Customer Reviews

Writ in Stone (Nancy Drew Graphic Novels: Girl Detective #2)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's a very interesting book that is appropriate for all ages. However it is not as long a some of the manga books that have read. It probably wont take more than a hour to read.

"Writ in Stone" is installment #2 in the graphic novel series featuring Nancy Drew, girl detective. The series updates the popular novels by Carolyn Keene, reimagining teenagers Nancy Drew, best friends George and Bess, and boyfriend Ned into 21st Century River Heights and the latest in high-tech sleuthing gear.

As the story opens, Professor Severe, a young archeologist, claims to have found an ancient artifact in River Heights that would prove the Chinese beat Columbus to the New World by a few decades. Unfortunately, the stone mysteriously goes missing at a exhibition in River Heights. Also missing is a young boy, who may have filmed the theft with a camcorder.

Nancy and her friends are soon hot on the trail of suspected thieves and kidnappers, although a series of mishaps slow their progress. Nancy's boyfriend Ned gets a prominent role in assisting Nancy, and in saving her from an unknown assailant. In the end, a clever trap solves the case.

"Writ in Stone" is highly recommended to the latest generation of Nancy Drew fans.

A kid's series it would appear, that you could call Veronica Mars really, really, really, really, really, really lite. As in this is aimed at the single figure and slightly later crowd.

It is supposed to be somewhat manga styled, and the 'professor' that is the villain of the piece looks like he is about 23, that sort of a thing. Also, a combination of artwork, and computer graphics, maybe so they can pump them out faster? It is done pretty well, and the background artwork is not so detailed, so maybe that is a labor time thing. Doesn't seem to detract.

Basically, the story is a young boy goes missing with a camcorder that has some evidence, and so does an artifact of archaeological significance.

This is the first that I've read of the new series of "manga-esque" graphic novels featuring the classic "girl detective", though it's the second to be published. All in all, it's pretty good, with an interesting and not-at-all simple plot, and above average artwork -- Nancy, George and Bess all look great! (I'm particularly fond of George's -- ahem -- "boyish" look, given the early history of the character. Heh heh.) It's definitely several notches above the companion "Hardy Boys" manga-esque graphic novel that I've read, which relies way too much on gimmickry and (for a kid's book) excessive violence. This, on the other hand, is a good, old-fashioned, not-terribly violent mystery that still manages to be pretty thrilling in its climactic moments. Its one weakness is a few moments where Nancy is made out to be kind of a ditz. Nonetheless, kudos to Stephan Petrucha and Sho Murase.

If you are a Nancy Drew Fan this is a must have for anybody.