Great fun for aficionados of the film.
A graphic adaptation of an entry from the popular Twisted Tale series that reimagines Disney fairy tales.
Basing her work on Braswell’s 2018 novel of the same name that remixes “The Little Mermaid,” Strohm presents readers with a cinematic, full-color graphic novel that ponders what might have happened if mermaid Ariel had never defeated the nefarious sea witch Ursula. Rather than having a fairy-tale wedding to Prince Eric, Ariel is made to serve her undersea home, Atlantica, as its queen after her father, King Triton, bargains himself away to save her. When Ursula, now living on land as Eric’s wife, Vanessa, puts his kingdom at risk with her evil aspirations, he and Ariel must find a way to expose her and put an end to her conniving machinations. This graphic interpretation is captivating in its own right: Fans of the classic Disney film should be delighted with the highly recognizable characters and the visually stylish format culminating in a happily-ever-after. Panels burst to life with bright action sequences working in concert with evocative facial close-ups, keeping the pages flying with swooning eyes and a race to beat the clock as Ursula’s powers grow. As this closely follows the Disney original, expect some chauvinism and fatness signaling evil. Main characters read White.
Great fun for aficionados of the film. (Graphic fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781368064095
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play.
Garber returns to the world of bestseller Caraval (2017), this time with the focus on younger, more daring sister Donatella.
Valenda, capital of the empire, is host to the second of Legend’s magical games in a single year, and while Scarlett doesn’t want to play again, blonde Tella is eager for a chance to prove herself. She is haunted by the memory of her death in the last game and by the cursed Deck of Destiny she used as a child which foretold her loveless future. Garber has changed many of the rules of her expanding world, which now appears to be infused with magic and evil Fates. Despite a weak plot and ultraviolet prose (“He tasted like exquisite nightmares and stolen dreams, like the wings of fallen angels, and bottles of fresh moonlight.”), this is a tour de force of imagination. Themes of love, betrayal, and the price of magic (and desire) swirl like Caraval’s enchantments, and Dante’s sensuous kisses will thrill readers as much as they do Tella. The convoluted machinations of the Prince of Hearts (one of the Fates), Legend, and even the empress serve as the impetus for Tella’s story and set up future volumes which promise to go bigger. With descriptions focusing primarily on clothing, characters’ ethnicities are often indeterminate.
Dark, seductive, but over-the-top: Characters and book alike will enthrall those who choose to play. (glossary) (Fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-09531-2
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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