Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
Zero stars. What an inane and unnecessary interruption to the story. I can't believe I actually read all of it and expected it to matter in any way.
This volume covers the crossover with the Jack of Fables series (also written by [a:Bill Willingham|12444|Bill Willingham|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347423972p2/12444.jpg]) and a three part series on the "literals", another set of characters created by the same author. It does have it's moments but this volume unfortunately exemplifies all that went wrong with Fables after hitting issue #75.
Till that point in the story, everything was part of a well established, well thought out and well written overall story - the struggle to defeat the "adversary". After the defeat of the adversary and the aftermath, and despite the introduction of a new villain, the story lines splintered into several sub-plots of varying quality and plenty of outright filler. As a result, the lack of focus and haphazard plot lines that plague this volume carry on till Fables concludes (with issue #150). The magic of Fables was, unfortunately, gone.
Till that point in the story, everything was part of a well established, well thought out and well written overall story - the struggle to defeat the "adversary". After the defeat of the adversary and the aftermath, and despite the introduction of a new villain, the story lines splintered into several sub-plots of varying quality and plenty of outright filler. As a result, the lack of focus and haphazard plot lines that plague this volume carry on till Fables concludes (with issue #150). The magic of Fables was, unfortunately, gone.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Finally after 2 years since I last read volume 12, I've finally read this volume, it's a good starting off point after the 12 volume long arsed arc.
Even though it's a crossover volume containing the Fables flagship title and Jack of Fables, it also has another spinoff called Literals. The storytelling here is actually good, and makes me wanna move on and wanting to find out what happened to some of the characters from the previous story line. Also the character Jack Horner is so well written, I loathe him and not want him in the book.
I believe after Hellblazer ended this year, Fables is the flagship title for Vertigo.
Even though it's a crossover volume containing the Fables flagship title and Jack of Fables, it also has another spinoff called Literals. The storytelling here is actually good, and makes me wanna move on and wanting to find out what happened to some of the characters from the previous story line. Also the character Jack Horner is so well written, I loathe him and not want him in the book.
I believe after Hellblazer ended this year, Fables is the flagship title for Vertigo.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This wasn't one of my favorite Fables, mostly because Jack is such a big part of it and I've never liked Jack, which also means I've never read the Jack spin-off, which made it feel a little like playing catch-up since the main villians in this story are from that book and not from Fables. But they did a fairly good job at recapping everything, so it's not like we were left completely in the dark. That said, I didn't find the Literals all that interesting, and Mr. Dark, our Fables villian of the arc, was left barely mentioned and used as a minor plot device.
**minor spoiler-ish-ness**
That said, I liked the bits with the Genres, the tongue-in-cheek and good-natured mocking of the various genres, especially "the twins", Sci-Fi and Fantasy. And the part where Bigby rips them apart is, alone, worth the cost of admission, as it were. Had me laughing for minutes.
**end**
So while not my favorite, still an enjoyable addition.
**minor spoiler-ish-ness**
That said, I liked the bits with the Genres, the tongue-in-cheek and good-natured mocking of the various genres, especially "the twins", Sci-Fi and Fantasy. And the part where Bigby rips them apart is, alone, worth the cost of admission, as it were. Had me laughing for minutes.
**end**
So while not my favorite, still an enjoyable addition.
I feel like this volume was a reset, or a break in the momentum of the story in many ways. It seemed to be more about Jack Horner than what was really happening in Fabletown. We have that new evil presence that has taken up residence in NYC and no one knows much about him and nothing was done with him.
Rose Red is very depressed and she was punishing herself by sleeping with Jack Horner. I thought that was pretty amazing storytelling. I have heard people say they do just that too.
The series has been so strong that I guess they had to drop the bar a little so they can build it back up. I really hope the next volume can take the story off.
The best part of this story was seeing Bigby when he was turned into a murderous little girl in a frilly dress. That was a great twist.
I just can’t read these fast enough. I am looking forward to Vol. 14 and it probably won’t be that long until I read it.
Rose Red is very depressed and she was punishing herself by sleeping with Jack Horner. I thought that was pretty amazing storytelling. I have heard people say they do just that too.
The series has been so strong that I guess they had to drop the bar a little so they can build it back up. I really hope the next volume can take the story off.
The best part of this story was seeing Bigby when he was turned into a murderous little girl in a frilly dress. That was a great twist.
I just can’t read these fast enough. I am looking forward to Vol. 14 and it probably won’t be that long until I read it.
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1745874.html
The 'crossover' of the title is between the Fables of the series (Snow White, Jack Horner, Bigby Wolf) and a new group of characters, the Literals, led by the powerful Kevin Thorne who can alter the world simply by writing it. The story was originally published as part of three different lines (Fables, Jack of Fables and The Literals) so this is one case where compiling the narrative within a single set of covers is definitely helpful to the reader. There are some good characters and some neat character moments, and I hope we will see more of the Page sisters in future volumes. But the core concept of a character whose power is so immense that he can destroy everything else is actually quite difficult to make interesting, and I kept thinking that Doctor Who did this better in The Mind Robber back in 1969.
The 'crossover' of the title is between the Fables of the series (Snow White, Jack Horner, Bigby Wolf) and a new group of characters, the Literals, led by the powerful Kevin Thorne who can alter the world simply by writing it. The story was originally published as part of three different lines (Fables, Jack of Fables and The Literals) so this is one case where compiling the narrative within a single set of covers is definitely helpful to the reader. There are some good characters and some neat character moments, and I hope we will see more of the Page sisters in future volumes. But the core concept of a character whose power is so immense that he can destroy everything else is actually quite difficult to make interesting, and I kept thinking that Doctor Who did this better in The Mind Robber back in 1969.
The run-up to this trade was enjoyable enough, but the crossover element, the way it call came together...I don't know. It left a lot to be desired for me on a whole, and I ultimately felt more frustrated in the end than anything else.
Still going to keep going with both series, of course, but this wasn't a step forward for me.
Still going to keep going with both series, of course, but this wasn't a step forward for me.
After reading the thirteenth volume in the award winning Fables series, I’m still not that bothered that I haven’t got around to reading the spin-off Jack of Fables series yet, as I still don’t like the guy.
In this new collection, Jack is back and as usual he’s got a problem that he needs someone to help him fix, or more like he needs someone to fix it for him. Except this problem could unravel the world and reality in the blink of an eye. New characters like Sam, Gary the Pathetic Fallacy, and the Page Sisters are introduced, as Willingham plays around with writing and stories.
Kevin Thorne is someone with a lot of power: with his quill he can rewrite history and the world to be whatever he wants it to be, except he doesn’t know what to write. A destroyed, insensible from of himself is always close by – writer’s block: his greatest fear. Whatever he writes comes true, whether it changes something into something else, or adds something completely new. Bigby finds this out the hard way, as he finds himself getting turned into a number of different forms. The question is whether the Fables will be able to get to Kevin Thorne and stop him before the world is completely changed.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
In this new collection, Jack is back and as usual he’s got a problem that he needs someone to help him fix, or more like he needs someone to fix it for him. Except this problem could unravel the world and reality in the blink of an eye. New characters like Sam, Gary the Pathetic Fallacy, and the Page Sisters are introduced, as Willingham plays around with writing and stories.
Kevin Thorne is someone with a lot of power: with his quill he can rewrite history and the world to be whatever he wants it to be, except he doesn’t know what to write. A destroyed, insensible from of himself is always close by – writer’s block: his greatest fear. Whatever he writes comes true, whether it changes something into something else, or adds something completely new. Bigby finds this out the hard way, as he finds himself getting turned into a number of different forms. The question is whether the Fables will be able to get to Kevin Thorne and stop him before the world is completely changed.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.