Reviews

The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Tales by

moyarb's review

adventurous dark informative mysterious fast-paced

3.75

geekwayne's review

3.0

'The Night Marchers and Other Oceanian Stories' edited by by Kate Ashwin, Sloane Leong and Kel McDonald is a collection of 17 stories from all over Oceania, many done by creators from those places.

The stories seem to be primarily from Hawaii and the Philippines, but there is also a story from Fiji. There are myths and legends, magical animals and curses. There is even on futuristic story. I liked The Legend of the Coconut Tree by Yiling Changues with a sympathetic eel.

The stories range from creepy to not so creepy and would be a great collection for young readers or anyone who wants to learn more about stories from around the world. The art is a bit less finished looking in this collection, but it's still a good collection of stories.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Iron Circus Comics in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

heidibock's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

heathergudaz95's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

ahpotts's review

3.0

Anthology, so some were better than others. In general I wished that many of them had just a little more depth/ time to tell the story. My faves: Pele & Poliahi (Hawaii) and the Baltog story (Philippines).

theanxiousbookworm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

uosdwisrdewoh's review against another edition

4.0

A comics anthology of traditional and mythological tales from the Pacific, this book is a nice window into a side of those cultures that I was unfamiliar with. Like all anthologies, the story quality is variable, but none of them are outright bad. In spite of its broad Oceanic remit, the vast majority of these stories are from the Philippines and Hawaii, perhaps unsurprising given how many Americans and Filipinos there are making comics. This appears to be aimed at middle-grade readers, but nothing in it screams YA; it's perfectly appropriate for all but the youngest readers.

geezchloe's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

Lackluster. Out of the 17 stories, I only liked 4 (The tyrant has horns, Kapo’i and the owl, the legend of the coconut tree, and Pele and Poliahu). I grew up with the majority of these stories and from the description of the book, I was excited to have a creepy little romp through some of my favorite myths. That’s not what I got. The stories were either overly sentimental, ugly to look at, confusing and disjointed in their storytelling, or mix of all three. I’m going to give the creators the benefit of the doubt; maybe they are really competent storytellers but because it was a collaborative project they didn’t have enough space to flesh out their stories. I hoping that’s the case cause this was just disappointing. 

angelofmine1974's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

3.0

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/E-qcXsGxEPw

Enjoy!

ceraphimfalls's review

adventurous funny hopeful informative relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Maybe it's because I grew up with these stories, our found family a cavalcade of Oceanian culture, but I adored this volume of Cautionary Fables enough to declare it my favorite of the series. The Story of Benito and Nanuae the Sharkboy were beautifully told and drawn, as all these stories are, but these two especially. Tabi Po invaded my dreams and reminded me of how rude I've been lately, forgetting my manners when it comes to spirits. Even The Turtle and the Lizard, accompanied by the primer in the Baybayin language, offered its reader a celebration of story. But the eponymous The Night Marchers touched my heart and had silent tears crawling down my face. This is a fabulous collection.