Thomas Gilbert's "The Daughters of Salem: How We Sent Our Children to Their Deaths: Part 1" offers a compelling dive into the historical narrative of the Salem Witch Trials, providing readers with a fictional reimagining of this dark chapter in Colonial Massachusetts. While the graphic novel boasts notable strengths, it also grapples with certain flaws that warrant consideration.

The novel adeptly captures the atmosphere of Colonial Massachusetts in the early 1690s, delving into the intricacies of gender politics, religion, xenophobia, and innocent games of fortunetelling that contributed to the Salem Witch Trials. Gilbert skillfully weaves these elements into a narrative that explores how a seemingly innocent act can set off a chain reaction of mass hysteria, turning neighbors against one another.

The art style employed in "The Daughters of Salem" complements the historical setting, offering a visual experience that immerses readers in the Puritan town and the unfolding events. The illustrations effectively convey the tension and emotions underlying the witch hunt, enhancing the overall storytelling.

However, the graphic novel is not without its minor flaws. Some readers may find that certain aspects of the narrative lack clarity, leading to moments of confusion. The storyline's complexity, combined with the introduction of various characters and subplots, could be challenging for readers seeking a more straightforward exploration of the Salem Witch Trials. Additionally, a more nuanced character development, especially for the protagonists, could elevate the reader's connection to the story.

Despite these drawbacks, the promise of the series lies in its potential for growth and expansion. Part 1 serves as a solid foundation, laying the groundwork for what could develop into a more intricate and layered narrative. For readers intrigued by historical fiction and willing to embrace a story that requires careful consideration, "The Daughters of Salem" holds promise.

In conclusion, while "The Daughters of Salem: How We Sent Our Children to Their Deaths: Part 1" has its minor drawbacks, it successfully piques interest in the Salem Witch Trials. Gilbert's commitment to reimagining this historical event in graphic novel form is commendable, and I am eager to see how the series unfolds in subsequent parts.

A sensationalized version of the Salem Witch Trials (Although we don't get to any trials in part 1.) It's honestly kind of boring. The art isn't very good and is pretty graphic for the few times where things do happen. There's animal abuse. Not my favorite comic I've read recently to put it mildly.

This book is a hit or miss. Unfortunately for me, I disliked it. I thought a graphic novel version of the Salem Witch Trials would be perfect for me. But overall, I found it to be a weak book.

For starters, some of the writing is faulty. Some characters use words and phrases from the twenty-first century. Second, I despised the art. Everyone is drawn to be old and ugly, so the whole village looks old. The main character is supposed to be young, but she looks triple her age. Because of this pervasive style, I couldn't tell the characters apart. If you can't see their full bodies, you might not know who you're looking at. Third, it's a graphic novel. The violence is horrifying. You see wit. Entrails. You see a man with no face. There are also graphic animal deaths, including a dog whose head is smashed. This book is not for those who cannot bear violence. Discretion is advised.

Like many graphic novels, the plot begins at the book's end. We haven't seen much of the familiar Salem Witch Trials story yet. But I'm afraid I'm out of interest in this series. This is too graphic, too fast for my taste.

I really wanted to like this book. Tying the Salem Witch trials to the persecution of women throughout time and adding in specific native narratives as well is a really compelling idea. Unfortunately, I really wasn't a fan of anything that happened. The book was violent, struggled to be feminist, the art was dark and not very compelling...

This had so much potential to be great.The theme is interesting, and it’s definitely a theme with plenty of stories to tell. But this ain’t it, chief.

Some characters were fascinating, however, there were a lot of duds too. The same goes with the plot – there were some really gripping parts but most of it felt like fluff.

Oh, and the art… when it came to sceneries, it was stunning. Clothes? Beautiful. But the people… they looked weird. They made sense with the background and the overall look of the book, but something was off.

Rating: 3 stars – deeply unmemorable

As you may guess from the title, Daughters of Salem is about a small village in Salem. The people have been having strange encounters with an unknown Man in Black and the pastor has convinced them he is evil. Fueled with hatred, the villagers start attacking everything that is different, even their neighbors.

Firstly, I have to warn you that this graphic novel is very gruesome and graphic so, if you’re going to read it, keep that in mind.

The descent of a somewhat normal small community into anger and hatred was really well done. I had a sinking feeling as I read the graphic novel, which only intensified as the end neared.

The ending was very open. The book practically stops in the middle of the story so, it that bothers you, maybe skip it.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

When first approved for this book, I had difficulty downloading it to my device. I thought I wouldn't be able to read or review the book. Recently, I found a copy of the book and read it, so I can now provide a review.

I'm not a regular reader of graphic novels, but have read a few over this past year, in an effort to understand what the draw is. Some have great artwork, and I can see that potentially adding to the reading experience. But I have been interested in and read about the Salem Witch Trials since I was very young. (Blame the episode of Scooby Doo where they visit Salem - it peaked an interest.) I have read many different theories about the Trials, even a law class using actual documents to re-create the trials. Fiction, non-fiction - it's a bit of an obsession. This book, though, is awful. One of the worst commentaries and views I've ever read based on the Salem Witch Trials. In the forward the author compares himself to Arthur Miller - if this book becomes even 5% as popular for understanding as The Crucible is, it will be a very dark day in literature and American history. The dialog, the graphic details, the amount of sex and blood and violence is just awful. And I don't like to judge someone's art work - but the artwork is just bad.

The thought that THIS could be someone's first experience with the history of the Salem Witch Trials is horrible.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

When I was young I loved learning about the Salem witch trials. This GN is pretty good for a mature goth teen with an interest in that topic. However it's not for a young audience. It is terrifying. The artwork is pretty intense (read: violent). As it progressed it grew downright creepy and disturbing. Demonic images are interspersed between the panels. It captured the mass hysteria of the time.

Some readers will be disappointed by the misrepresentation of facts in this GN, but the book doesn't attempt to be an accurate historical account. It is historical fiction with an emphasis on the fiction. Readers should note the author's disclaimer that this is not historically accurate. Instead it uses historical events to explore issues of FEMICIDE and scapegoating. Therefore it is not a feminist piece of work. There is camaraderie in sisterhood, but there is not a traditional heroine.

Because it is only part one, I tentatively "liked" it. Part one was a little to dark for my taste, but I am still interested to see how the story is resolved (or not) in part two.

I received an e-arc from net galley a while ago and did read soon after getting the graphic novel. This story is still somewhat relevant to modern day issues judgement/controlling women's bodies, crazy religious fanatics and intense racism towards Native Americans. The art style is more realistic with pale muted colours and overall atmosphere is creepy/haunting. Just a warning there is some gore but not a large amount, both in regards to animals and humans. It also includes a bit of forbidden romance and is overall an intense graphic novel that kind of almost mirrors today society.

Definitely would appeal to students interested in Salem and witchcraft. The story-arc was well-paced and page-turning, but I worry about some of the artwork in terms of non-white representation

'The Daughters of Salem: How we sent our children to their deaths: Part 1' with art and script by Thomas Gilbert and translation by Montana Kane is a fictionalized take on the Salem Witch Trials.

A young girl in colonial Massachusets doesn't fit in. There is a young man from the Abenaki tribe that she makes friends with even though there is a language barrier. There is also a lot of misguided fear of him, and the girl has to sneak out to see him. Word gets around and tensions build as the men of the village go out and brutally murder a native. The natives retaliate in a night of fire and murder.

This was supposed to be an updated take on this story for today's troubled times. The author boldly compares his version to Arthur Miller. That is a misstep, as this book seems to be more about being voyeuristic and gory rather than trying to teach us anything. The art is crude and works ok for the story, but is not pleasant to view.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

A loose interpretation of the start of the Salem With Trials (and I mean quite loose, characters were added that are not based on history, and there are deaths of real figures that never happened this way) told mainly from the point of view of Abigail Hobbs. The book seeks to weave in a love story to the events between Abigail and a Native American man as the trigger for the trials in an effort to showcase that the jealousy and lust of the local men were a large factor in the horrors that followed. This volume never gets us to the actual trials themselves, but the build up is bolstered by genuinely terrifying artwork that just ups the creep factor by 100.

A spooky tale aided by the art, keeps you on your toes and thrilled as you’re reading. Evokes many of the stories we’ve heard of Salem and then introduces new relationships and experiences to remind you these girls have always been more rounded than static as characters. Jealousy and love abound. A terrific story that looks at the relationships between the girls, witches, surrounding tribes of native Americans, puritans, and how they may have interacted.

Blogger at Momotips

Thanks to Netgalley and Europe Comics for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. It has not influenced my opinions.

Since I was a teenager, I love everything that has to do with witches and magic. Over the years I have seen all the television series set in Salem, so why should I not read a preview of this graphic novel!!
The Daughters of Salem is a very pleasant graphic novel that brings us back to the town of Salem in the most ferocious period regarding the persecution of women identified as witches. The writer T. Gilbert had decided to write this comic book mainly with the intention of showing a society in crisis, but not only. The intent was to show a period of history in which feminicides were the order of the day, unfortunately like today.

At that time the reasons were different from those of today, but somehow, they can all be traced back to a single reason: women want to be themselves and live free from the judgments of a closed-minded society. Women always face life looking to the future, fighting with all their strength against a patriarchal society.
In this case the graphic novel is pure fantasy, but Gilbert deliberately took characters that really existed and some historical events to create a fantasy story around with the aim of showing the feminicides in Western society during the colonial time. Furthermore, Gilbert specified that he had created within the history some details defined by himself as more human as it could be a friendship, to break the harsh and terrifying story.

I decided to give four stars, because The Daughters of Salem it is not the usual story about witches but tells the difficult life of women during the colonial time. As we all know, stories about witches are legends handed down until today, but women at that time were persecuted because they behaved in ways that weren't appropriate for the society dictated by closed-minded men. I really enjoyed this first volume and wait to read the rest of the story.

While I know this is an fictional re-imagining of the events surrounding the Salem Witch Trials, some of the anachronisms just were too jarring for me.

This was quite an interesting read and the illustrations were beautiful. I cannot wait for the next installment.

A really good story but the artwork was subpar. This is a book that begs for a grander scale. You get to learn about the characters and their motivations and to care about them that exceeds what is normally felt in a graphic novel of this kind. Just wish the artwork had been better.

I loved The Crucible by Arthur Miller so when i saw this was a graphic novel focusing on Salem I was really excited to read it however, it didn't not meet expectation. I found the book to be quite boring and I was not a fan of the illustrations within.

I was looking around for new graphic novels to read and when The Daughters of Salem showed up, it immediately grabbed my attention. The Salem Witch Trials are a widely known part of history, taking place in Salem after women and girls were accused of witchcraft. I thought it was really interesting to see it in a graphic novel format, and not in a story or play format as I have seen already.

I guess I can say that I started this graphic novel rather blindly, assuming what it was; a count of the trials. However, I did not realize that this graphic novel is a completely fictionalized count of the trials instead. This version did not stop from continuing as I was mostly interesting in how this was going go.

All it really comes down to is just the word “interesting.” You can take it either way as you like. It was interesting enough to continue, but not interesting enough to make it good. It seemed that some of it was rather pointless and just did not go well with the story that was trying to be told. Some of it just did not make sense.

Other than the artwork and style, I do not think there was much going on here. As a far warning, there are some scenes that are rather graphic as some deaths do occur (and not in the way you would think).

Dark, terrifying, and sad.
A good read, with interesting art style and story telling, but also very graphic, and very hard to digest in one go. This is one of the only GN I read this year that I couldn't go through one sitting. But it was a very interesting read nonetheless.