#30 Fables 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham
This review has spoilers for previous volumes of Fables. In fact, there’s even a spoiler in the cover, so everything goes under the cut!
Citizens of Fabletown have lived in our world for hundreds of years, but it has never really been their home. Their true lands were
taken over by the adversary, whose superior forces caused them to chose between fleeing and fighting to their deaths. Since then, the fables have adjusted to their new lives in New York City, remembering the lives that were lost to the adversary, and finding love in surprising places (between the Big Bad Wolf and the now pregnant Snow White). But what were to happen if the adversary were to follow the fables into our world, and try to take them down for good?
If Fables were a TV show March of the Wooden Soldiers would be the season finale. Throughout the first three graphic novels, characters have been established (and some killed), relationships have bloomed, and information about their ultimate enemy, the adversary, has been slowly revealed. In the fourth graphic novel, March of the Wooden Soldiers, the story dives deep into the adversary plot with two stories. The first one, "The Last Castle," focuses on the unlikely war hero of Boy Blue, his experience with the last stand against the adversary, and the tragic romance between him and a grown up Red Riding Hood. The majority of the book is the "March of the Wooden Soldiers" storyline, which shows what happens with the adversary invades our world through the use of wooden men.
Fables has always struck me as a character focused comic, and the arcs here have really impacted my opinions on much of the cast. "The Last Castle" storyline (and "March of the Wooden Soldiers" as well) takes Boy Blue from a kind of filler character to a more fully developed hero. I gained a whole new level of respect for Snow White in this story, as I watched as she was forced to lead an army against the adversary. Her ability to keep a cool head despite her limited military experience and the poor odds was quite impressive. "March of the Wooden Soldiers" continues the series tradition of providing some really unexpected plot twists, especially with the Red Riding Hood character. I also enjoyed the spare romantic bits between Snow and Bigby.
Although the Fables comics have been entertaining up until now, I feel as if this is the moment when the series really reaches its full potential. I am planning on continuing to read the series as the books become available for me at my library.
Rating: five stars
Length: 240 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Other books I've read by this author: this is my first
Next I will be reviewing The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor at The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads
Citizens of Fabletown have lived in our world for hundreds of years, but it has never really been their home. Their true lands were
taken over by the adversary, whose superior forces caused them to chose between fleeing and fighting to their deaths. Since then, the fables have adjusted to their new lives in New York City, remembering the lives that were lost to the adversary, and finding love in surprising places (between the Big Bad Wolf and the now pregnant Snow White). But what were to happen if the adversary were to follow the fables into our world, and try to take them down for good?
If Fables were a TV show March of the Wooden Soldiers would be the season finale. Throughout the first three graphic novels, characters have been established (and some killed), relationships have bloomed, and information about their ultimate enemy, the adversary, has been slowly revealed. In the fourth graphic novel, March of the Wooden Soldiers, the story dives deep into the adversary plot with two stories. The first one, "The Last Castle," focuses on the unlikely war hero of Boy Blue, his experience with the last stand against the adversary, and the tragic romance between him and a grown up Red Riding Hood. The majority of the book is the "March of the Wooden Soldiers" storyline, which shows what happens with the adversary invades our world through the use of wooden men.
Fables has always struck me as a character focused comic, and the arcs here have really impacted my opinions on much of the cast. "The Last Castle" storyline (and "March of the Wooden Soldiers" as well) takes Boy Blue from a kind of filler character to a more fully developed hero. I gained a whole new level of respect for Snow White in this story, as I watched as she was forced to lead an army against the adversary. Her ability to keep a cool head despite her limited military experience and the poor odds was quite impressive. "March of the Wooden Soldiers" continues the series tradition of providing some really unexpected plot twists, especially with the Red Riding Hood character. I also enjoyed the spare romantic bits between Snow and Bigby.
Although the Fables comics have been entertaining up until now, I feel as if this is the moment when the series really reaches its full potential. I am planning on continuing to read the series as the books become available for me at my library.
Rating: five stars
Length: 240 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Other books I've read by this author: this is my first
Next I will be reviewing The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Lani Taylor at The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy
xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads