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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
I didn't think it possible but this series just keeps getting better.
In this volume we follow Prince Ambrose whose memory has been restored (no spoilers here as to who Prince Ambrose was) and his creation of Haven. Haven is a new kingdom not allied with Fabletown or the Homelands, more of an alternative choice to those kingdom's.
All of our favorite characters are in this tale (Bigby, Boy Blue, Red Riding Hood etc. etc.) but this story really is the tale of Prince Ambrose even though there is still the big buildup before the war between Fabletown and the Homelands (which I'm assuming takes place in the next volume of Fables).
Everything was close to perfect - storytelling, art, pacing, characters.
As is usual this series and particularly this volume gets my highest possible recommendation.
In this volume we follow Prince Ambrose whose memory has been restored (no spoilers here as to who Prince Ambrose was) and his creation of Haven. Haven is a new kingdom not allied with Fabletown or the Homelands, more of an alternative choice to those kingdom's.
All of our favorite characters are in this tale (Bigby, Boy Blue, Red Riding Hood etc. etc.) but this story really is the tale of Prince Ambrose even though there is still the big buildup before the war between Fabletown and the Homelands (which I'm assuming takes place in the next volume of Fables).
Everything was close to perfect - storytelling, art, pacing, characters.
As is usual this series and particularly this volume gets my highest possible recommendation.
The world of Fables continues to be exhilarating and engaging. This volume in particular floated my boat because I am a total sucker for nice guys stepping up and embracing difficult destinies and the Good Prince of the title does exactly that. War approaches...
Aaah what an amazing volume! This one really reads like a fairy tale.
adventurous
medium-paced
This is perhaps one of my favorite Fables novels thus far. It is almost entirely focused on the character of Flycatcher, who, in his newfound persona of Prince Ambrose, is a completely loveable character. How can you not like the guy? I wanted to the story to end well for Ambrose, so I flew through the book to read what happened. I can't wait to read the next one.
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3 stars. Stars lost for the cub's story, the fact that I didn't feel a lot of the struggle in the Good Prince, and screwing up my timeline.
This one has two stories, The Good Prince and a short about a milestone in the cub's lives.
First of all, when are we? When I was reading volume 6, it's said that Jack's movie story arc took place over the course of five years, so I assumed it was five years. It makes sense that Blue's Homeland arc would take a few years since he slaughtered his way through the Empire. Also, why have the timelines do that? Then this volume references Beast going to meet with Jack and the cubs turned five. My timeline is so off right now.
Let's continue with the cons. The cub's birthday. This arc manages to really underline everything that is wrong with the Snow and Bigby family subplot. Ghost and Ambrose are the only ones who have personality that ventures outside of bold mischief makers, and half the time Ambrose is interchangeable with the other cubs. So, the two characters who were built to be leads are stuck in their valley which reminds me so much of the little cottage in Breaking Dawn. The Wolf family issues are only tangentially related to the rest of the plot (I say tangentially because Snow did get Bigby to talk to Mr. North and use zephyrs as spies by letting the kids visit grandpa). Unlike Ambrose's arc in this volume and Rose Red's takeover of the Farmlands, this location change didn't really bring something to Snow and Bigby's arc other than tack on the stressed parents of minor drama role.
The cubs are introduced to Ghost, and they accept their secret brother, although a conversation between Rose Red and Boy Blue suggest that this will soon be the worst kept secret on the Farm. Good thing there's going to be a war to keep the adults busy. Also one comment made by Ghost made me really concerned about Snow and Bigby's parenting. The poor little kid hides in people's lungs whenever his grandfather is around because Mr. North hates zephyrs. Granted it, based on the way his elder sons live, he hates six of his kids too. Maybe it's not entirely Bigby's fault he's a bad parent when he has Mr. North as an example.
The art style for this story is ridiculously cartoony compared to what is used in the rest of the series, with thicker lines, larger eyes, brighter colors, and uniquely shaped hair, which gives Snow what looked like a large amount of cowlicks in an attempt to give her hair texture. Rose, Blue, and the Fabletown army troops look like teenagers in this style. At the same time though, the style does result in a great panel where Rose and Blue stare at each other in horror when they accidentally drift to the topic of marriage, right in front of gift wrapped in smiley face wrapper. That was delightful. Although, I would rather the art style stayed consistent.
Now to the meat of the thing, The Good Prince. Ambrose/Flycatcher is in mourning for his wife and children and wants to avenge them. He talks to Boy Blue, who points out that Ambrose is the one genuinely good person in Fabletown with nothing to hide, so Boy Blue wants to protect the innocence of another adult man. Meanwhile, the Forsworn Knight's armor breaks, and it's magical and haunted by the ghost of Lancelot. Because Ambrose is pure of heart, he gets to wear the MacGuffin armor. The armor is ridiculously magical. It nullifies all other magic, except for that of the enchanted grove, allows Ambrose to travel through the Witching Well and give the ghosts there a chance to live again, gives Ambrose guiding visions, it also allows Ambrose to create an Enchanted Grove out of wooden soldiers, and since only one is allowed throughout the multiverse, Gepetto loses the remains of his forest
Ambrose's idealism is nice, and I'm glad it succeeded, but I feel like it was too easy. We never see him try to sort out the visions he receives or show the visions so the readers have more than "listen to Ambrose." In the Witching Well, the hunger issue is told about then solved. Villains in the Witching Well are easily dealt with. On top of that, there are hints that Haven was part of Frau Totenkinder’s mysterious plans, she states that Ambrose dying “would spoil too many of my plans.” It’s still not entirely clear what the limits are on the Black Forest witch’s power. Also, I would have liked to see the ghosts explored more. Especially Gretel, her backstory is interesting and sad, however, Ambrose doesn't want Haven to take part in the coming war, so we probably won't see what the people of Haven are up to for a while, if at all.
In the background, Fabletown is preparing to war, and it's going well. They're taking all of the logical steps to coordinate an attack with the Arabian Fables. In addition, it's revealed that Frau Totenkinder has more resources than she previously told the others. Along with that is a story of how Frau began her escape from the Adversary There’s also another development in the rebellion of Gepetto’s sons. The Emperor himself finds his father to be too much of a violent dictator. This may lead to some interesting developments, possibly changing Frau’s interpretation of who the players are.
The Good Prince arc uses the art that’s more typical of Fables. Great paneling that often includes side panels to show symbols of major players on that page. Character designs are often great in the series, but this has some lovely ones. What I really love are the designs of the armors and surcoats. Ambrose’s armor features a great use of bright colors, and the designs on Lancelot and Arthur’s surcoats are nice too. There is also a great use of muddier colors on the Witching Well and Lancelot’s backstory panels.
This one has two stories, The Good Prince and a short about a milestone in the cub's lives.
First of all, when are we? When I was reading volume 6, it's said that Jack's movie story arc took place over the course of five years, so I assumed it was five years. It makes sense that Blue's Homeland arc would take a few years since he slaughtered his way through the Empire. Also, why have the timelines do that? Then this volume references Beast going to meet with Jack and the cubs turned five. My timeline is so off right now.
Let's continue with the cons. The cub's birthday. This arc manages to really underline everything that is wrong with the Snow and Bigby family subplot. Ghost and Ambrose are the only ones who have personality that ventures outside of bold mischief makers, and half the time Ambrose is interchangeable with the other cubs. So, the two characters who were built to be leads are stuck in their valley which reminds me so much of the little cottage in Breaking Dawn. The Wolf family issues are only tangentially related to the rest of the plot (I say tangentially because Snow did get Bigby to talk to Mr. North and use zephyrs as spies by letting the kids visit grandpa). Unlike Ambrose's arc in this volume and Rose Red's takeover of the Farmlands, this location change didn't really bring something to Snow and Bigby's arc other than tack on the stressed parents of minor drama role.
The cubs are introduced to Ghost, and they accept their secret brother, although a conversation between Rose Red and Boy Blue suggest that this will soon be the worst kept secret on the Farm. Good thing there's going to be a war to keep the adults busy. Also one comment made by Ghost made me really concerned about Snow and Bigby's parenting. The poor little kid hides in people's lungs whenever his grandfather is around because Mr. North hates zephyrs. Granted it, based on the way his elder sons live, he hates six of his kids too. Maybe it's not entirely Bigby's fault he's a bad parent when he has Mr. North as an example.
The art style for this story is ridiculously cartoony compared to what is used in the rest of the series, with thicker lines, larger eyes, brighter colors, and uniquely shaped hair, which gives Snow what looked like a large amount of cowlicks in an attempt to give her hair texture. Rose, Blue, and the Fabletown army troops look like teenagers in this style. At the same time though, the style does result in a great panel where Rose and Blue stare at each other in horror when they accidentally drift to the topic of marriage, right in front of gift wrapped in smiley face wrapper. That was delightful. Although, I would rather the art style stayed consistent.
Now to the meat of the thing, The Good Prince. Ambrose/Flycatcher is in mourning for his wife and children and wants to avenge them. He talks to Boy Blue, who points out that Ambrose is the one genuinely good person in Fabletown with nothing to hide, so Boy Blue wants to protect the innocence of another adult man. Meanwhile, the Forsworn Knight's armor breaks, and it's magical and haunted by the ghost of Lancelot. Because Ambrose is pure of heart, he gets to wear the MacGuffin armor. The armor is ridiculously magical. It nullifies all other magic, except for that of the enchanted grove, allows Ambrose to travel through the Witching Well and give the ghosts there a chance to live again, gives Ambrose guiding visions, it also allows Ambrose to create an Enchanted Grove out of wooden soldiers, and since only one is allowed throughout the multiverse, Gepetto loses the remains of his forest
Ambrose's idealism is nice, and I'm glad it succeeded, but I feel like it was too easy. We never see him try to sort out the visions he receives or show the visions so the readers have more than "listen to Ambrose." In the Witching Well, the hunger issue is told about then solved. Villains in the Witching Well are easily dealt with. On top of that, there are hints that Haven was part of Frau Totenkinder’s mysterious plans, she states that Ambrose dying “would spoil too many of my plans.” It’s still not entirely clear what the limits are on the Black Forest witch’s power. Also, I would have liked to see the ghosts explored more. Especially Gretel, her backstory is interesting and sad, however, Ambrose doesn't want Haven to take part in the coming war, so we probably won't see what the people of Haven are up to for a while, if at all.
In the background, Fabletown is preparing to war, and it's going well. They're taking all of the logical steps to coordinate an attack with the Arabian Fables. In addition, it's revealed that Frau Totenkinder has more resources than she previously told the others. Along with that is a story of how Frau began her escape from the Adversary
Spoiler
and her decision to treat all of Snow and Rose’s enemies as her own.The Good Prince arc uses the art that’s more typical of Fables. Great paneling that often includes side panels to show symbols of major players on that page. Character designs are often great in the series, but this has some lovely ones. What I really love are the designs of the armors and surcoats. Ambrose’s armor features a great use of bright colors, and the designs on Lancelot and Arthur’s surcoats are nice too. There is also a great use of muddier colors on the Witching Well and Lancelot’s backstory panels.
