Wow. Do I feel conflicted about this book.

On the one hand, "Girl Genius" is one of my favorite webcomics, and Phil Foglio one of my favorite artists. I have various editions, soft- and hard-cover of the comic collections, etc. And this novel (covering vol. 4-6 of the comic) covers the story very, very well, complete with lots of added backstory, and loads of footnotes, and, for that matter, inner monologues (as well as the maniacal outer ones). Indeed, having quickly gone back and read vol. 4, I'm impressed by how much richer and understandable the story is -- no flocks of zany, unnamed Circus folks to keep straight, as we get actual names and a sense of continuity, for example. The action is more of a story, and less a series of daily episodes and crazy pictures.

And yet ...

Without Phil's art, it's not the same. And by that I don't just mean it's less enjoyable -- it's not the same story. In many ways, it's a scarier, grimmer tale. Yeah, there's always been a dark side to Girl Genius, but Phil's zany visualizations giving a nudge and a wink and a chuckle, that dark side is a lot more obvious. Human experimentation, killings, monsters, danger around (and under, and behind, and over) every turn. The Baron is more ruthless, Lucretia is more insane, the Sturmholdt royalty are I-Claudian, and the Jaegermonsters are ... not nearly as funny.

Not to say it's all grim and grit. There are some laugh-out-loud exchanges liberally sprinkled across the pages, and plenty of smiles and smirks. But it's a remarkable example of how the medium (for better or worse) affects the tale told.

The only other down side to this book is that referencing footnotes via the Kindle is annoying. Be warned.

So I liked the book. Not as much as I expected to, though. It's a more solid (and ex post facto slightly tweaked) story, but not quite as fun as the original. It's quite possible I'll read it again someday, for what that's worth. And for all my complaints, it was still a good read, and I've no regrets having done so.