Well. This is tough... I admire Patricia Briggs enormously, and I'm addicted to the Mercy Thompson series. What a wonder-full urban fantasy world in which to lose myself for hours! I wanted to read "Hopcross Jilly" because (to the best of my knowledge) it's a story not featured elsewhere in the series. When requesting it from the library, I somehow missed the fact that it's a graphic novel, but was more than happy to give it a go.
The storyline fits reasonably well with what readers know of Mercy's world and life events thus far. Missing from her home, however, were all of the-ahem-numerous members that belong to her husband's werewolf pack, and are often nearby. They just materialized at certain key moments of the plot, leaving out the details of their personalities, as they were always in wolf form. I believe that this was due to the necessary brevity of the graphic novel format; you can't feature so many characters that the thing becomes 90 pages long. Since one thing that hooked me on this series was the variety of complex characters, I missed them in "Hopcross Jilly." The conflict/resolution worked well within the fantasy framework already established for the series, but again was not my favorite tale, due to length constraints. The conclusion was unfortunately obvious within the first five or six pages. One "plus" was having Mercy's stepdaughter, Jesse, play such a large role in this tale.
So then, the art. I fully admit to not being a graphic novel aficionado, which makes me an unqualified judge. I felt that the art was action-packed and "dark," for lack of a better word. Not gloomy, but subdued coloring, a little threatening or suspenseful, which worked well. As do all avid readers ---
(aarrgghhh- iPhone battery dying as I wait for my son at the rec center. More to follow...)
(Continued, after much phone-charging, laptop charging, and the conclusion of my 'daily grind...')
So, like the majority of avid readers, I enjoy picturing characters in my mind, and become very attached to my personal versions. As they were drawn for "Hopcross Jilly," these characters didn't really meet my expectations. To me they appeared too stereotypical; comic book physiques and not enough detail to show their individuality or personalities. Especially Adam, who had somehow morphed from a fit and muscular guy into a steroid-packed vein-popping uber-fighter. Yes, it's a graphic novel, but maybe liberties were taken, a little too far. I enjoyed seeing Zee in his un-glamoured Fae form, but would have liked to see the glamoured version first, for the juxtaposition.
Overall... I think that these graphic novels might catch the attention of younger readers (teen/YA) and if that lures them into reading the book series, well, okay then. My teen son was reading over my shoulder one night, asking questions about the story, so apparently the tactic is effective. I don't know that I will continue to read the rest of the Mercy Thompson graphic novels, but for those who enjoy this format, you may enjoy them.