I love The Giver novel, and while this is a faithful adaptation it is also a poor one. I am unsure if this was an issue with the illustrator or with the creative team as a whole but the over reliance of narration makes this feel like you are reading a cliff notes version of the story. The art should have done some of the heavy lifting in telling the story but it didn't.

What makes a graphic novel unique is its use of sequencal storytelling and this is achieved through the illustration not the words. Novels use words, graphic novels use graphic.

It feel like there was no trust in the reader, the narration is there to make sure you don't miss anything or get confused, but with good illustration that shouldn't be a concern.

Please note this doesn't mean the illustrations are ugly, the art is rather nice and there are moments where it does just want it needs to, but those are few and far between. Worse the the art being bad, the art fails at its job.

Truly forgot how dark this book was! Really excellent adaptation.