It's too bad it took me several months to get to this, because it's definitely going to go big with my readers and I will need to buy it immediately!
In the elaborate world of the fae, a party is in progress. The queen has knighted her childe, a changeling stolen from the human realm. Then disaster strikes, a traitor attacks, and the childe flees with his companion, a wax golem. In the upper world, he discovers the changeling who has taken his place. Edmund desperately wants to keep the family he considers his, but his strange powers are making it increasingly difficult. Reluctantly forced to work together, they must go on a dangerous quest with their human sister Alexis to save both themselves and their worlds from the sorceress Hawthorne. But which worlds do they belong to? The cruel world of the fae which rejected them both, throwing away Edmund and treating the Childe as a plaything, or the human world where both are uncomfortable and unfamiliar?
Aldridge's art is intricate and fantastical and will remind older readers of Jim Henson (apparently - I wasn't a Henson fan in my youth but I know others who were). I was quickly put in mind of The city on the other side, although that's a very different plot. It has a hand-drawn quality, with lots of blues and greens, and the underworld especially has lots of elaborate details and elements in the background. All of the human (or human-appearing) characters present as white.
Verdict: This is solid, familiar fantasy fare that graphic novel readers will devour and wait eagerly for the next installment. There's a nice underlying thread about family and Alexis is a strong female character who sticks up for her brothers no matter what, indifferent to her "weak" human abilities. Sure to fly off your shelves, a satisfying read.
ISBN: 9780062653871; Published August 2018 by HarperCollins; Borrowed from another library in my consortium
In the elaborate world of the fae, a party is in progress. The queen has knighted her childe, a changeling stolen from the human realm. Then disaster strikes, a traitor attacks, and the childe flees with his companion, a wax golem. In the upper world, he discovers the changeling who has taken his place. Edmund desperately wants to keep the family he considers his, but his strange powers are making it increasingly difficult. Reluctantly forced to work together, they must go on a dangerous quest with their human sister Alexis to save both themselves and their worlds from the sorceress Hawthorne. But which worlds do they belong to? The cruel world of the fae which rejected them both, throwing away Edmund and treating the Childe as a plaything, or the human world where both are uncomfortable and unfamiliar?Aldridge's art is intricate and fantastical and will remind older readers of Jim Henson (apparently - I wasn't a Henson fan in my youth but I know others who were). I was quickly put in mind of The city on the other side, although that's a very different plot. It has a hand-drawn quality, with lots of blues and greens, and the underworld especially has lots of elaborate details and elements in the background. All of the human (or human-appearing) characters present as white.
Verdict: This is solid, familiar fantasy fare that graphic novel readers will devour and wait eagerly for the next installment. There's a nice underlying thread about family and Alexis is a strong female character who sticks up for her brothers no matter what, indifferent to her "weak" human abilities. Sure to fly off your shelves, a satisfying read.
ISBN: 9780062653871; Published August 2018 by HarperCollins; Borrowed from another library in my consortium
1 comment:
Thanks, Jennifer! I ordered this for my daughter for the summer.
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