Book Review
Title: Belle: Beast Hunter Complete
Author: Dave Franchini
Genre: Graphic Novel
Rating: **
Review: So I knew nothing about this graphic novel other than it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the cover is beautiful. “The Grimm Universe is filled with heroes far and wide dealing with threats from vampires, werewolves, corrupt governmental organisations, to ancient orders battling for control of the realms of power. But what lies in the deepest corners of our world could give the evilest creature nightmares. A threat since the beginning of time is rising and only one person will be there to stop it from destroying everything! Working from the shadows a long lineage of warriors have been defending life from the darkness that exists and from that family of soldiers comes the newest ally in the war of monsters, Belle the Beast Hunter!”
So we are introduced to Belle whose family on her father’s side has fought in wars dating back to 1812, while her mother’s family fought too but to keep the world safe from monsters roaming the night and Belle now does the same. Belle seems to have a complex history as she had a friend/brother Alex who there is some tension with but as this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, it seems like Belle may fall in love with one of the monsters she is sworn to fight against.
After some strange encounters with these monsters, Belle heads back to their base headed by Candlestick the man that practically raised her after the disappearance of her mother and the withdrawal of her father, but it is never that easy in these kinds of stories. While Belle is out hunting the base is attacked and many killed including Candlestick, Belle is rescued but before that, we get to see some of Belle’s past and different encounters she has had with monsters and the scars she has been left with because of them.
Part 3 left me with a few issues as Belle is introduced to the organisation C.H.I.P. which is run by Candlewick’s sister but is attacked by a new monster and is left with nothing more than a survival kit. I had issues with this because C.H.I.P was introduced and had no history of backstory before it was shoved out of the story, but the plot is getting thicker as these monsters seem to be targeting Belle, specifically. Seeing Belle hunting down a new beast not because it is her job but because her best friend has been taken was a nice change of pace for the character, but I was hoping for some relation to the original source material which I wasn’t getting a lot of. However, Belle’s character is developing, and the story is moving forward at a great pace but at the cost of storytelling and plot in my opinion.
Belle’s life takes another turn for the worst when her best friend Mel is taken by a beast and she has to track it down before it is too late for her friend. While she is hot on the heels of the beast, I felt that the action and fast pace was taken precedence over plot and development. By the time the big twist came around, I saw it coming when it was majorly hinted at earlier on in the series. I did enjoy this although there is no romance there is love there is some way, but it wasn’t much cup of tea overall.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley
Comments