Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the ARC!

This graphic novel adaptation of the Father/Son collaboration of Stephen King and Owen King is a great way to dip your toes into Stephen King novels. I enjoyed the images and how they really portrayed the action packed horror. This book is for you if your are a feminist, into horror, and enjoy the what if of pandemic life.

Sleeping Beauties is a beautifully written and wonderfully drawn graphic novel about a strange sickness that only effects women of all ages (including transwomen specifically!). The sickness wraps them into a cocoon-like webbing when they fall asleep. If the webbing is broken and the women wakes, she turns into a ravenous fiend and attacks and kills everybody in sight. This leads women to abuse uppers to try to stay awake. One woman who checked herself into the prison on insanity, can fall asleep and wake up without issue. She also knows more than what she should know, intimate details about strangers lives. Will she be the answer to this sickness? What casualties could that cause?

I am a big fan of Stephen King and quite enjoyed the book he wrote with his son Owen titled Sleeping Beauties. This graphic novel tells the same story in a unique way. The illustrations are impressive and it leaves a different imprint on you while reading. Pretty cool experience reading this one and seeing the characters. I am not normally a graphic novel reader but requested because I quite liked this book.

Overall I liked the story but the art style was a bit too distracting for me. This type of art style clashes with horror elements. 3/5 stars.

Sleeping Beauties is a horror graphic novel that definitely got my heart rate up. The illustrations were detailed and colorful, but the overall style was not for me.

I received an ARC from IDW Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

very very disturbing.
The story tells the story of a sleeping disease called Aurora that kills most women simply by falling asleep. Men try in every way to save mothers, daughters, wives and sisters. Only one woman Evie, seems immune to this disease and therefore trying to understand if she can also be the cure

it is a very strong and intense story, the drawings are truly immersive, in the most violent scenes everything is tinged with red, to then return to soft and warm colors.

Sleeping Beauties is a fun adaptation of the original book by Owen King and Stephen King. The graphic novel format was a great way to experience the story once again with a fresh new take.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher IDW Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC.

Sleeping Beauties was a beautiful, unnerving adaptation of the novel by Owen King and Stephen King. In the small town of Dooling, a mysterious woman named Eve is taken to the prison for a psych evaluation after she's found near the scene of a murder. As this is happening, women all around the world are falling asleep and their bodies are being wrapped in strange cocoons. If the cocoon is removed, they become violent before falling back to sleep. Only Eve is immune to the sleeping sickness and the townsfolk will do anything to break her out of prison to try to get the women in their lives back. This is an adaptation of a rather long novel, so of course it won't have all the details of the original, but it is faithful to the story. The artwork is so beautiful and colorful. I particularly enjoyed the cover gallery at the very end. Overall, fans of King's work will enjoy this, but it is also a more approachable version of the original story for those who want to dip their toes in before committing to a much longer novel.

4 out of 5 Stars

Sleeping Beauties (Graphic Novel) in fun, adaptation of the original book by Owen King and Stephen King. A great way to experience a story once again within a fresh new take.

Thank you NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the ARC of this graphic novel.

This is a graphic novel adaptation of the novel by Stephen and Owen King (which was amazing and I do highly recommend the book). Unfortunately, for me this graphic novel falls short. While all graphic novels adaptations inherently have less details then a book this one has so many less that I feel like the only reason I could follow the story was because I knew the source material. I could see people struggling to understand what is happening if they didn’t.

The art style wasn’t my favorite type but it was really well done. There were a few blurry moments but given this was an ARC with watermarks it could have just been that.

I would recommend for folks who know the original book because it is always fun to revisit a story you like in a new format. If you haven’t I would at least suggest reading a synopsis of the book so you can follow the story better.

I’m a Stephen King fan, but graphic novels aren’t my favorite way to read his stories. This one had too much fantasy in it to hold my attention.

“I sometimes think that prison is like Aurora, it’s like a place where you’re cocooned away for a period of time, before waking up and trying again.” - Clint Norcross

✨ Sleeping Beauties: Deluxe Remastered Edition Graphic Novel tells the story of a sleeping sickness called Aurora that wiped out most of the women simply by falling asleep. As they slumber, their faces and bodies become cocooned in webs, and when the cocoons open, they turn into psychopaths and murderers. Desperate to save their wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, the men left in charge take matters into their own hands, leading to even more violence and chaos. Meanwhile, a woman named Evie can sleep peacefully without becoming cocooned, meaning she is immune. As word of her immunity spreads, the men collaborate and attempt to get Evie out of jail, believing she might be the key to saving their loved ones.

✨ I’ve read three of Stephen King’s books so far, and I’ve loved them all. I thought I’d get used to his writing style by now, but it still surprises me every time. What I love about King’s writing isn’t just the plot twists, the thrill of the romance, the horror, or the humor—it’s how he tells the story. Each of his characters is given their own narrative, and they either undergo significant character development or take a darker path.

✨ At first, you might feel overwhelmed by the many characters introduced, but you'll eventually grasp the story as long as you keep reading.

✨ Overall, reading a graphic novel by Stephen King, Owen King, and Rio Youers was a delightful experience. It was pretty fast-paced, but it made me want to read the full novel too. I’m especially curious to see more of Layla, Clint, and the badass Evie.

✨ A huge thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this awesome graphic novel.

✨ WHAT I LIKED:
📌 Showed how mothers and fathers express love differently.
📌 Clint focused on his good side despite his horrible past.
📌 It reminded me that not everyone who’s been to jail is a bad person.
📌 Characters went to great lengths to save loved ones.
📌 People learned from their mistakes.
📌 The chaos from the women’s disappearance made me rethink the role of women.
📌 Animals have their own thoughts.
📌 The concept art of the characters and the notes on the adaptation by Alison Sampson and Triona Farrell were great.
📌 ZOMBIES!!!

✨ TROPES:
📌 SLEEPING BEAUTY
📌 MENTAL HEALTH REP
📌 POST-APOCALYPTIC CHAOS
📌 DYSTOPIAN GENDER DYNAMICS
📌 DESPERATE MEASURES
📌 BADASS CHARACTERS
📌 ZOMBIES
📌 NO SPICE

🖥️ GOODREADS REVIEW: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6763889604

💻 BLOG REVIEW: https://kimthebookdragon.wordpress.com/2024/08/16/arc-review-sleeping-beauties-deluxe-remastered-edition-by-owen-king-stephen-king-rio-youers/

This review copy was not fit for purpose. The format didn't let me see the bottom 1/4 of the page and there was a huge trademark in the middle of each page. This made it very unpleasant to read and I gave up. Can't say much about the story since I couldn't make sense of it with the bottom text missing. The illustrations have that classic gritty American adult comic look: dark, flat colours, heavy inking, unattractive characterisation.

I have never read the book this graphic novel was adapted from, so I'm sure I' missing a great deal of depth and nuance. However, I did still have a decent time with this story. I just ... have no idea what was happening.

Women fell asleep and men got violent -- while in a dream world the women were fine without the men living in a utopia. It's a dated take, and this is where I think the adaptation process hurts the story. I'm hopeful that there was more than "men violent" to the book. However, I did like the inclusion of transgender women (counted as women, while transmen are men) and gender fluid people.

In the story, everyone's unpleasant. When they die, they die. The people who survive aren't much better because so little of their character was introduced. This was just such an action heavy graphic novel that felt like it relied on the book to have already been read -- or expected people to go and read the book afterwards to fill in the gaps.

I liked the art and the use of colors, and while the pace was so very fast I did think that I was given the bones of the story. Enough so that there was a clear beginning, middle and end. I just wish it had taken a little more time to develop the characters so that I had an opinion on any one of them.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC.