Graveneye

by Sloane Leong, Anna Bowles (Artist)

What if a haunted house was not the horror, but the people who dwell within it. . .


Isla lives along in a large mansion deep in the woods. Her house has seen its share of blood horror, and the depths of the human soul. Isla has hired the young Marie to help her keep the big house tidy, but Marie brings demons of her own into Isla's domain. Cursed with sentience, it is destined to observe the terrors that lurk inside each and everyone of us.

Acclaimed author Sloane Leong (A MAP TO THE SUN, PRISM STALKER) and artist Anna Bowles in her debut graphic novel, deliver a dark and beautiful tale of hunger and obsession.

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Fantasy

178 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2021

About the author

Sloane Leong is a mixed indigenous cartoonist, artist, and writer. She explores themes of survival, displacement, relationships, spirituality, identity, and mental illness through genres like science fiction, horror, adventure, and slice-of-life. She is currently working on the second arc of her sci-fi adventure comic Prism Stalker and has a new book coming up in 2020 from First Second called A Map to the Sun.

Current projects: A MAP TO THE SUN (First Second, 2020), PRISM STALKER VOL 2 (Image Comics, 2021)

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea what the point is supposed to be of what I just read. There wasn't one character I was interested in, whatever plot there was went nowhere, whatever characterisation there was went nowhere, and it wasn't scary or creepy.

There is an ever present and overwritten monologue - I felt my editor's hand itching to scrap text. And then there's art that doesn't feel precise and visceral enough to tell this story.

(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)

[FallingInBooktopia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5

NetGalley ARC Review

🕷Horror Graphic Novel🕷

It was my first time reading a graphic novel and I can say that I enjoyed it.
It had a creepy and eerie feel to it and had enough mystery to make me keep going with the story.

The narration was something that I was not expecting and was quite unusual for me. Having a house as the narrator and getting its perspective on the people who live inside was very spooky. Especially, its weird infatuation with the main character.

Characters:
I enjoyed the mystery regarding Ilsa, the protagonist, and what exactly is the purpose of her spending her time in the woods and in her basement, as well as the sad daily life of her house maid Marie.
However, I feel like there was not enough details and answers about the how and why each character was in the situation they were in.

The story lightly touched on themes like abuse and abandonment, as well as mental illness, but it fell short on successfully developing them further in the story.

Overall, I really liked the graphic images and art as well as the creepy feel of the book. It makes for a good spooky read.

[Coos Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las ilustraciones me parecieron alucinantes. No así la historia, que se tornaba un poco confusa, a veces innecesariamente sangrienta sin razón. Me gustaron los personajes, pero hubiera deseado un mayor desarrollo de ellos. Aún así, creo que es una idea interesante.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

They say walls have ears. What if they could also see, feel, and remember everything? Isn’t a terrifying thought? A place you call that might have witnessed everything and anything that happens within its premisses. After all, between those walls, our darkest and most intimate secrets are often laid bare for those with access to our kingdom. Sometimes, these secrets are often best kept to our grave but when we are the guardians of these mysteries, we become one with them, and a home makes it its business to understand those that inhabit it. Written by author Sloane Leong (A Map to the Sun, Prism Stalker) and artist Anna Bowles, their story presents a horror tale driven by obsession and a thirst for darkness.

What is Graveneye about? Deep in wild woods lies an enormous mansion where resides Ilsa, a peculiar woman harboring dark, grim, and sinister desires and needs. Drawn by a compulsion to hunt, carve, and give a second but inanimate life to animals, she seeks the help of a young maid who goes by the name of Marie, another woman who lives on carrying a heavyweight upon her shoulders. As they both carry on to their respective duties, they soon find their lives entangled and inevitably crossing paths, leading them down a perilous road where obsession meets desire. Trapped in their own habits and infatuations, there is only Isla’s home to remain witness to the horrors that take place upon its insides.

There’s a solid concept hidden behind the poor execution of this stand-alone story. In an ambitious effort to turn the mansion into a character and allowing it to narrate this story through an omniscient voice, it, unfortunately, suffers from a cold and distant intimacy with the characters’ lives. The lush prose desperately seeks to draw the reader into its unique perspective, offering an obscure glimpse into the lifeless horror story while it struggles to allow readers the chance to connect with the characters, their voice, and their tragic and bloody fates. Where there might have been an original attempt at creating an intriguing mythos through this tale of abuse, obsession, and unrequited love, it fails to properly create an organic and engrossing narrative in the end.

The artistic style utilized for this story has its strengths through its colour cohesion, focused on a greyscale scheme with red to accentuate bruises, blood, and gore. Although there’s a certain chronology to scenes, a regrettable choppiness does impair the pace and the structure. However, an effort to capture the core emotions of these characters can be observed through noticeable body language and facial expressions, which helps drive the stories own emotional foundation, allowing readers to understand what truly drives these desperate characters. Unfortunately, the artwork remains an acquired taste and the narrative isn’t enough to justify the partnership between story-telling and artistic vision.

Graveneye is a poorly-executed horror story about obsession, despair, and desire told through a mansion’s unusual viewpoint.

Thank you to MediaLab PR for sending me a copy for review!

[Dannii Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the heart of the woods lies a home and inside this isolated abode resides Ilsa. Her new maid joins her on alternating days and the two women share a reluctance to connect with each other, due to the secrets both are harbouring. Marie, the young maid, arrives adorned in technicolour bruising but never states the cause of them. Ilsa often tracks her own bloodstains around after her and remains as tight-lipped about where they flowed from. The house knows however, and it will spill its secrets for an eager reader.

I loved how the soul of the home was the narrator of the story. Every nook inside the building and every innermost thought and desire from the two women were laid bare for the reader to peruse. This became almost shocking with the intimacy it afforded and there was something of the classic horror novel in this passionless focus on the passionate and emotional.

I also adored the simple yet striking colour scheme, used to illustrate and enhance the story. Black, white, and grey featured alongside vivid splashes of red for a unique and shocking spread of pages. The style of art also proved the perfect match for the trajectory of the tale, with the gore and horror intimately focused on in great detail.

Some aspects I appreciated far less was the hunting and animal murder that featured. This is something I personally detest reading about and did not appreciate having to read and view it here. I also found some aspects of the story slightly confusing and I was never entirely sure what was occurring until after it had passed.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, Sloane Leong, and the publisher, TKO Studios, for this opportunity.

[River · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

(2021 review)
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
That was amazing! I can't get over how incredible that was. It reminded me of Hannibal (the TV show) and of Will and Hannibal's relationship so much. Where to begin?
I didn't know what to expect at the start, but what a pleasant surprise.
I loved that the story was written from the perspective of the house; it was really unique and the language that was used to reflect the house's point of view was very clever and intriguing.
The characters were great. The unique twistedness of their desires elevated this story so much and I simply adored it all. I don't know if this is how it was written, but I definitely viewed the main character's connection as a romantic/sexual one--not necessarily of love either, but definitely obsession.
I thought the ending was perfect, I thought all of it was perfect, and I am absolutely in love (and obsessed) with this story!

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't take my eyes away and feel the grip that comes with wanting to unleash an inner animal.

There's just something about looking at situations from the perspective of the house everything takes place in. But maybe that's because looking at these scenarios from the perspective of a regular human just won't do it justice. Houses are reflections of the people living in it, not just who own it. I guess it was the abstract display of panel layouts through the house that made everything so eye-catching. It feels like something made by Blumhouse Productions.

The house just seems to know everything about what goes on. And how the growing relationship between Isla and Marie isn't so much about love but desiring the ability not to hide their real selves. Marie for one has to deal with abuse, which makes the relationship with Isla rather tragic. Isla is more than willing to grant that to Marie, but it feels like she's looking for consent to be something horrible.

Which is why the house feels more like a forest than anything else, not caring that its owner is a vicious predator. Besides it's not like Isla wins in the end, there's still that human side to her.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A potentially interesting premise, marred with poor writing and little direction.

[Corrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graveneye by Sloane Leong (script) and Anna Bowles (art) deliver a dark and beautiful tale of hunger and obsession seen through the eyes of the mansion where it all happens.

The story of Ilsa, who lives in isolation in the woods. She loves to hunt and kill and there is an enormous amount of manic bloodlust (and taxidermy). Her new maid Marie arrives and a mutual obsession grows. In all cases horror it can only end in tears… and blood and gore.

I loved the art, but the story felt aimless and confusing. Certainly not for the faint of heart.

Themes: blood and gore by the buckets, let me remake you, Peta would have a field day, triggers for abuse, triggers for the rest as well.

3.4 Stars

[Phu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Yeah! In a sense, this is a macabre and bloody story. But, I felt the story was a bit lacking in depth, so it didn't live up to my expectations.

In return, the illustrations are great! Its color scheme is very eye-catching, when taking red as the most point between white and black. The details of the villa are very detailed and beautiful. The illustrations make the book attractive. Anyway, I'm glad I read it.

Thank you for the ARC, netgalley! I received this in exchange for an honest review.

[Lio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visceral, raw, violent. This story dragged me in by its teeth and started shaking its head. Gore and horror galore; not for the lighthearted, but definitely for those who want a messy, awful, corrupting and humiliating story of desire and hunger.

If you are a fan of NBC Hannibal, this has a similar energy in a lot of ways, just sapphic instead of achillean.

I think I would rate this 6 out of 5 stars, if I could.

"Houses are never so impolite to hunger as women do."

[Francesca Giardiello · Rating 5 out of 5]

La casa come voce narrante. Spazi, stanze, odio, amore. Fame, fame insaziabile. Graveneye è tutto questo, nel suo bianco e nero, dove solo il rosso predomina. Uno slice of life, l'affacciarsi nella vita di Isla, della sua casa, al momento giusto.
Memorabile.

[Dana Cristiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text was freaking small on my Kindle, so it took me 3 hours to finish it. Otherwise the story is great!

RTC next week.

[♛ Garima ♛ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was all messed up. Bring on October-fest!!

[Curious Madra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say the art is stunning but what’s lacking is trying to figure out what the characters were saying or thinking. It felt narrative side of things were floating in the air rather than focus on what’s happening with the story…..

[Raegan · Rating 1 out of 5]

-Disclaimer: I won this book for free through Goodreads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.-

Eerie, creepy, atmospheric, and gory. The idea of the house being alive and bearing witness is interesting. It's different from anything I've ever read. Way, way more gross than I thought it would be. The book more horror than queer.

I do wish there was more to the text. It kept its tone but was lacking a greater purpose. Since the house narrates you can't get into the character's heads. The pictures are detailed. The black, red, and grey work well for the book. I wouldn't read it again. It put the graphic in graphic novel. Very messed up.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netgalley freebie.

I loved the monochrome style of art with the occasional flash of red. A slow burn of a story encompassing horror, folklore, shapeshifting and femininity. With only three characters this tale packs a lot of story with little dialogue relying more on the artwork. Interestingly told from the perspective of the house where Isla lives, took me a bit of getting used to imagining the house narrating!

[b (tobias forge's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Graveneye at random while browsing the graphic novels at my favorite library, and now that I’ve read it, I have to ask: HOW have I never heard ANYONE talking about it??

Do you like Gothic fiction, literally predatory lesbians, monochrome and metaphorically resonant color schemes, Angela Carter, and sentient houses? Read this book! RUN DON’T WALK!!

(Be warned that there’s a lot of animal death, though. People death, too, but we all know what kind of death readers really get torn up about. Myself included.)

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how creepy and visceral this book is. The 'haunted' house as an omniscient narrator watching over its owner, a possessive force of energy that keeps her and nurtures her darkest impulses. The sort of love story between Marie and Ilsa, the conflation of lust with the desire for violence. Marie's awkward vulnerability contrasted with Ilsa's insatiable cold appetite for blood. It's so damned bloody watching Ilsa plunge her knife into animal flesh, crave meat from bone, bathe in their blood. Disturbing? Well, yeah, it's a horror book.

Anna Bowles' art is spectacular and the highlight of the book. The way the red seeps into the otherwise greyscale book make the blood pungent and striking. The house itself appearing like a living thing with all its rooms and creaking floorboards. Ilsa has so many expressions, many of them a variant of gleeful wickedness, that always pull me further into the book. And as the book progresses and we get more 'action' scenes I love all the twisting hallways, the hallucinations reaching out and grabbing at the characters, the secret closed doors that invite more even when you know their danger. It's palpable and fantastic.

Certainly this book is unsettling to read. There are major content warnings for blood, gore, domestic violence, and a few forms of abuse. But it's a fantastic horror book, playing at a dark romance, and I loved every page of it.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I liked this book... I'm not sure it's the kind of thing that can be liked... But I do like weird, and this was weird, to say the least. I did not enjoy reading it but I felt a grim sort of satisfaction at the end.

The point of view is from the house in which a mentally disturbed woman (creature?) lives. It was an interesting take. At first I found it so jarring I decided I wouldn't read the comic, just look at the pictures, because what the house is saying does not match what is going on in the drawings in most cases. But without that weird text I felt lost and I had to go back and read it all anyway. I felt that sometimes the POV didn't work because the house somehow knew what its owner was doing way out in the middle of the woods. The house uses the excuse that its pipes reach under the forest floor so that's how it knows what is happening above, but that doesn't even make sense...even pretending that houses have eyes and ears by which to see and hear.

So the story is about a mentally disturbed woman who likes hacking up and eating animals raw, then taking their skins back to her house to taxidermy them. I can't with the animal-butchering. My dad was a taxidermist and all I can say is puke to that. I abhor that kind of thing and I wouldn't have read this book if I'd known that most of the pages were concerned with killing and skinning animals and eating them raw and bloody. But I kept going because the woman also does it to people, and that made her interesting. I don't want to read about or see taxidermy but a serial killer is okay by me! lol

The woman/creature has a maid who reveals her own mental illness that ended up creeping me out even more than the animal-killer's. She leaves her hair and nails and teeth hidden throughout the woman's house. Kind of turned my stomach.

I thought the story was going to develop into a lesbian romance but IT DID NOT. I did like the way it ended up. The ending was probably the only thing I did enjoy reading/seeing. But I would never read this again. Once was traumatic enough.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review, with thanks to the publisher and Netgalley.

Graveneye is a really interesting graphic novel.

Okay so firstly, I really like TKO as a publishing company because they tend to publish concise series that are released all around the same time so there is no waiting for the next issue or whatever, that I really like. So when I saw this on Netgalley I was intrigued. It is after all, the post-spooky season and I am always ready for a horror graphic novel. The first thing that struck me as interesting about this book was the art. The vibrant red on the cover is carried throughout this book. The art is mostly black and white, yet there are these vibrant splashes of red that give the book an incredibly ominous feeling. Blood and eerieness are pinpointed in this juxtaposition between the black, white, grey and then RED. It does definitely add to the gory, horror feel of the book.

It took me a couple of pages to realise just who exactly was narrating this book and then I realised it was the house? This story is basically about a house narrating the goings on with it's owner Isla who lives alone and has lived in the house her whole life, her secret cellar where she stores her deepest, darkest secrets and her timid new maid, Marie, who is in an abusive marriage and develops a fascination with her employer and her job. The house being almost sentient in this book makes it seem like you're watching something that will ultimately end negatively. The hints at Isla's secret hobbies (spoiler: she basically bare knuckle fights animals in the woods, sometimes naked and skins them, it's a whole thing), Marie's growing bruises, the house sees it all.

Overall, I liked this book. It's definitely not something I would've initially picked up in my LCS but I'm glad I read it. I'm always down for a horror graphic.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the book.

I thought this book would be the perfect short read just in time for Halloween. But, unfortunately, life came in the way, and I ended up not finishing it until way later.
However, here we are, and the novel has been read.

I thought the graphic novel's premise sounded great, but I'm afraid it didn't quite do it for me.
The text is a narration by a house. The house tells the story of its owner and this lady who was hired to clean the house.
While the house tells its story in a super poetic way, the pictures show the brutal reality of the owner's nature.

The art in the book is excellent, very graphic and really shows the gory details. I also like how the book is told, where pictures and words combined tell the real story and work together to show the complete picture. While pictures and words separately tell two different stories - it is quite unique and a fun way to tell the story.
But, unfortunately, the story just isn't really for me.
I never really got that feeling of wanting to keep reading. Despite it being a graphic novel, it just took me forever to finish it.
I can see the appeal, and I enjoy the artistic work, but besides that, it just wasn't for me.
It is worth checking out if you want a new graphic experience, though.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graveneye is a really interesting graphic novel that didn't deliver everything I hoped, but it was still worth the read. The concept (a story of violence unfolding in a sentient house, from the perspective of the house) is a really interesting one. The art is gorgeous, and I really enjoyed how it was done primarily in black and white, with splashes of red where appropriate, and the red increasing as the story becomes progressively more violent. A lot of the writing is very poetic, although there's a bit too much of it, with the story often feeling over-narrated. The story itself is a bit too angry/sad in what it's doing for my own personal taste, although the ending is satisfying. It's the kind of thing where even though I didn't love it, I'd still be interested in seeing more from the author or the artist. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but I think if it sounds interesting to you it's worth giving it a go.

[Dinnu Reads Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this graphic novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly the e-copy I got from NetGalley was very blurry and at times it wasn’t easy to read. It didn’t help that the narrator was a melancholic house…😅
It was creepy, gory and grotesque which was its purpose. The characters were all messed up in different ways, they were either maniacal sadists or masochists and all monsters in their own way. I have read many gory graphic novels before but they had much more going for them, this felt a bit flat and pointless.🙄

[Aria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is striking, especially with the chosen monochrome color scheme and splashes of red, and the typography suits the atmosphere. The story, however, I find lacking. As it is told in the POV of the house with minimal dialogue between the two main characters observed by the aforementioned house, there is a strong sense of clinical detachment. Sure, there's some food for thought and interesting word choices, but ultimately, the narrative is boring and unemotional. The graphic art can only do so much to horrify someone and the coldness of the narrative only reduces the effect the art has.

So yeah, this one is a huge disappointment for me as I felt nothing when I read this graphic novel. No fear, no being grossed or creeped out...just nothing.

Thank you for the ARC, netgalley! I received this in exchange for an honest review.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 Stars

A longer review can be found on my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvkuw...

This was a really cool concept... But in execution it fell short. This is the story of a werewolf and her maid who comes to clean the house, and how they fall in love - but told from the perspective of the house.

I was having a hard time connecting to the story. Having the house tell the story is cool, but in execution it left me feeling distant from the characters. I like to be immersed into my books and with graphic novels I find it especially easy as there is an added element of design. But with this story I was not only disconnected from everything, but also bored.

I just wanted a lot more.

The art style wasn't bad, but I wasn't personally in love either. I do like the limited color choice.

Thanks to Netgalley and TKO Studios for giving me this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, positive adjectives like 'distinctive' are only half the story, and this is but one instance where, however unique, distinctive or startling it may be, a book is not as wonderful as those descriptors would at first seem to imply. Narrated by an old, rural, wood-frame house, this is the tale of Isla, a huntress who secretly guts and flays her animal prey in her Bluebeard-type cellar, and Marie, the latest installation into the post of maid, who slowly becomes obsessed with her boss. In the light of what we see, the house must have quite a dry, seen-it-all mien, for it numbly carries on describing the humanity within it – even when we see that humanity kind of drip away, to be replaced by something much more gory and primeval.

So, a weary building narrating, a very small cast list beyond that, and a noticeably black, white and red only design – there's a lot here that is distinctive and uncommon. I guess it is a metaphor for when love turns to sacrifice, but it's a bit too much of a one-note mood piece as opposed to being a proper narrative. Yes, things happen, and the change from first page to last is notable, but this is just a descent, and never anything close to a full roller-coaster ride. Others will certainly gel with its grimness and mood a lot more than I did, and be impressed by how dark the ladies creating this get to feel. For me, however much it subverts the usual horror gender narrative, this wasn't quite a polished piece. Still, for many, 'unpolished' will be a plus point.

[chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 / 5 stars

I don't read a lot of graphic novels because I'm very particular about the art styles I like which I need to do in order to be able to get immersed in a graphic novel. Needless to say the cover of Graveneye caught my eye, otherwise I would have skipped it and in regards to the art I wasn't disappointed at all. The greyscale colour scheme with blood red highlights worked perfectly to capture the menacing atmosphere of the story itself. As did the decision to tell this story from the point of view of the house, what a brilliant idea!

Unfortunately I found the story and the characters lacking. Maybe if it were longer there would have been more time to develop these characters, their motives and actions. Everything felt just a bit too underdeveloped and vague for my liking.

content notes:

◦ explicit: animal death (incl. hunting, gutting, skinning & taxidermy), blood, body horror, gore, murder, violence
◦ moderate: domestic abuse, sexual content
◦ minor: cannibalism

Thank you to NetGalley and TKO Studios for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

[Alex Sarll]

Another comic in black, white and red, but this time a sort of sapphic Angela Carter fable about a huntress, her fascinated maid, and a grand house with one locked and forbidden door. The wonderful twist being that, of those participants, the narrator is the house. Leong has really caught how such a voice might sound: "Houses sing and houses breathe, but few people actually take note of where we keep our lungs, our voice. Somehow you all know my eyes and ears rest in the walls, but only some of you mention this with proper reverence." Also, what it might think of humans, and in particular its own human, however dark her obsession. Unusually, I think the text here could work by itself as a short story with little alteration, though it would be a more oblique telling of the tale. That might work better in places; for me Anna Bowles' art sometimes leant a little too cartoony on the humans, and couldn't evade a touch of bathos on the reveal. Still, especially for saying this is her debut, she does a wonderful job on capturing the spaces of and around the narrator, and the foreboding ahead of that point.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Nore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. A horror story of the murderer up in the old house on the hill, told from the perspective of the doting house itself -which apparently has read too many lofty novels in its time, because goddamn if it's not the wordiest house I've ever met. The prose is unnecessarily flowery, almost purple, and it becomes a chore to read, especially since the pacing is weird. The build-up in Marie and Isla's relationship is painfully slow and plodding until its sudden climax.

The art is.... fine. Mostly. Isla is drawn starkly shapely and weirdly thick in turn, and not always to contrast her beauty to her monstrousness - sometimes it's just meh art, like the cover. The question of how literal Isla's beastly transformations are is left open to interpretation, which I enjoyed; pair that with a hallucinatory air (which I didn't like) to the storytelling and I was left skimming pages towards the end.

But ah, the last few pages. Spoilers: Isla's worshipful gaze at the goddess she'd made of Marie was perfect. The desperation! The sorrow! The joy! If Marie could see what Isla had made of her, what Isla saw in her, she'd be stunned. Sometimes a family is a murderer and her beloved victim.

Not something I'd read again or purchase for my own collection, but I'm a fan of terrible female characters and unhealthy relationships, so this hit enough high notes for me that I enjoyed it.