Book Review: Locke & Key Volumes 1 & 2 by Joe Hill

Following a tragic home invasion and the death of their father, Rendell, the Locke children along with their mother, relocate to Keystone house in Lovecraft, Massachusetts. They begin to adjust to their new life with the aid of Rendell's brother, Duncan. The youngest child, Bode, soon discovers a number of magical keys that each have a different function and ultimately attract the attention of a strange "echo" that is hiding in a well.

"Kids always think they're coming into a story at the beginning, when usually they're coming in at the end."

Colour me IMPRESSED. I had been hearing for a while how absolutely incredible the Locke & Key series is and now I fully understand. This master edition is comprised of the first two story arcs; namely Welcome to Lovecraft and Head Games. These two arcs were an interesting introduction into the world and mythology of Keystone house. The first arc explores the different ways in which the children are adjusting to the loss of their father. Kinsey wants to avoid the unwanted attention, Tyler is regretful and appears to be falling into depression, whereas Bode is running around and exploring their new residence. The second arc, Head Games, is where the mythology really starts to kick in and we begin to learn more about these magical keys.

Joe Hill seems to have a flair for graphic novels - combine this with the insanely beautiful and detailed illustrations that Gabriel Rodriguez is capable of, and you're onto a winner! There's a decent amount of horror and violence in this story and they're depicted perfectly. My only criticism perhaps is that I'm not a fan of Dodge's appearance... I don't know what it is, I'm just not a fan! The characters themselves are pretty awesome, the three children seem like they're going to be the main characters throughout the entirety of the series and they're so well-developed and compelling. I love how they interact with each other in a manner that is just so believable. However, after talking to my friend Sadie, I do feel a bit suspicious of the mother in the family... she doesn't appear much and is relatively absent from the family. I just wonder what's going on there! 

I'm dying to read on and find out what happens next! At the back of this edition there's a teaser of each of the different keys and I'm just so intrigued as to how they're all going to come into play. I'd highly recommend this to Joe Hill fans (or even Stephen King fans), and also those who already enjoy graphic novels! Really solid introduction to this series, I give it 5 stars out of 5!

Johann

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