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The Nice House On The Lake, Vol 1, consists of the first six issues of The Nice House On The Lake issues by James Tynion IV, published by DC Comics on the 1st of March 2022.
Invited to a luxury Nice House On The Lake, a group of thirty-something-year-olds all meet up for a fantastic holiday there. Brought together by their mutual friend, all expect a good weekend, even if the invite is out of nowhere.
Upon arrival, some realise that the lake house is so isolated that there is no phone signal. Once one person connects to the internet, it all comes to light. The world is ending, and they can’t get ahold of their loved ones or leave. With their mutual friend still missing, the group starts to panic while some try to determine whether this is a joke.
EVALUATION
Genre
The Nice House On The Lake (Vol 1) matches the genre of Sci-Fi well. While this volume focuses more on the beginning stages with confusion and small discoveries, the hints of science and space seep through the pages and the character’s thoughts.
As for Horror, however, I didn’t find this volume particularly horror-filled, but rather science fiction-y. I don’t doubt that the later volumes may encompass a bit more horror. However, for this volume, it was light story-wise.
Graphics
The graphics were lovely! The style screams Sci-Fi. The detail added here and there added to the sci-fi-yness of the story. Honestly, the graphics were stunning, making the house and surrounding land look beautiful. However, for the characters, even the graphics didn’t make any one of them look more distinct from the other, which didn’t help how hard it was to keep track of them.
Characters & Dialogue
The characters could have been so interesting. In all honesty, they were interesting. However, there were too many of them.
At the start, as each character was introduced, each character was given a symbol linked to the profession or relation to the common friend who brought them to the lake house. However, these symbols weren’t utilised as much as they could have been. As I’m not overly familiar with Graphic Novel style books, I can’t say whether this is a no-no or not, but I would have liked their symbols used in the speech bubbles to indicate who was talking. There were so many moments where I couldn’t work out who was talking, about who, or how their profession was relevant (because I didn’t know who was talking).
Unfortunately, there were too many characters and not enough differentiation or indication as to who was who to make the experience easier to read. An easy read may not have been the goal, but it certainly lost me. Due to this, the dialogue wasn’t something I found all that great. The dialogue itself was fine, but trying to work out who was talking made the story within the dialogue less impactful.
Pacing
The pacing was good. It wasn’t too fast or too slow. It had a nice bounce to it. Whenever something eased off or slowed down for someone or one group of people, others discovered something else about the property. The constant discovery and pacing kept me reading despite being confused by the characters. I read this book in one sitting, so it was definitely paced well.
Plot & Theme
The plot was interesting. I’ll admit there were parts where I was on the edge of my seat at the newest revelation, trying to determine what this meant for the group of isolated adults.
Each of them had such a sweet but exciting relationship with their familiar friend that knowing more about him and his past with them kept me hungry.
Story’s Impact
Upon finishing the book, I felt a mix of emotions. On the one hand, I wanted to know more. I wanted the other books to find out all this house’s secrets. What was so strange about it? Was their friend saving them, or was it all a lie? However, on the other hand, I battled with the idea of if I wanted to try and continue with the massive group of people.
RECOMMENDATION
Ultimately, I recommend this book if you enjoy graphic novels and sci-fi. It was really good. I recommend with caution that there is almost a learning curve to be made since there are so many characters and not a lot to physically or verbally differentiate them straight off the bat. It can take a few panels of dialogue to work out who is speaking to who about whom.
Information & Rating
Triskele Rating: 5/7
5-Star Rating: 3/5
Book: The Nice House On The Lake (Vol 1)
Author(s): James Tynion IV
Series Name: The Nice House On The Lake
Pages: 171
Genres: Sci-Fi, Graphic Novel, Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Adult, LGBT,
Format: Kindle
ISBN/ASIN: B09RGJ8H4X
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Publisher: DC Comics
Reading Speeds
(Based on Kindle/How Long To Read)
Average Estimated Reading Speed: 3 hours and 19 minutes
Based on the average of 300WPM
My Estimated Reading Speed: 4 hours and 43 minutes
Based on my calculated speed of 211WPM
Calculated by How Long To Read’s test
Goodreads Blurb
With Something Is Killing the Children and The Department of Truth, James Tynion IV has changed the face of horror in modern comics—now get ready for his most ambitious story yet, alongside his Detective Comics partner Álvaro Martínez Bueno!
Everyone who was invited to the house knows Walter—well, they know him a little, anyway. Some met him in childhood; some met him months ago. And Walter’s always been a little…off.
But after the hardest year of their lives, nobody was going to turn down Walter’s invitation to an astonishingly beautiful house in the woods, overlooking an enormous sylvan lake. It’s beautiful, it’s opulent, it’s private—so a week of putting up with Walter’s weird little schemes and nicknames in exchange for the vacation of a lifetime? Why not?
All of them were at that moment in their lives when they could feel themselves pulling away from their other friends; wouldn’t a chance to reconnect be…nice? In The Nice House on the Lake, the overriding anxieties of the 21st century get a terrifying new face—and it might just be the face of the person you once trusted most.
