Books I Read in 2010: Tithe and Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces
I completed these two in the last two days. A graphic novel isn't the same as reading a full book, I know that, but it is reading, and it is a form of a book, and it is a literary product and expression, so I'm putting it in here.
Some spoilers to follow, much moreso for Fables than Tithe.
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black is a YA novel of nasty and vicious faery folk living just out of sight in the everyday world. In this case, specifically, on the Jersey shore. The book pulls in a lot of bits and pieces of faery lore--changelings, the deadliness of iron, full names granting power over a faery, Seelie and Unseelie Courts, pixies and goblins and glamours and kelpies, and above all the alien nature of faeries versus humans. Kaye, the sixteen-year-old high school dropout who drinks and smokes and remembers her "imginary" friends from her youth, ends up on the shore when her mother is nearly killed by her latest loser boyfriend after a concert. There're a lot of interesting things going on here--the way her mother treats like she's old enough to make her own decisions, which has a mix of making Kaye rather sufficient and more mature than many, as well as not being an idiot, but also shows some carelessness and immaturity in that decision as well. Kaye IS still a kid, and has made up for her mother's irresponsible decisions by taking her turn as doing some of the mothering herself. They're sort of a darker and twistier version of the Gilmore girls. And when they crash with Kaye's grandmother, she falls into the role of Emily Gilmore as well, disapproving of her daughter's choices and wanting to perform a 180 on Kaye's lifestyle choices.
But the real interesting stuff comes from Kaye's interactions with the faeries, getting pulled into their schemes, and learning quite a lot about herself and the rules of that world, and that it's far from just the innocent fun she had with her "imaginary" friends when she was young. Kaye, of note, is always aware those friends were real, but just as aware that she can't tell people that. All-in-all, it's YA with some grit and faeries who should and do scare you. I enjoyed it, and I may well read the other two books written in the series.
Fables Volume 11: War and Pieces finally brings us to the all-out war between Fabletown and the Empire, that war we've been building up to for some time now. And the war is...good, but actually somewhat anti-climatic. It made perfect sense that the Fabletown Fables made full use of modern technology and weaponry. Not doing so would've been foolish of them, and since they had the luxury of time, planning, and information, they used all of those to their fullest, too. It all makes sense, it's all the sort of thing that is often glossed over and not done for no real reason in too many stories, but this might be a great example of the reason why that's so--it's not quite as interesting that way. The most tense and interesting story in this volume was the one about Cinderella doing her totally awesome spy thing to retrieve Pinnochio. Why? Because it didn't go smoothly, there was danger, people could've died and almost did, I had no idea going in what would happen and who would win out. In the war itself...that urgency and uncertainty was lacking. Fabletown won for all the right reasons--they were better armed, prepared, and ready (and also, they were the good guys)--but I never really doubted that's what would happen. A few superweapons from the Empire threw kinks in the plan, but they didn't really matter in the end. The arrow didn't kill Bigby or Boy Blue, the dragon didn't stop them from destroying the last gate. There were sacrifices, but not enough of them, not personal ones.
Don't get me wrong, I highly enjoyed it, but the outcome was never really in question. Even if that was for practical reasons as well as story reasons, it made the story a little less exciting. So, I look forward to the uneasy aftermath heralded by the next volume's title The Dark Ages.
Current totals:
Books: 3
Graphic novels: 1
Some spoilers to follow, much moreso for Fables than Tithe.
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black is a YA novel of nasty and vicious faery folk living just out of sight in the everyday world. In this case, specifically, on the Jersey shore. The book pulls in a lot of bits and pieces of faery lore--changelings, the deadliness of iron, full names granting power over a faery, Seelie and Unseelie Courts, pixies and goblins and glamours and kelpies, and above all the alien nature of faeries versus humans. Kaye, the sixteen-year-old high school dropout who drinks and smokes and remembers her "imginary" friends from her youth, ends up on the shore when her mother is nearly killed by her latest loser boyfriend after a concert. There're a lot of interesting things going on here--the way her mother treats like she's old enough to make her own decisions, which has a mix of making Kaye rather sufficient and more mature than many, as well as not being an idiot, but also shows some carelessness and immaturity in that decision as well. Kaye IS still a kid, and has made up for her mother's irresponsible decisions by taking her turn as doing some of the mothering herself. They're sort of a darker and twistier version of the Gilmore girls. And when they crash with Kaye's grandmother, she falls into the role of Emily Gilmore as well, disapproving of her daughter's choices and wanting to perform a 180 on Kaye's lifestyle choices.
But the real interesting stuff comes from Kaye's interactions with the faeries, getting pulled into their schemes, and learning quite a lot about herself and the rules of that world, and that it's far from just the innocent fun she had with her "imaginary" friends when she was young. Kaye, of note, is always aware those friends were real, but just as aware that she can't tell people that. All-in-all, it's YA with some grit and faeries who should and do scare you. I enjoyed it, and I may well read the other two books written in the series.
Fables Volume 11: War and Pieces finally brings us to the all-out war between Fabletown and the Empire, that war we've been building up to for some time now. And the war is...good, but actually somewhat anti-climatic. It made perfect sense that the Fabletown Fables made full use of modern technology and weaponry. Not doing so would've been foolish of them, and since they had the luxury of time, planning, and information, they used all of those to their fullest, too. It all makes sense, it's all the sort of thing that is often glossed over and not done for no real reason in too many stories, but this might be a great example of the reason why that's so--it's not quite as interesting that way. The most tense and interesting story in this volume was the one about Cinderella doing her totally awesome spy thing to retrieve Pinnochio. Why? Because it didn't go smoothly, there was danger, people could've died and almost did, I had no idea going in what would happen and who would win out. In the war itself...that urgency and uncertainty was lacking. Fabletown won for all the right reasons--they were better armed, prepared, and ready (and also, they were the good guys)--but I never really doubted that's what would happen. A few superweapons from the Empire threw kinks in the plan, but they didn't really matter in the end. The arrow didn't kill Bigby or Boy Blue, the dragon didn't stop them from destroying the last gate. There were sacrifices, but not enough of them, not personal ones.
Don't get me wrong, I highly enjoyed it, but the outcome was never really in question. Even if that was for practical reasons as well as story reasons, it made the story a little less exciting. So, I look forward to the uneasy aftermath heralded by the next volume's title The Dark Ages.
Current totals:
Books: 3
Graphic novels: 1