Esther

by Art A. Ayris, Javier Saltares (Cover Art), Ben Prenevost (Colorist)

It is the year 539 BC and the Persian Empire rules most of the Middle East. When the popular queen of King Xerxes publicly refuses his command to appear, the Persian leaders feel it is best for the king to locate a replacement queen and wife for the king. After a long and thorough search a young woman is selected to be the new Queen, but the king and rulers do not realize that she is Jewish. When a plot of genocide is discovered against the Jews the new Queen Esther lays her life on the line to plead for her people. The Jewish people established an annual feast, the feast of Purim, in memory of Queen Esther and God's divine deliverance from their enemies.

Genres: Graphic Novels, History

38 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2010

Reviews

[Treece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4 1/2 stars

A gorgeously illustrated recount of the Book of Esther from the Tanakh or Old Testament. For anyone who celebrates Purim each year, they may (or not) appreciate the condensed version of this tale of bravery, self-sacrifice and honor.

Hadassah/Esther, along with Ruth, are two of my favorite women in the Bible because both are very relatable in so many ways. The best part is that both women were real historical figures and of the line of King David and Yeshua/Jesus.

[Jaci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó, este librito es una manera de ver lo que realmente pudo ser lo que pasó Ester antes y después en conventirse en reina.
Las ilustraciones estuvieron de lo mejor, me gustó mucho este libro

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una adaptación muy buena! Le hizo justicia a la historia y el contexto se notó muy estudiado, lo cual me impresionó. Además el arte es increíble y la calidad del material también.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love stories from the Hebrew Bible, having studied them way back in university and I love the Book of Esther which has one of the most interesting of all the stories, but this felt a little flat to me.

I understand the author was trying to stay as close to the source material as possible (even putting the exact biblical references as the bottom of the page), but having read a few historical fiction books about Esther (including one I read last year that was fantastic and one I’m currently reading), on top of the actual Bible story, this lacked the depth I’ve seen in other stories.

It’s very short and isn’t entirely clear in terms of showing the passage of time. One moment Esther’s just showing up to be trained to meet Xerxes and the next page it’s already been a year and she’s having her first meeting. And then a panel later, he’s asking her to be queen.

I feel like if you haven’t read the Book of Esther and/or know the basic story, there are parts that aren’t really explained as well as they could be. There’s not much done to fill in gaps and could leave some people confused.

It tells the story just fine, but isn’t as well composed as I think it could have been. And I wasn’t a huge fan of the art style.

So all in all, a solid 3/5.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The text sticks very close to the original story - perhaps a little too close, without trying to make this its own retelling, which means some of the exposition can get pretty clunky, but it does show why the story still fascinates, even today.

The illustrations were a little too comic-booky-y for me - I kept thinking how much the characters looked like superheroes. The royal outfits, especially, looked like something either Thor or Wonder Woman would wear. I would have liked to have seen this illustrated by someone who stuck closer to the fashion of that time period and region.

Still, a good retelling, but I definitely would have sent it back with notes in order to make it great.