Another tale and far more worldbuilding!
Fables, Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers digs far more deeply into the backstory of the Fables universe, with a more connected prequel chapter that details the ’last ship out’ of the homeland as the Adversary took over more and more land and the rest following the first incursion of their forces of what will surely be many of the years– culminating in the first Battle for Fabletown!
Hooooly crap. Another Homunculos: Pride. And not at all who I would have expected! Crazy chimera fight (those are still a thing, remember?) and a bit more development and growth from May.
Onwards!
Fables, Vol. 3: Storybook Love. I never would have expected extortion and a heist story!
The first chapter is a short that doesn’t really bear on the rest, with one of teh age old tales of tricking the Devil, capturing Death–and the problems inheriant in that. It’s a great stand alone, but a bit jarring that it doesn’t fit with the rest. I guess that’s part of the collected format.
Where Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile was a murder mystery, Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm is all about racism, classism, and revolution! The haves and have nots–or in this case, the Fables that can pass as human… and those that cannot.
In a nutshell (heh), some Fables–like nearly all of those we met in Volume 1 can pass as human. But some… cannot. And those all live at a farm in upstate New York. You have talking animals, sentient flowers, tiny mouse-sized people, and all manner of other shocking things. But just because they wouldn’t fit in doesn’t mean they still don’t want to be a part of the world.
“This is the funniest thing,” said Benny. “Here we are at Aunt Jane and Uncle Andy’s new trailer at the beach. A day or so ago we were at home without the least idea of going anywhere at all.”
The Aldens go to the beach, find a strange old mansion inhabited by an old anti-social woman, inject themselves into her life, and find buried treasure. It’s actually a pretty fun book and a pretty neat mystery, although not terribly deep and the insistence that everyone needs to come out of their shells is becoming increasingly obvious.
Redwall is a wonderful little tale.
It’s the tale of an abbey in the woods and the various woodland creatures who inhabit it (in a world seemingly devoid of humans). It’s a tale of good and evil. Of peaceful creatures and the times when peace is no longer enough. It’s a tale of piracy and plundering, of those with power taking whatever they wish from those without. It’s a tale of a prophecied warrior, and the tiny mouse ready to step into much larger shoes to do what’s right to protect his friends.
Man this story is getting crazy. Another Homunculus (Sloth!), a giant transmutation circle under the whole country, more Von Hoenheim backstory, something wicked in the tunnel…
Man this series is good.
And so it ends. I think I enjoyed the book more and rated it more highly knowing it was the last of the series, although I guess Dirk Cussler could easily continue it, given that he’s been the co-author on these books for years now. But for now, it’s over and it’s time for me to move on to other books.
Plotwise, there are a lot of threads that feel familiar, but there are only so many different ancient civilizations you can dig up treasures for–and I’m pretty sure Cussler hit them all. This time around, an ancient Egyptian princess apparently made it to Celtic Ireland somehow. A mummy is stolen, bioengineered bacteria try to take over the world, someone is taking militant feminism to an extreme, and wacky (destructive) highjinks ensue.
Much like Saga, Vol. 1, Fables has been on my list to read for the longest time. I have a soft spot for genre mashups, so the idea of taking Fairy Tales and having them alive and well in a hidden corner of our real world? Wonderful!
Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile introduces us to the setting and the characters, taking the guise of a classic murder mystery and throwing a few Fairy Tale specific wrenches in along the way.