Surveying the Chaos
11.26.2006
Castle Waiting / Linda Medley / Fantagraphics Books / 2006
This is a good one if you like graphic novels. I love them, and I enjoyed this thoroughly.
At first, it seems as if it is just a re-working of old fairy tales. But then it gets really creative.
I loved the characters in Castle Waiting. Medley does a great job of making them... well, realistic, despite the obvious fairy tale setup. I also think the art is a plus. Some graphic novels have art so bad you'd think I drew them... in the womb.
If you knew me, you'd know that I'm almost never satisfied with the ending of books (this happens with movies, too.) This one bugs a bit because some of the places it leads you are never resolved. What happened to the princess? Whose green child is this, anyway? Etc. Unresolved issues are common in a lot in graphic novels, though, and I can only hope there is more to come that will resolve it. Perhaps the author already has, since this appears to be a compilation of work already done. Here's what the official website has to say about it:
"This long-awaited hardcover edition collects the beginning chapters of Linda Medley's original graphic novel series, including all the stories from THE CURSE OF BRAMBLY HEDGE through SOLICITINE. The series garnered considerable critical acclaim, a number of industry awards, and inclusion in the YALSA Recommended Reading List.
CASTLE WAITING tells the story of an isolated, abandoned castle, and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life. A fable for modern times, CASTLE WAITING is a fairy tale that's not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil--it's about being a hero in your own home."
So that doesn't tell poor ignorant me where she the series was previously published to garner the awards, nor where the series ended up after this. I'm pretty sure we can expect a Castle Waiting 2 compilation, though, so I'll just wait for it :)
-issa.
This is a good one if you like graphic novels. I love them, and I enjoyed this thoroughly.
At first, it seems as if it is just a re-working of old fairy tales. But then it gets really creative.
I loved the characters in Castle Waiting. Medley does a great job of making them... well, realistic, despite the obvious fairy tale setup. I also think the art is a plus. Some graphic novels have art so bad you'd think I drew them... in the womb.
If you knew me, you'd know that I'm almost never satisfied with the ending of books (this happens with movies, too.) This one bugs a bit because some of the places it leads you are never resolved. What happened to the princess? Whose green child is this, anyway? Etc. Unresolved issues are common in a lot in graphic novels, though, and I can only hope there is more to come that will resolve it. Perhaps the author already has, since this appears to be a compilation of work already done. Here's what the official website has to say about it:
"This long-awaited hardcover edition collects the beginning chapters of Linda Medley's original graphic novel series, including all the stories from THE CURSE OF BRAMBLY HEDGE through SOLICITINE. The series garnered considerable critical acclaim, a number of industry awards, and inclusion in the YALSA Recommended Reading List.
CASTLE WAITING tells the story of an isolated, abandoned castle, and the eccentric inhabitants who bring it back to life. A fable for modern times, CASTLE WAITING is a fairy tale that's not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil--it's about being a hero in your own home."
So that doesn't tell poor ignorant me where she the series was previously published to garner the awards, nor where the series ended up after this. I'm pretty sure we can expect a Castle Waiting 2 compilation, though, so I'll just wait for it :)
-issa.
Labels: review
¶ 16:18 1 Comments
11.19.2006
Canaan / Donald McCaig / W.W. Norton / Mar. 07
Book the first:
I read the Advance of Canaan. It took me a while to pick this one up, for a number of reasons. Reason 1 - the title. I thought this book was going to draw a lot of religious correlations. Reason 2 - the cover image. I know, I know... not supposed to judge a book by its cover... but who doesn't, really? The image is one of pioneers, indians, trains. Without picking it up to check out the back of it, I thought it was probably a history.
As it turns out, it is a historical novel - that is, fiction. I often like these because they do a good job of getting me interested in the actual history of a time period. Many of them try to be true to fact while using characters to show the impact of the times on the people living in them. My personal interest certainly lies more in that direction. One could certainly infer religious correlations, especially in the expansion to the west, but the author leaves it to you to do so (whew!)
Now, about the book. It opens using the perspective of a religious convert - an Indian named She Goes Before - who is about to watch her own father be hung for a crime he had not committed. The novel weaves in and out of her perspective, along with the perspectives of some freed slaves, of some soldiers (some of whom are also freed slaves), of a carpetbagger, and of a genteel southern family completely displaced by the economic (and lifestyle) changes of being on the losing side of the Civil War.
It is very good. I found it a little confusing to remember who was who among the large cast of characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It offers insight into the many differing forces of the era and the inevitable clash of interests therein. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the time period directly following the Civil War, or to someone interested in the clash between the so-called "Manifest Destiny" and Indians, and to anyone who just enjoys well-written characters. I found the situations these characters are put into, and their choices as they go along, to be genuine. My favorites are She Goes Before and her eventual husband, Ratcliffe / Plenty Cuts.
-issa
I read the Advance of Canaan. It took me a while to pick this one up, for a number of reasons. Reason 1 - the title. I thought this book was going to draw a lot of religious correlations. Reason 2 - the cover image. I know, I know... not supposed to judge a book by its cover... but who doesn't, really? The image is one of pioneers, indians, trains. Without picking it up to check out the back of it, I thought it was probably a history.
As it turns out, it is a historical novel - that is, fiction. I often like these because they do a good job of getting me interested in the actual history of a time period. Many of them try to be true to fact while using characters to show the impact of the times on the people living in them. My personal interest certainly lies more in that direction. One could certainly infer religious correlations, especially in the expansion to the west, but the author leaves it to you to do so (whew!)
Now, about the book. It opens using the perspective of a religious convert - an Indian named She Goes Before - who is about to watch her own father be hung for a crime he had not committed. The novel weaves in and out of her perspective, along with the perspectives of some freed slaves, of some soldiers (some of whom are also freed slaves), of a carpetbagger, and of a genteel southern family completely displaced by the economic (and lifestyle) changes of being on the losing side of the Civil War.
It is very good. I found it a little confusing to remember who was who among the large cast of characters, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It offers insight into the many differing forces of the era and the inevitable clash of interests therein. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the time period directly following the Civil War, or to someone interested in the clash between the so-called "Manifest Destiny" and Indians, and to anyone who just enjoys well-written characters. I found the situations these characters are put into, and their choices as they go along, to be genuine. My favorites are She Goes Before and her eventual husband, Ratcliffe / Plenty Cuts.
-issa
Labels: review
¶ 11:08 0 Comments
