[BOOK REVIEW] Fractured Fables by Jim Valentino

Title:  Fractured Fables



Authors:  Jim Valentino, Bryan Talbot, Doug TenNapel, Jill Thompson, Peter David, Nick Spencer and Laini Taylor



Artists: Vicente Navarrete, Whilce Portacio,  Fernando Pinto, Christian Ward and Rodin Esquejo

Genre:  Short Stories / Fables / Fairy Tales / Folktales / Comedy / Drama

Year Published:  2010

Year Read: 12/13/2014

Publisher: Image Comics



Source:  Library



Content Rating:  Ages 10+ (Some Rude Behavior)

Introduction:

Now, I am a major fairy tale and folktale enthusiast, so whenever I see any form of fairy tales and folktales in books (whether it is through graphic novels or a retelling of the fairy tale), I just have to pick up those series!  So, imagine my surprise when I had just picked up a new graphic novel that twists your favorite fairy tales and fables called “Fractured Fables” (think of the “Fractured Fairy Tales” segment from the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” cartoons) into more modern day interpretations of your favorite fairy tales!

What is this story about?

This collection has over thirty fairy tales and fables that are being retold in a more modern day twist and is being written by several well-known comic book writers such as Bryan Talbot, Doug TenNapel, Jill Thompson, Peter David, Nick Spencer and Laini Taylor.  Some of the stories featured in this collection are:

The Secret Princess Society

Written by Marie Cruz

Illustrated by Whilce Portacio

Mimi had a little sister named Meg who would constantly follow her everywhere and do everything that her big sister was doing, which would sometimes annoy Mimi.  One day however, when Meg started enrolling in a new dance class and made some new friends, she ended up joining a mysterious club called the “Secret Princess Society.” This club requires for the girls to go into a dark forest and meet up with some strange guests who they would dance with all throughout the night.  Mimi then discovers that something is wrong with this mysterious place and she tries to save her little sister Meg from whatever forces are controlling her sister and her friends!

This is the House that Jack Built

Written by Neil Kleid

Illustrated by Fernando Pinto

The story starts off with a man named Jack building a house when two boys, who lived with him, started throwing their toys out of the window.  Then things get much more chaotic later on when a bunch of neighbors, their kids and some high school students ended up crashing into Jack’s house and started partying at Jack’s house!

Can Jack get rid of these unwelcome guests?

Pie Eating Contest (Tortoise and the Hare)

Written by Joshua Williamson

Illustrated by Vicente Navarrete

In this more unusual spin on the classic fable “The Tortoise and the Hare,” the tortoise and the hare get involved in a pie eating contest and even though the Hare was able to eat more than the Tortoise, well…. Let us just say that eating too much pie does a number on your stomach!

What I loved about this story:

The writing: As a graphic novel that has a huge collection of different stories, this collection has various writers that all came together to write their own twists on famous fairy tales and fables and man, was this graphic novel one wild ride!  There were a couple of stories in this collection that really made me smile and laugh at the hilarious nature of these stories and my favorite stories in this collection would have to be “Spanking Robots (Pinocchio),” which is written by Laini Taylor along with artwork by Jim Di Bartolo, “Cinderella,” which is written by Nick Spencer along with artwork by Rodin Esquejo and “The Real Princess (The Princess and the Pea),” which is written by Alexander Grecian along with artwork by Christian Ward.  These stories were my favorites because they put an interesting twist to the classic fairy tales, especially “Cinderella” and “The Real Princess” and I really enjoyed how these twists just made the stories even more interesting!

The artwork:  As with many graphic novels that has a collection of stories, there were some artworks in this collection that I really enjoyed.  My favorite artwork in this graphic novel came from the works of Christian Ward and Rodin Esquejo, as they were gorgeous to look at and they were probably the most realistic artwork in this collection, since the majority of the artwork in this graphic novel had a cartoony vibe.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I gave this graphic novel a three and a half star rating was because even though there were some good stories in this collection, most of the stories I had read were just average to me and not that interesting at all.  I was a bit irritated at the fact that most of these stories would end so abruptly without a good conclusion to the situations that the characters are in and it just made it difficult for me to really get into the stories.  Now, I understand that because there are various writers writing a different story, the stories would have to be shortened in some kind of way to make room for all the stories, but still, I would have liked it better if some of the stories have some kind of closure that would satisfy me.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Fractured Fables” may have some hilarious and creative stories that twist our favorite classic fairy tales, but there were too many average stories in this collection that kind of downplayed my interest for the stories in this graphic novel.

[BOOK REVIEW] Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Title:  Days of Blood and Starlight



Author:  Laini Taylor

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Year Published: 2012

Number of Pages: 513 pages



Date Read: 12/12/2014

Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company



Source:  Library



Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Themes of War and Gory Violence)

“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war…THIS IS NOT THAT WORLD.”

After reading the seriously explosive ending of “Daughter of Smoke and Bone,” I just had to run to my local library and grab the sequel book, “Days of Blood and Starlight!”  Now, saying that this book is darker and edgier than the first book is certainly an understatement!

Karou finally finds out who she really is: Madrigal, who is a chimera of the Kirin clan and Akiva was an angel who had loved her, despite the fact that their races, the Chimeras and the Angels were at war with each other.  Unfortunately, once Karou broke the wishbone that would reveal her memories back to her, she also discovers that Akiva had murdered her people, including Brimstone, after Madrigal was originally killed years ago.  This act had caused Karou to turn her back on Akiva and work with Thiago, the wolf leader who is the pride of the Chimera race, to bring dead chimera back to life so that they could create an army to take down the angels.  Meanwhile, Akiva, Liraz and Hazael have their own battle to fight as they try to defeat their father, the Emperor Joram, in order to stop this endless battle between the angels and the chimeras.

Oh my goodness! Can I say that I enjoyed this book much more than the first book, despite how things got even darker and edgier for the characters?  Laini Taylor has certainly turned our expectations for the perfect romance story on its head, as we get to see how betrayal between two lovers can ruin a relationship in a devastating way.  I loved the way that Laini Taylor made this book much darker than the first book as this book deals with the war between the angels and the chimeras and how it is affecting all of the characters involved, especially Karou and Akiva.  There were many scenes in this book that made me cringe, such as the scenes where Thiago orders the chimera army to “cut smiles” onto the angels’ faces (eek…), so I would say that this book did a pretty awesome job at detailing the gruesome moments of war and brutality.  But what really stood out to me in this book was how broken Karou and Akiva’s relationship is after they discovered the truth about each other in the first book.  Now, I have read many romance novels where things were alright between the main couple and they were able to work out their problems towards the end of the story, but I had never read a romance novel where the crushing reality of being betrayed had left an enormous impact on the story throughout the entire book and that is what made this book so interesting and unique to me since I rarely see a romance novel where we see a couple look at each other with distrust throughout the entire story for good reasons.  But, even though this book was darker and edgier than the first book, we still have our happy go-lucky couple Zuzana and Mik lighting up the mood by standing by Karou while making light hearted jokes throughout the book.  I loved the chemistry shared between Zuzana and Mik as it is obvious that they truly care for each other and I just loved the hilarious bantering between them as I found myself giggling whenever they make so many jokes!

Since this book actually details the destruction of war, there are many disturbing moments in this book where characters are killed off or tortured in gruesome ways.  I have mentioned that one of the torture methods that Thiago used on the angels, which is cutting up the angels’ faces and making them look like they are smiling, is probably one of the most disturbing moments in this book and it might make some people really uncomfortable reading it.

Overall, “Days of Blood and Starlight” is seriously one paranormal romance book you just got to pick up and I am definitely picking up the third book in the series “ Dreams of Gods and Monsters” or “Night of Cake and Puppets” if I want to read about Zuzana and Mik’s relationship!