There are a couple of other book bloggers also reading the Fables series right now, and I’m just a little bit behind them, having only read Fables I: Legends in Exile and Fables II: Animal Farm. After I read the reviews by Book Zombie and Fyrefly, I don’t quite know what to say in mine because theirs are so good! So, if this review sucks, click on the links and the bottom to read some that I think are much better.
Fables IV: Storybook Love had multiple story arcs happening, which wasn’t done in either of the first two books. I’m still not sure if I liked this structure or not, but I think it might be something that stays with the series (based on what I’ve read of Fables IV).
Anyway, the first story, “Bag O’Bones” was about Jack learning to cheat death. The next two, “A Sharp Operation” and “Dirty Business,” were about what happens when a journalist thinks he has discovered Fabletown. These stories were interesting because they advanced individual characters, but didn’t do much to advance the overall plot of the Fables universe and therefore I thought they were distracting more than interesting.
However, I enjoyed the main story, “Storybook Love,” which helps close out the unanswered questions from Animal Farm. Goldilocks is still on the loose, Blackbeard is still nefarious, and romance is in the air for two of our favorite Fables. Good stuff, and resolved with a twist at the end that doesn’t feel contrived or cheesy.
Overall I wasn’t thrilled with this edition by itself. My favorite part of each Fables book is when they introduce new Fables into the mix — usually with some quirky twist on an old favorite fairy tale. This edition, for the most part, lacked that quality, even in the story arcs exclusively related to character development. Not my favorite book in the Fables series so far, but it gets the job done as we move forward to Fables IV : March of the Wooden Soldiers.
Links to Enjoy:
- The Story So Far — Bill Willingham’s official site
Other Reviews: Book Zombie; Fyrefly’s Book Blog
If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link to the review in the comments and I will add your review to the main post. All I ask is for you to do the same to mine — thanks!
This post is part of National Blog Posting Month for the month of November. You can find out more about NaBloPoMo here and view my NaBloPoMo profile page here. Thanks for reading!
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You’ll like March of the Wooden Soldiers – all of the forward plot movement from this one is packed into that one, and then some.
I think Jack is one of my least favorite characters, which puts me at a bit of a dilemna – once I finish the main series, I’m going to want more to tide me over until the next one comes out, and Jack’s got a spin-off series… but it’s Jack. (Who am I kidding, I’m totally still going to read them.)
Sounds very interesting, even if it wasn’t your favorite. One of these days, I’m going to check some more of these out from the library.
I need to bite the bullet and order the 8th and 9th installments of these (or maybe it’s 9 and 10) that I don’t have.
fyrefly: I agree, I think Jack is annoying. I might read the spin-off if I haven’t gotten enough Fables by the time I’m done, but we’ll see. I’m excited for March of the Wooden Soldiers.
Kim L: It is, I think the series as a whole is really interesting, especially for people who wouldn’t normally read comics but like literature and fairy tales.
Andi: I’ve been borrowing them from the library — I go through them so quickly I can’t justify the $10 for each one. I like the series a lot, it’s just not a good investment 🙂
Great review! The whole time I was reading this one I kept feeling as though it was the commercials in between a favorite TV show 🙂
I’m another non-fan of Jack, he seems so I don’t know – pompous maybe. But then again I’m utterly in love with Bigby – dark, melancholy, outcast *sigh*
Joanne: Yes, that’s exactly right! Commercials. And yes, Bigby 🙂