Review: "Alanna" (graphic novel) by Tamora Pierce, adapted by Vita Ayala and Sam Beck

Alanna by Tamora Pierce, adapted by Vita Ayala and Sam Beck
Published May 2025 via Harry N. Abrams
★★★

Pierce's books were staples in my family's household when I was growing up—it started with the Alanna books and grew to include the Circle of Magic books and then it kind of...went from there. My dad loved them as much as my sister and I did, and we bought new books set in whichever universe pretty much the day they came out. I've reread most of Pierce's books many, many times, as a child and as an adult (although admittedly fewer times as an adult).

I loved the recent graphic novel adaptation of First Test, and I was thrilled to see that the OG series is getting an adaptation as well. If anything, it's just surprising that it's taken so long!

The result, though—I'm not quite sure what isn't working for me, but I was underwhelmed. The art makes sense for the story; if anything, it's easier than in the original to see how Alanna could pass as Alan for so long. The emotional connection wasn't really there, though. Partly this might have been that a lot of internal stuff is shoved into dialogue, where it doesn't always fit. Part of it, to be fair, is also that some of the characters I learned so little about in this book also have very little characterization in the original (I went back and reread the original quartet pretty much as soon as I'd finished this).

I'll still be reading the hell out of any sequels as soon as they're published, and I'd still recommend this to both those who grew up with Tortall and those who didn't but read graphic novels now...but my heart is going to stay with the originals.