The Haunted Mansion: Frights of Fancy is an adorably illustrated graphic novel for young readers. The graphic novel was written to honor the 50th anniversary of the Hunted Mansion at Disneyland, and follows a ghost named Sydney who finds herself betting the infamous Bride (you know, the one who famously killed her husbands and lives in the mansion's attic) that she can double the scares!

The artwork is really colorful and cute. There are many famous characters and scenes from the mansion, like Tightrope Girl aka Sally, the Bride, and the Duelists. However, even the adorable style cannot make up for the messy plot and the planning. The panels jump around sometimes like chunks of script or entire panels were cut from the storyboard. This means that the characters' movements and conversations feel really awkward and don't flow between pages.

The conflict with the Bride feels really forced and I'm not entirely sure how it all gets resolved at the end. Sydney was a hospitality manager when she was alive and spends a lot of the book talking about hotel management. This leads to much of the humor feeling too dry and adult to really resonate with kids.

Though the art is cute and colorful, The Haunted Mansion: Frights of Fancy feels a bit clunky and fails to provide readers with a rounded plot.

I love the Disney World ride Haunted Mansion so I was very excited to read this book! It was a fun adventure inside the mansion with a ghost of color protagonist.

The artwork in this book is so engaging and so is the story. This book will really appeal to all those kids who think that they've already read through your graphic novel collection as well as for Disney lovers. A great book to have top of mind for ref suggestions.

This book would get 5 stars for the amazing illustrations. They do a beautiful job of bringing these well loved characters to after-life. The story was a bit disappointing. The text was simultaneously too complicated for young readers while telling a story that was too simple. I honestly would have preferred this to be a wordless graphic novel.

This was a really cute little graphic novel, especially for anyone who already loves the Haunted Mansion attraction! I could see this as the perfect story to hand a child who's about to visit Disney for the first time, or even just any kid who likes spooky stories without anything legitimately scary going on. The art is lovely and colorful, there are some pretty cute and funny side characters, and it's impossible not to like Sydney, even if she comes off as a little bossy and over-bearing at times. I'll definitely be recommending this one to young readers!

I love Disneyland and the Haunted Mansion. What a fun way to bring the ride to life and into the hands of many kids who have never been. Fun way to tell the story.

What a fun book! From old fans to new audiences, anyone who enjoys a playful spook will love this fun story. A new ghost has entered the Haunted Mansion, and she has some ideas about helping these old ghosts spruce up their spooking. But when a challenge is set, can she get all the ghouls on board to help her finish her spooktacular plan?

The characters were both familiar and new, and their distinct personalities made them fun to get to know. The art itself was lovely and friendly in style. I really enjoyed reading this one.

The only two things this graphic novel really has going for it are absolutely adorable artwork, and the fact that the Haunted Mansion is one of the most beloved Disney rides of all time. Aside from that it REALLY falls flat. Sydney, the main character, is a modern ghost who finds herself homeless when the hotel she haunts is demolished. Having worked in the hospitality industry in life, she wants to basically become the new manager of the H.M. That's really the major problem here. It's a story about hotel management packaged as something to appeal to kids. There is WAY too much boring talk about management theories and bureaucracy to make it funny or light hearted and it makes the action lag terribly.

Ooph. I thought this was a kid's comic, but it pitches way older than the artwork suggests. Into a haunted mansion where every ghost that wouldn't normally have a place of their own to haunt mills around glowing faintly, comes a new woman, who wants to fit in, but she has a head on her that's all hotel management correspondence course, and of course a nemesis, who from about frame two seems to have the hump with her. Nobody is likeable, the "sense of humour" reads dumb, and the whole forced antagonism nonsense is all there is for a plot. Even on the list of 'Books Inspired by a Theme Park Attraction' this is low down.

Sydney and the infamous Bridezilla go head-to-head to test the loyalties and scare factor of the grinning ghosts haunting the Mansion! As the newest resident at the “retirement home for ghosts,” Sydney needs to show off her scare skills to earn her place. Between the magical graphics, the charming theme, and the Ghost Host Guide to the Haunted Mansion’s History, this Disney book is an exciting addition I want to see off my classroom library shelves and in the hands of readers! #netgalley #hauntedmansion

There is a lot to love about this book. We see the characters we are familiar with come to life with delightful and fun illustrations. The main character is a new ghost, Sydney, is an adorable female POC with lots of potential and new ideas on how to scare the human guests who visit the mansion.

As Sydney appears in modern clothing, it isn't clear at first that what we are reading is happening before the ride. At first, I found I was disappointed that the characters seemed too chipper and lacked the mystery that we feel from them when we pass by their scenes. But as you read on, you learn that Sydney is the one who makes the mansion into the iteration that we see.

Overall, a fun, quick read perfect for little ghouls. There is even a bit of history about the ride included in the back to spark their interest in the rich history of the Disney theme parks!

Thanks to IDW and Netgalley for the digital ARC of Haunted Mansion.

I liked this light and quietly paced children's graphic novel. It is set in Disney's Haunted Mansion and tells the story of a new ghost who appears and has to deal with the house bully. It is light and fun and should do very well with its target audience given its themes.

I didn't realize immediately realize that this was based on Disney's Haunted Mansion attraction as I've never experienced it myself, but there's a lot to like in this comic even without knowledge of the characters and setting. That being said, I'm sure it would have extra appeal to anyone already invested: bringing together familiar characters from the attraction into a new story told through bright and colourful artwork that still meets with the fittingly spooky theme.

This was a cute graphic novel! I'm a big fan of the Haunted Mansion and feel like the art in this book stayed very true to the aesthetic of the ride in Disney parks. I liked the inclusion of all the most beloved characters, like the bride, Constance; the dancing girl; the hatbox ghost, etc. Overall this should be a treat for HM and Disney parks fans.

I don't really get the point of this series. Other than being placed in the Haunted Mansion, there's not much to draw readers in. The plot is boring and the conflict seems to be entirely based on the idea that one of the house residents is bitchy.

Sydney is a modern ghost with big ideas. When she follows some hitchhiking ghosts to the famous Haunted Mansion she has big ideas about how to improve its scaring operations -- she thinks that they ghosts are a little to grinning and not grim enough. Unfortunately, the mansion's more seasoned residents aren't too eager to change - especially "the Bride" Constance. The Bride is used to being in charge and so she makes a deal that unless Sydney is able to increase the number of terrified visitors she'll have to cross over.

This book filled me with the most intense desire to be in Disneyland - which was probably exactly the point. I thought this was a delightfully spooky graphic novel that was, for me, well worth the wait (the publication on this sucker kept getting bumped!). I thought the art was really charming and was a perfect homage to one of my favorite rides at the Happiest Place on Earth. Maybe not for everyone, but I'll be adding this to my list of "our family is going to Disneyland - what books do you recommend to get our kids excited" books.