Escape into a clever, fun and imaginative fairy tale!, September 30, 2009

By 

J. Lee “imajeel” (Houston, TX USA) –

  

  

I haven’t read comic books in over 20 years, and had never heard of the Fables comic line this novel is based upon. I also initially wondered why, with all the possible fairy tale characters out there, Willingham had chosen to focus his tale on the tongue-twistered Peter Piper. So, I was a bit skeptical when I first picked this up to read. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was relieved that I didn’t need to have read the comic books to do so!

The story and characters, if not terribly complex, are entirely imaginative and entertaining. And, kept me turning the pages, even when I should have been sleeping. Willingham is somehow able to combine taking his characters plight seriously with a tongue-in-cheek, dry wit that pokes fun at the zany world he’s created – which makes it all the more enjoyable.

While the main storyline is about Peter and his brother Max’s rivalry, a whole cast of fairy tale characters make an appearance (Snow White, Red Rose, the Wicked Witch, Beauty & the Beast, Bo Peep, ….). The fun part is that now they’re all living together in Fabletown in a modern New York, having joined together to escape an evil adversary.

The ending was a little predictable, but it did resolve as a fairy tale should. And, after finishing this quick-read, I felt indeed that I’d just read a good, imaginative fairy tale.

A Favorite Line: “Fable women tend to be ‘the fairest in all the land’, which loses much of it’s cachet when you have hundreds of such beauties crowded into such a small neighborhood.”

Bottom Line: A clever, fun fairy tale whether you read the comics it’s based upon or not. Particularly recommended for anyone who enjoys fairy tale re-tellings like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel.

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