Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
quick aside: Dang does my current default icon look good against the Halloween-type bar LJ just put at the top.
Anyway...
I managed to break this down into 5 sessions over 2 days...considering the extremely high level of anticipation I had for this book, that's a lot of self control.
For those who read my LJ who aren't familiar with "Fables," it's a comic book series about fairy tales. But not the disney kind...these are the story Anderson and the Grimms cleaned up for their books. In essence, all the fairy tales in the world happened. Not always the way we know them, but they happened, across hundreds of worlds over hundreds of years. If the characters were adults when their story happened, they stayed that age. If they were children, they aged to a comfy 20-30-something and stayed there. Unless, of course, their story involved a certain blue fairy casting a spell to make them a "real boy," in which case they spent centuries pre-puberty and sullen about eternal childhood.
At some point, a powerful foe, whom they call "The Adversary," started taking over the various worlds and countries...small ones, at first, but he grew increasingly more and more greedy, and by the time they knew what a threat he was, it was too late. Those who managed to escape eventually made their way to a world the adversary didn't know about, one with no magic save that which they brought with them, our world, which they called "Mundy." When they were sure no one else was coming through, they shut off all the gates and hoped the adversary never found their way to Mundy.
Along the way, they set up their own government in what was then New Amsterdam, though eventually, all the non-human fables had to go to a compound in upper New York called "The Farm," because talking animals running around didn't fit with the chief Fabletown law...don't let mundies know about us." As the series begins, King Cole is the Mayor, Snow White is the assistant mayor, the Big Bad Wolf is the Sheriff, Prince Charming has slept his way through Europe and is returning to Fabletown to try to bum money off his ex-wives, the Frog prince is the Janitor, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears are staging a rebellion at The Farm. Things have changed since then.
"1001 Nights of Snowfall" takes place in the earlier days of Fabletown, when Snow White is assistant to the then-assistant mayor, and is sent on a diplomatic mission to the Arabian fables, where she ends up in the clutches of a certain sultan...
A Most Troublesome Woman: This is the framing story, and features the best Charles Vess art I’ve seen outside of Book of Ballads…though I’d need to look at them side-by-side to make a proper judgement (as much as I love "Rose," Vess’s strength is illustrated prose, as opposed as sequential. At least, unlike some others, he recognizes that) Mind you, I haven’t read "Stardust" yet, so I might end up changing my mind. The story is fairly simple and straightforward…it’s earlier days in Fabletown, and Snow is still working for Scuzbucket Crane and is sent to the Arabian Fables to help forge an alliance, where she ends up playing Scheharizade, recounting the various fables’ stories. I absolutely adored the writing style, which reminded me a lot of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody books, which I adore.
The Fencing Lessons: This one is about the early days of Snow White and Prince Charming’s marriage, what happened to the Seven Dwarves, and why the guy with a Knight in Shining Armor complex would teach his wife the skills to keep her from needing a Knight in Shining Armor, and why she wanted to know in the first place. A very interesting story, and one that makes you question just WHY their marriage failed. After all, while there’s no excusing cheating on your wife with her twin sister, I have to wonder if that ever would have happened if it weren’t for Snow’s actions her. While no one, including Charming, would argue about there being just cause for her actions, she used and deceived him, and deliberately set out on a course that started to lead to war and continued on that course when war became imminent, and then let him clean up her mess and cover for her. Not only that, but she showed no regrets, and didn’t seem to particularly care that he was the only reason she was able to do it, and got away with it. While I’d never defend or excuse what he did to her later, I have to wonder if it would have happened if she hadn’t effectively killed her faith in her, and possibly her ability to trust at all.
The Christmas Pies: A charming, if somewhat standard trickster tale, with the twist being that the trickster is causing mischief for the greater good. It’s basically about how the citizens of the animal kingdom escaped, and why Reynard is able to pull his pranks without getting himself killed.
A Frog's-Eye View: This one’s about what really happened to Fly’s family, and why he doesn’t know. It’s illustrated by James Jean and is beautiful(of course) with all the colors being variations of muted greens. It went from incredibly charming and adorable to horrendously tragic in the same panel. I think we all pretty much knew the fate of his wife and children, but the particulars make his possibly the most tragic of all the fables’ stories.
The Runt: This is the one Willingham said we couldn’t know the title to because it was a spoiler. Which is pretty much true. It’s basically about Bigby’s childhood, and just how bad he was. It’s mostly setup from the North Wind/Bigby arc that Willingham has been waiting for publication of this to write. As I’m rather fond of North, I approve. Also, the number seven plays far too prominent a role in Bigby’s life, and makes me fret for Ghost(I’m not sure, but I think Ghost may be the seventh significant seven in Bigby’s life) Incidentally, this has the one complaint I have about this book, and that’s that Bigby looks more like a wet dog than a wolf for a fair bit of it.
A Mother's Love: A nice bit of fluff to give us a break from the woe and angst and bloodshed. Basically about a rabbit commander who successfully leads his troops into battle against a goblin, but at high losses, and a mommy rabbit who uses magic cursing him into becoming something of a reverse Beast or Frog Prince. Quite cute and fun.
Diaspora/The Witch's Tale: And back to the woe and angst and bloodshed. "Diaspora" is part of the story about how Snow, Rose and Frau Tottenkinder escaped from the homelands, and what happened to Frau Tottenkinder after Hansel and Gretel stuffed her in the oven. "The Witch’s Tale" is Tottenkinder’s story, as unapologetically told by Tottenkinder. If I hadn’t known the two parts were told by two different artists, I would have thought it was the same artist switching to a more sketchy painted style. It puts a lot of things into perspective, particularly why Snow seems to get away with things that would make most people end up making Baba Yaga’s fate look kind. I’m not sure who has the darker and more evil past…Bigby or Frau Tottenkinder…everyone is luckier than they could ever know that these two are on their side. *starts imagining an encounter between Frau Tottenkinder and the Snow Queen.*
What You Wish For: Another nice bit of fluff to make up for the dark, dark depths of "Diaspora" and "The Witch’s Tale," something of "The Little Mermaid" in reverse. Essentially about an adventurous young woman who’s seen all of the surface of her world, so she asks a witch to turn her into a mermaid so she can explore the sea. Naturally, the adversary attacks soon after, and she ends up spending eternity in a lake on the farm, with a whole, unexplored world that she can’t get to.
Fair Division: And finally, we get to King Cole’s story, where the Sunflower Kid finally speaks and King Cole safely leads many animal fables to safety, nearly at the cost of his own life. A good story that lets us know why King Cole was able to become, and stay, mayor, and why they let him take it easy in recent years. Though, frankly, after this…those farm animals are a lot of horrid ungrateful ingrates and all the ones from this story who joined the rebellion deserved the chopping block. *seethes*