The Dopple Ganger Chronicles: The First Escape

I have never, ever read a graphic novel before and probably couldn’t have told you what one was before reading The First Escape (The Dopple Ganger Chronicles). Published by Tyndale House Publishers, this book took me on a wild ride. I’m really not sure what I think about graphic novels to tell you the truth. They are so different and out of the ordinary for me that I hardly feel qualified to really review it. However, that’s the glory of being a book reviewer – you are constantly exposed to new adventures through reading!

The story line of this novel is intriguing and I can see why the author, G.P. Taylor, has been at the top of the New York Times best seller list with works like Shadowmancer. He knows how to captivate his audience and I imagine that The Dopple Ganger Chronicles is in keeping with Mr. Taylor’s skills and talents as a writer.

In The Dopple Ganger Chronicles: The First Escape we are introduced to twin sisters, Sadie and Saskia Dopple, and their friend Erik Morrissey. All three reside at Isambard Dunstan’s School for Wayward Children, having all three been abandoned by their parents some time earlier. As you might expect, Isambard Dunstan’s school isn’t all that appealing a place to live. Throw in a vicious attack dog, a disciplinarian with a lisp, danger, an illusionist, intrigue, kidnapping, a lost family fortune and the best of “evil bad guys” and you have an entertaining read.

Having never read a graphic novel before, I have nothing to compare this to. It was just really intriguing to me! Cartoons to tell a story – novel thought! It read like I would IMAGINE a Batman comic strip to read (were I ever to have read one of those before either) except with scattered pages of dialogue and description to fill in the plot lines a bit. Although this book is published by Tyndale and thus does have Christian themes, they aren’t really hinted at until the very end of the story. Otherwise, unless you know what you are reading into, the Christian theme is relatively non-existent and I would say this book reads as a neutral, clean, exciting and edge-of-your-seat interesting tale. Unique. Different. Curious!

(Go ahead and laugh at me if you like. I’m really clueless when it comes to graphic novels!)

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.