Labored in spots but a promising kickoff carried by atmospheric art and a large, furry cast.
Brutal foxes bid to take over a power plant run by meek rabbits in this elaborately envisioned animal fantasy.
In the isolated land of Lavender, magical “cha” refined from carrots not only provides energy, but infuses art objects called “thokchas” with mystical power; it also, at least for the predatory foxes, acts as a hallucinogenic drug. In an effort to enslave the “cottons” that run the cha factory, sly silver fox Sylvan bargains with dark forces to draw the terrifying Broken Feather King down from the celestial Empyrean realm. Meanwhile Bridgebelle, an orphaned cotton who yearns to be an artist, and her increasingly close friend Glee discover that they have a key and a clue that may temporarily derail the vulpine villain’s plots. Pascoe expends little effort fleshing out his characters or their daily lives but positively lavishes attention on catastrophic backstories and on the rites and beliefs of the rabbits’ mystical religion. In shadowy panels (some gory, others awash in murky swirls of evil) punctuated by dazzling bursts of magical lightning, Arnhold depicts mostly realistic animals that are unclothed and, despite some distinguishing features, hard to tell apart. Monochrome pages of explication at the end fill in some gaps; future episodes may fill in more—along with kick-starting a plot that barely gets underway amid all the setup.
Labored in spots but a promising kickoff carried by atmospheric art and a large, furry cast. (map, guide to world and characters) (Graphic animal fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: July 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-15744-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick...
Stonekeeper Emily frees the elves from their monstrous masked ruler and sets out to rejoin her brother and mother in the series’ penultimate episode.
The multistranded storyline picks up with Emily’s return to the world of Alledia. Now a fiery, destructive phoenix struggling to regain control of her actions, Emily goes on to follow her brother Navin and allies as they battle invading shadows on the nearby world of Typhon, then switches back to human form for a climactic confrontation with the Elf King—in the course of which Emily rips off his mask to a chorus of “ERGH!! NO!!! GRAH! RRGH!! AAAGH!” to expose a rousingly hideous face. Cute animal heads on many figures (the result of a curse) and a scene with benevolent-looking trees provide at least a bit of relief from the grim expressions that all the human and humanoid elven characters almost invariably wear. But along with emphatic sound effects, the battle and action scenes in the cleanly drawn, if sometimes cramped, panels feature huge blasts of fire or energy, intricately detailed giant robots, weirdly eyeless monsters, and wild escapades aplenty to keep the pace’s pedal to the metal. Aliens and AIs in the cast come in a variety of hues, elves are a uniform gray, and except for a brief encounter between Emily and a slightly darker lad, the (uncursed) humans default to white.
Kibuishi gives his epic tale a hefty nudge toward its long-building climax while giving readers plenty of reasons to stick around for it. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-85002-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Personal but personable, too, with glints of quiet humor.
In a wryly introspective vein, a cartoonist offers a four-season round of illustrated observations on topics as varied as clouds, school, and the search for a perfect pumpkin.
“I want to put down / on paper the feeling / of fresh possibilities,” Snider writes in his “Spring” section. With reflections on the tricky art of writing poems serving as a thematic refrain, he goes on in a seasonal cycle to explorations of nature (“How do the birds / decide where / to alight?”), indoor activities (“In wool socks on thick carpet / I am MR. ELECTRIC”), and common experiences, from loading up a gigantic backpack with new books for the first day of school to waiting…and waiting…and waiting for a bus in the rain. He also invites readers to consider broad ideas, such as the rewards of practicing and the notion that failure can lead to the realization that “I’m still a work in progress.” Snider writes mostly in free verse but does break into rhyme now and then for the odd sonic grace note. Though he identifies only one entry as an actual haiku, his tersely expressed thoughts evoke that form throughout. His art is commensurately spare, with depictions of slender, dot-eyed, olive-skinned figures, generally solitary and of indeterminate age, posing balletically in, mostly, squared-off sequential panels making up mini-narratives of one to three pages.
Personal but personable, too, with glints of quiet humor. (Graphic poetry. 10-13)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9781797219653
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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