George Orwell’s Animal Farm

Title: George Orwell's Animal Farm
Author: Christina Dumalasova, Katerina Horakova, Michael Purmensky
First Published: March 3, 2026
Publisher: Gemini Gift Books Limited
Pages: 112
Genre: Classics, Politics
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:


Synopsis:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless elite among them – masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball – starts to take control.

Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another. Orwell's chilling “fairy story” is a timeless and devastating satire of idealism betrayed by power and corruption.

This powerfully and beautifully drawn graphic novel adaptation is destined to become the classic illustrated edition of this celebrated work.

Get the Book: Amazon

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Review

Animal Farm is one of the great novels of the 20th century and one of the few classics I read as a teenager that capture my attention and admiration. I was initially excited to find a graphic novel adaptation but unfortunately ended up feeling lukewarm after reading it. The graphic novel sprints through the plot and important characters are barely given any time. The narrative is a bare bones version of the story that doesn’t flow well, much of the text is simplified to compress the work.

I don’t expect adaptations to be perfect, and while I can understand why this occurred given the format, I felt like I was reading a cliff notes version of the main events of the book rather than a proper adaptation. There are also several lines in the graphic novel that are not found in the original text, and instead were written to explain scenes or characters. These instances were very obvious, as there is a noticeable change in writing style that I clocked despite reading Orwell’s classic over a decade ago. As for the art itself, the star of the show for graphic novels, the art was okay but not my favorite style.

I digress, this version might be a decent way to get readers new to classics interested in the work. The simplified format will make it easier to approach, though it loses some of the nuance and characterization that made the original novella so memorable.

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