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

A longer review can be found on my youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvkuwfRRTVY

A perfect read for autumn. Graveneye is a perfectly spooky macabre read for lovers of Poe, Mary Shelley or any gothic horror. Dive deep into the halls of Graveneye and find out what you discover.

I gave this a three out of five stars rating, I really enjoyed it. I liked how the house was the narrator. I also liked the two main characters besides the house. I liked that I rooted for the bad person in the story.

3.5 stars

I want to thank NetGalley and the publishers for an arc of Graveneye in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading graphic novels so I did enjoy this! The art and general creepyness of the story sucked me right in. One thing I really liked about this was something I’ve not seen in any other graphic novel and that was that the House is the narrator. I thought that was definitely clever and would set the story aside from other novels.

I did not appreciate the animal murder in the book. The hunting didn’t bother me that much, I live in the South and that is something my whole family does every year not for sport but for food. But animal murder is a tad bit different

The story did touch on a few themes however it was very minimal, Personally I thought there should have been a bit more about them but the mental illness and abuse could have been more important elements to the stories, as well as the characters backgrounds and their stories.

I loved Ilsa (protagonist) and Marie. I found myself not only stepping into Ilsa’s shoes and connecting with her but also with Marie.

I do feel the characters needed to be fleshed out even more. More details about them, and explanations on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of their pasts, situations, mental states, etc.

However I did really enjoy this and would definitely recommend it!!

*Thanks to TKO Studios for giving me the ARC through Netgalley in exchange of a honest review*

Graveneye is a horror graphic novel about Isla, the mysterious owner of a huge house in the woods, who dedicates most of the time to hunt creatures and inmoralize them with the art of taxidermy; and Marie, the new house maid that's so timid and meek she barely makes a noise.

Through the lenses of the house, we are witnesses of the inner demons Isla deals with and the miserable life Marie has outside work. As time goes by, both women awake in each other newfound feelings of longing and companionship, however things won't turn out the way they expected.

Anna Bowles' gritty art style is very apt to portray Isla's the overwhelming hunger for flesh and compulsion to preserve her prey. The paneling was great, also.

Personally, i liked the story, the ingenious narration, and how Isla's nature is up in the air, never explaining if she's either a werewolf or a psychopath. Though i would have liked more depth in the characters, there's not much exploration to them beyond their set stereotype making them a bit limited. The ending while expected, i'm not sure i liked the outcome of their story. Idk, dispite that it was a great spooky read.

This was a ok read. I enjoy the art and the writing but the overall story was pretty lacking for me. Most of the characters felt very two-dimensional at best including the main character. I didn't think that the perspective of the story shouldn't have been the house cause it didn't really make sense plus the aspects that we do get of the other characters was very disappointing considering we only got a small portion.

as far as the 'main' character, there isn't much explanation on if she is human or not. there are a couple of scenes right before she goes hunting for taxidermy or for some unknown reason, she turns into what appears to a werewolf with no explanation after that.

this kind of rare for me for to think this but I felt that this story need a romance in it. There was some tense between the two women that was coded as romantic tension especially from the hunter. Overall, I just wished there was more story because it had potential but it missed the mark for me.

Thankyou to Netgalley and the author for an eCopy of this one. The cover and synopsis of this one really intrigued me. The illustrations are incredibly detailed and at times beautiful. I struggled to get into the language with this one and found it honestly a little hard to follow in parts. It vaguely reminded me of a horror manga series I like to read, however in this instance I think the use of the red against the black and white did it a disservice. I get that it's a horror and there will be gore but I think it detracted from the story itself. This one will definitely appeal to some however wasn't for me unfortunately.

Another comic in black, white and red, but this time a sort of sapphic Angela Carter fable about a huntress, her fascinated maid, and a grand house with one locked and forbidden door. The wonderful twist being that, of those participants, the narrator is the house. Leong has really caught how such a voice might sound: "Houses sing and houses breathe, but few people actually take note of where we keep our lungs, our voice. Somehow you all know my eyes and ears rest in the walls, but only some of you mention this with proper reverence." Also, what it might think of humans, and in particular its own human, however dark her obsession. Unusually, I think the text here could work by itself as a short story with little alteration, though it would be a more oblique telling of the tale. That might work better in places; for me Anna Bowles' art sometimes leant a little too cartoony on the humans, and couldn't evade a touch of bathos on the reveal. Still, especially for saying this is her debut, she does a wonderful job on capturing the spaces of and around the narrator, and the foreboding ahead of that point.

(Netgalley ARC)

Graveneye is a horror graphic novel told from the perspective of an old mansion. It tells the story and history of those who dwell there. I loved this perspective, the illustrations, and the eerie elements to the story. I was not a fan of the extensive animal gore or had much interest in the storylines of the characters though. As a whole, I didn’t love the story, but it made for a decent macabre short story for Halloween. I think fans of Edgar Allan Poe may enjoy this one but this wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley & TKO Studios for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A super spooky graphic novel where the story is interestingly told from the point of the house. Fantastically illustrated in black and red makes for a weird and creepy style throughout. There are dark as well as spooky themes and the characters Ilsa and Marie have secrets. A great Halloween read.

Graveneye is a stylistic horror story told from the point of view of the house where the plot unfolds.
I'm really impressed how well the story unfolded with but a few lines of indirect dialog. The pacing of the story doesn't feel slow or fast and I ended up finishing the book in about half an hour. It starts off building up suspense, but soon the horror is simply wondering what goes through the mind of the house's owner.
The art style fits the story perfectly and I enjoyed it. However I didn't like the font of the text that much - while fitting well with the overall style, it was a bit hard to read at times, I hope it's a bit cleaner in the printed version.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone interested in a nice horror story and/or a stylish graphic novel with unusual storytelling.

*Thanks to NetGalley and TKO Studios for providing me with an free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.*

Eerie and unsettling, this graphic novel was a perfect spooky season read! I loved the writing, the compelling way in which the story was told by this unconventional narrator. The illustrations are so well done as well, they are raw and vivid and make the story even better. If you aren't bothered by the triggers I absolutely recommend that you read this.

A sentient house. The innocent maid who comes to work there. And the owner who must feed.
Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed these illustrations. I loved the style of having everything black and white but with splashes of red. I also loved that the story was told through the point of view of the sentient house. I’ve never read anything like that before and it really intrigued me! However, I did have some complaints.
I didn’t care about the characters. Maybe this was because the house was the narrator and it’s hard to establish personality from that point of view. But I couldn’t connect to the characters. Also the writing was not my favorite. It could be very confusing at times. I think it tried to sound lyrical and that kept things from actually making sense with the story. And my last complaint is that there really wasn’t much plot. It gave a backstory, then one thing happened, one more thing happened, and it was over.
I loved the illustrations, the beautiful cover, and the innovation of the narration. But sadly, I didn’t love this book. For anyone that is planning to read this book definitely check my list of trigger warnings at the bottom.

Thank you TKO Studios and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: animal death; hunting and skinning animals; taxidermy; graphic gore; murder; domestic abuse; nudity

I don't know if this was it's me not you situation but I had a really hard time following the story in Parts the words were so intricate that I got confused easily although the illustrations were beautifully done and the colors were vibrant I don't think I would pick this up for myself thank you for the opportunity to read an arc

DNF.

Cool illustrations but too much flowery words. It's very confusing. Though, the concept is interesting.

Quiero agradecer a Netgalley, al autor y su equipo detrás de este maravilloso libro por el Arc proporcionado.

* Este libro contiene gráficos violentos y su trama no es apta para cualquier lector.

Me encantó la forma en que comienza, dejándote sorprendida por la trama directa, estoy totalmente enamorada de los gráficos (a pesar de que algunos me causaron escalofríos).

Me gustaron los personajes, aunque sentí que a veces necesitaba más trama que unas cuantas líneas, sin embargo es entendible al ser una especie de Cómic / manga.

General Impressions

I became a fan of Sloane Leong's work with her A Map to the Sun, which was absolutely wonderful with her diverse cast of young girls finding themselves in the 1980's so I jumped at the chance to review Gravenye.

If you are unsure about this story and need one reason for giving it a try: this is told through the point of view of a HOUSE!! A freaking mansion! Do you want two more reasons: female-centred and the perfect Halloween read.

Okay, first things first. I went into this expecting a cute wlw story with some supernatural elements with an ultimately happy ending. If that's what you are looking for, look elsewhere because this is going to get bloody. You can get back to this when you are in the right mood.

Before I even realized who the narrator was, I was immersed in the art. While I requested this book because I was expecting Sloane's art, Anna Bowle's was equally wonderful: the style lent itself to the scary atmosphere, I loved the red across every frame, the animal drawings were beautifully, horrifically detailed and I particularly loved the unique way she drew the female characters: the curved noses, long faces, silky hair that told us so much about them. These women look strong and real.

The writing itself was also really beautiful, with the house waxing poetic about everything from her owner to her history and her feelings about the things around her.

Conclusions

My god, this went everywhere I didn't expect. I was not expecting the genre, the art style, the narrator and I certainly wasn't expecting that ending!

The action scenes were incredibly drawn, the characters made me root for them and the plot is original and unexpected.

I look forward to whatever Sloane gifts us next.

Rating: 4/5

Graveneye was my first #netgalley read. Goodness, was it a read; I tore through it in less than half an hour, unable to look away. My thoughts;

Art style was good. The level of detail brought to the gore especially showed a care brought to the illustration. The panel with the arrow in the deer’s eye was especially beautiful: visceral and delicate and brutal all at once.

The story was a bit difficult to follow at first but that is not a bad thing. It clears itself up and feels complete in a way that I can’t quite explain. It feels much like a fairy tale, of the Grimm variety.

Additionally, this story hit one of my favorite tropes: the living house. Not just haunted, but the house as a living thing with thoughts and desires and feelings for its inhabitants (such as also seen in Kitty Horrorshow’s game Anatomy). It is both distant and intimate.

Would I to rate this book in numerical terms, I give it nine human corpses out of ten. Perhaps I am simply a sucker for the black white and red colors, or a lover of feral, violent women, but Isla and her home have my beating heart.

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