Book 24: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell
Book 24: The Sleeper and the Spindle.
Author: Story by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell, 2014.
Genre: Fantasy. Re-told Fairy Tales.
Other Details: Hardback. 68 pages.
On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future - and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents. - synopsis from UK publisher's website.
A stunning and magical combination of story-telling and art, which brought together two familiar fairy tales yet with new twists. The artwork is stunning and reminded me in style and delicacy of Alan Lee's work though somewhat edgier. The production values of the hardback edition is very high.
In all a beautiful work and one that I would hope to buy in due course.
Cross-posted to 50bookchallenge.