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mackle13's review
4.0
3 1/2
Really liked the artwork for this one, and the stories. Big change of tone from the first story to the second. I find myself liking the ones with Gwen in them the best.
Really liked the artwork for this one, and the stories. Big change of tone from the first story to the second. I find myself liking the ones with Gwen in them the best.
williamsdebbied's review
3.0
Book four in the Nightmares and Fairy Tales series.
This book contains two short stories. One is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and the other is a horror story about a vengeful mermaid. Beautiful artwork, but not my favorite of the series.
This book contains two short stories. One is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and the other is a horror story about a vengeful mermaid. Beautiful artwork, but not my favorite of the series.
snowwhitehatesapples's review
2.0
Review can also be found here.
Rating: 1.5 stars
I know I shouldn’t start with the final book in a series, but Nightmares & Fairy Tales: Dancing with the Ghosts of Whales is the only volume I can find in local bookstores…Anyway, it’s the fourth and final volume to the Nightmares & Fairy Tales series written by Serena Valentino in which Annabelle, a cursed rag doll is the main character.
In contrast to my previous review of The Lost Boy, this graphic novel has incredibly messy art and alright typesetting. While I’ve been a long-time fan of Camilla d’Errico, I find her sketchy art style here distracting. It works at some points but honestly, would it have hurt to erase the unneeded base sketch lines? I’m taking a guess that this graphic novel was done traditionally (but never have I ever read such a messy traditionally-done one!) and maybe it was difficult to erase parts in case it ruins the art, but couldn’t someone on the team use Photoshop or some similar software to erase those unnecessary lines after scanning them or something? It only takes a few clicks from the mouse/swipes from the tablet pen for one panel.
Now, on the typesetting department. There’s no random bold words whatsoever in this book, font size is consistent and I like the usage of text warp for some of the SFXs but other than that? Not so much. The lack of breathing space inside some bubbles makes the text look squished. Though, it’s the lack of font variation that irks me the most. Really, the same font for normal dialogue and in-bubble shouting? The same font for crashes, bangs and outside-speech-bubble screams? There are thousands of fonts on the internet and the typesetter couldn’t pick a different, more suitable one? And, that’s not all. There’s something called “stroke” under “Layer Style” in Photoshop and it has its own purpose. Use it when there’s text on various-toned or coloured backgrounds because it separates the text and ensures that fair attention is given to it as well. Other than that, there are slight inconsistencies between character speech (again, use of contractions in one bubble and none in the other).
As for the plot, I rather like ‘Harmony’, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty set in the present day. The pace is nice and the story’s pretty interesting. However, it lacks a wow factor to it. ‘Song of the Siren’, however, gives off vibes of “I’m a rushed work!” Characterization isn’t done well, making the characters unrealistic and the plot slightly patchy. Annabelle is basically in the back burner for this one.
I might consider picking up the first few books in this series but with such a weak ending, I might not either.
Rating: 1.5 stars
I know I shouldn’t start with the final book in a series, but Nightmares & Fairy Tales: Dancing with the Ghosts of Whales is the only volume I can find in local bookstores…Anyway, it’s the fourth and final volume to the Nightmares & Fairy Tales series written by Serena Valentino in which Annabelle, a cursed rag doll is the main character.
In contrast to my previous review of The Lost Boy, this graphic novel has incredibly messy art and alright typesetting. While I’ve been a long-time fan of Camilla d’Errico, I find her sketchy art style here distracting. It works at some points but honestly, would it have hurt to erase the unneeded base sketch lines? I’m taking a guess that this graphic novel was done traditionally (but never have I ever read such a messy traditionally-done one!) and maybe it was difficult to erase parts in case it ruins the art, but couldn’t someone on the team use Photoshop or some similar software to erase those unnecessary lines after scanning them or something? It only takes a few clicks from the mouse/swipes from the tablet pen for one panel.
Now, on the typesetting department. There’s no random bold words whatsoever in this book, font size is consistent and I like the usage of text warp for some of the SFXs but other than that? Not so much. The lack of breathing space inside some bubbles makes the text look squished. Though, it’s the lack of font variation that irks me the most. Really, the same font for normal dialogue and in-bubble shouting? The same font for crashes, bangs and outside-speech-bubble screams? There are thousands of fonts on the internet and the typesetter couldn’t pick a different, more suitable one? And, that’s not all. There’s something called “stroke” under “Layer Style” in Photoshop and it has its own purpose. Use it when there’s text on various-toned or coloured backgrounds because it separates the text and ensures that fair attention is given to it as well. Other than that, there are slight inconsistencies between character speech (again, use of contractions in one bubble and none in the other).
As for the plot, I rather like ‘Harmony’, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty set in the present day. The pace is nice and the story’s pretty interesting. However, it lacks a wow factor to it. ‘Song of the Siren’, however, gives off vibes of “I’m a rushed work!” Characterization isn’t done well, making the characters unrealistic and the plot slightly patchy. Annabelle is basically in the back burner for this one.
I might consider picking up the first few books in this series but with such a weak ending, I might not either.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review
3.0
I love this series. This volumne has a nice twist on "Sleeping Beauty" as well as homage to Lovecraft (with a little Andersen thrown in). The black and white drawings match the artwork, and while it wasn't quite as good as the others in the series, it was still cool.
kellswitch's review
2.0
This book returns to the idea of retelling fairy tales and classic horror stories and like the second book the stories each felt a bit incomplete and rushed at the end, both would have benefited greatly with more fleshing out and details, this is probably more on me than anything but I didn't get the stories they were "based" on until it was pointed out to me by someone else. The second story especially I feel fails and a retelling of anything Lovecraftian.
I am seriously mixed on the art, the first one rather unpleasantly reminded me of the Big Eyed Child art trend from the 60's and seriously detracted from the story for me and while this wasn't the case for the second story I felt it was a bit to delicate and sketchy for the weight of the story it was trying to tell.
Better and more evocative than the second book, but weaker than the third.
I am seriously mixed on the art, the first one rather unpleasantly reminded me of the Big Eyed Child art trend from the 60's and seriously detracted from the story for me and while this wasn't the case for the second story I felt it was a bit to delicate and sketchy for the weight of the story it was trying to tell.
Better and more evocative than the second book, but weaker than the third.
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