Bizenghast #1by Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk.
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Credits Grade: 8 Bizenghast is a highly enjoyable read! Dinah Wherever lives with her aunt in an old, haunted school building. She suffers from fits and self-inflicted wounds (or are they?). She and her friend Vincent like to sneak out and on one such outing through the woods of Bizenghast, Massachusetts, they stumble upon an unusual cemetary. Unknowingly, Dinah entered into a contract requiring her to solve riddles to free trapped spirits. To do so she (and Vincent who agrees to help her) must enter their ghostly dream world where evertying that happens seems awfully real. In fact, death seems to wait around every turn of the page. If she fails in her task she could die, and if she doesn't come back to free more spirits she will become something so unpleasant she'll wish she was dead.Overall, the art is has a wonderful style and feel to it. A few figures, scenes, and panels amaze me with the detail Alice LeGrow etched into them while other leave something to be desired. The inconsistancy bothered me slightly as the lineart style changes here and there and then back again. After seeing the kind of detail LeGrow can draw it's somewhat disappointing to note that the main characters often lack those details. And I'm not sure how I feel about the masquerade section; it's lovely and well done, but Dinah looks like Sarah from the masque scene in The Labyrinth complete with poofy hair and decorative things in it and similar style dress. The story is rather ingenious. The riddles are truly amazing to read and to see how each spirit's plight and freedom are portrayed is excellent. There is a complexity to the riddles that keeps me from seeing the solution right out, but simple enough for me to understand their subsequent actions. Before I knew it I was captured by this story. It's not so much that I want to know what happens to Dinah (though that is part of it), as I want to follow more riddles into such imaginative worlds that LeGrow has dreamed up for these trapped spirits. Each one is almost like it's own mini-story, but it still holds together as one. If you're looking for a new and different read, give Bizenghast a try. Written: September 30, 2005
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