Parable of the Sower

I won an ARC of this graphic novel adaption of Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (adapted by Damian Duffy) from Goodreads.

Unfortunately, I did not know I would be receiving an ARC with unfinished black and white artwork, many panels of which were extremely rough sketches that were difficult to make out. I recently finished the original text and enjoyed it overall despite not connecting much with the overarching religious theme. I was really interested to see if the illustrations helped me connect with it more. But all I could do with these rough panels was assess whether Duffy did a good job adapting the original through the dialogue bubbles and text boxes. I'd say he did, and I think the final artwork examples are gorgeous. I absolutely love the way the characters are illustrated. However, I really don't know if all the illustrations work with the descriptions because I don't know what the panels look like.

It's also hard to judge the pacing and descriptions for an unfinished graphic novel. So much relies on the visuals that I can't fault the moments when I felt more context would have been nice, especially for anyone who hasn't read the source material. Perhaps the context is in the final illustration. I think overall the adaptation is done well, but I can't judge how the artwork contributes to that.

I'll be sticking to my rating for the original novel for now. If I'm able to get my hands on a complete version, I'll reassess based on the finished artwork.

I highly recommend publishers reconsider sending such rough versions of graphic novels to reviewers.