Review Tuesday: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

I find that Neil Gaiman is hit or miss with me. For instance, I really enjoyed Stardust, but I loathed American Gods. I made it only about 100 pages in before I abandoned it. So, I was very happy that I enjoyed reading The Sleeper and the Spindle.

From Goodreads:

A thrillingly reimagined fairy tale from the truly magical combination of author Neil Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddell – weaving together a sort-of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty with a thread of dark magic, which will hold readers spellbound from start to finish.

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

Lavishly produced, packed with glorious Chris Riddell illustrations enhanced with metallic ink, this is a spectacular and magical gift.

Firstly, this book is a visual masterpiece. I loved the illustrations. They are beautiful, and I find that they add a lot to the story. They help tell the tale. I got creeped out looking at some of them, and I loved others – like the ones where you meet the dwarves. 

This book looks and feels, and is, a true fairy tale. And like all true fairy tales this one has a darkness to it. This is the original kind of fairy tale where sometimes the world is a cruel and terrible place simply because it can be. It’s what fairy tales were before Disney came along.

There is also an excellent twist to the tale that I very much enjoyed, and didn’t see coming. It’s nice when an old tale takes on new twists and turns. The twist was definitely what gave this book its emotional punch.

This is not a book for young children I don’t think. I’d say maybe grades 4-5, and obviously, any adult who wants to give it a go.

I really enjoyed this tale, and I would recommend it to anyone is in the mood for a good tale.

Review Tuesday: Fairest Vol 5: The Clamour for Glamour by Mark Buckingham

Fairest Vol 5: The Clamour for Glamour is the last Fairest graphic novel, and it takes place before the events of the last Fables volume. 

From Goodreads:

In this new epic, refugees from Fabletown have returned to New York’s Castle Dark, and Reynard, now able to shapeshift from fox to man, travels the mundane world to regale the animals with tales of his exploits, rubbing the other Fables’ noses in his good fortune. Frustration at their restriction to the Farm threatens to become a issue once more! Can the animals find a way out of their situation?

Long-time FABLES artist Mark Buckingham takes over writing duties in this concluding volume to the New York Times best-selling series FAIREST.

This volume of Fairest is all about the animals on the farm. There are two main storylines in this volume. There is Reynard and what he gets up to – he ends up in the Mundy world and on a rather large adventure. And then there are the events on the farm. Prince Charming during the election to become Mayor promised all of the animals on the farm glamours so that they could look human and get off the farm. Now, the farm animals are demanding that the promise be fulfilled even though Prince Charming is dead (or at least that’s what everyone thinks). With a bunch of politics thrown in 5 glamours are created, but one becomes stolen, and of course all hell starts to break loose.

All of these is of course set agains the backdrop of Fables where Bigby is loose on the Mundy world and not himself, and a war is beginning to brew against the sisters Snow White and Rose Red. When it rains, it pours as they say.

I enjoyed this volume of Fairest. It’s not an epic story, but I like seeing what was going on in the rest of the Fables world while the main storyline is elsewhere. If you’re into Fables this is a cute volume that you’ll enjoy.

Review Tuesday: Fables Vol. 22: Farewell by Bill Willingham

This is it. The FINALE Fables. I can’t believe it. I’ve been reading this series for years, and I’ve eagerly awaited each new volume as it’s come out, but this is the last one and when I finished it, I didn’t know what to do with myself. The best news about this finale volume is that I was not disappointed.

First, from Goodreads:

It’s the final trade paperback volume of FABLES! No, wait – it’s FABLES #150, the grand finale of the best-selling, award-winning comic book series! And it’s also an original graphic novel in the tradition of 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL! Yes, it’s all this and more! Join us for 150 – that’s, right, 150! – pages of new stories starring your favorite Fables, all from the mind of Bill Willingham. It all starts with an 80-page lead story illustrated by series regulars Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha, plus stories illustrated by Mark Schultz, Gene Ha, Neal Adams, Andrew Pepoy and many more!
Don’t miss the final bows for Boy Blue, Stinky, Lake and more in this once-in-a-lifetime issue that also features a foldout cover by Nimit Malavia that opens into a four-panel mural! It’s even got metallic ink!

Now before we go any further be aware that there will NOW BE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ SPOILERS.

This volume deals with the plot points of where the last volume left off – ie the approaching war between Snow White and Rose Red. The first third or half of the volume deals with this, the rest of the volume is “Last Stories” from favourite characters.

The main thing that I was very worried about for this last volume was Snow White and Bigby. They were in a very tough situation in the previous volume and since this was the last one, I was terribly worried that it wouldn’t end well for them. But it did. And I was slightly surprised. These are two of my favourite characters in the whole series and I wanted them to have a good ending.

My favourite thing about this volume actually, is the fold out spread of all of the Wolf family – 1000 years worth of future generations to be precise. It was beautiful.

The only thing that I didn’t like about this volume was how Dare was left. His “Last Story” broke my heart, though his whole story line breaks my heart. I really just want to give him a hug and tell him everything and everyone is okay, and that he did it.

Cinderella’s storyline also didn’t end as I wanted it to, but at the same time it ended as I would assume she would have wanted it to end – with her kicking ass.

There are many different things that I could go on about that I love in this volume, but it’s late, and I could be here forever, so I’ll just talk about the series as a whole for a minute.

This is a fantastic and phenomenal series. It is my favourite graphic novel series, and it is something that I will and am recommending to everyone. So yes, that includes you. Check it out, you will not be disappointed. There are fairy tales walking around, sibling rivalries, revenge plots, unexpected true love, happily ever afters, and just completed talented and smart writing, along with beautiful images. So please go read this series. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

Review Tuesday: Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After

I can’t believe it, but somehow the fact that the new Fables volume came out on May 12th escaped my attention. As soon as I realized it was out however, I called the bookstore closest to my house, and Matthew (who answered the phone) was lovely enough to find a copy for me, and put it on hold.

This is the second last Fables that there ever will be, and when I think about that I get very sad. This is a fantastic series. I was hooked right from the beginning and waited eagerly for each volume to release. If you’ve never read it before I highly recommend it.

From Goodreads:

In this penultimate volume of Bill Willingham’s FABLES, the residents of Fabletown look to live “happily ever after,” but there is a steep price to pay for happiness as Rose Red clashes with Snow White! Collects issues #141-149 of this Eisner-Award-winning series

In this volume we learn about the history Rose Red and Snow White’s family, and why these two are seemingly destined to always be competitive with each other. We also learn more about what’s been happening to Bigby (really not happy about that). Also incredibly sad about Beast. He’s one of my favourites.

The book is a good stepping stone to the last volume, and to what assumably will be the last epic battle between Snow White and Rose Red. Everything comes full circle it seems, as the first Fables volume started off with some trouble between those two sisters.

I’m definitely on team Snow White. Her storyline (hers, Bigby and their cubs storyline) is the main one I care about, and I NEED them all to be (well all that is left of them at this point) to be okay.

There are a couple of subplots in this volume that are sure to interweave with the sister’s storyline in the last volume, and it’ll be interesting to see how everything gets tied together.

The last Fables volume come out in July. Plenty of time for you all to catch up with the series if you haven’t started it yet. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Heartbroken in some instances, but not disappointed.