mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
It's another Fables spinoff! The art (main story by Phil Jimenez and backup by Shawn McManus) is just wonderful. However, both tales feature a substantial change in a female Fable, and in both cases, the change isn't really set up, just presented to us as readers. Willingham's dialogue is crisp as ever, and there's some fascinating new characters, but the abruptness left me a bit cold.
jena_33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
deepfreezebatman's review against another edition
3.0
A fun spin-off starring Fable's heroines. This volume features Briar Rose and the Snow Queen, which I loved (Sleeping Beauty was always my favorite "Disney Princess movie" as a kid). I haven't been a huge fan of the spin-offs in the past, but this one surprised me and I'm at least on board for the second volume. Overall it's worth checking out for the simply gorgeous artwork alone! great eye candy!
quiet_chaos's review against another edition
2.0
I honestly don't know why I even finished this one. It was pretty awful. It got the second star because the last 10 pages that were a totally different story (Lamia) was so good. I wish that had been the focus of the main story. Ok, so point by point.
What I liked:
*The covers by Adam Hughes are so pretty. I mean I really love his art and he did so well with these
(I'd put a picture but I'm not sure how and it's just not worth the effort. But you can google: Adam Hughes Snow Queen if you'd like.)
*The premise. And that the love story didn't end as expected (well, it probably was as expected but not the normal way I guess)
And that's all that I liked. Let's go ahead and just have the ranting. I apologize now as I generally try to stay nice but I don't even know what anyone was thinking with this one.
What I didn't like:
*The lack of females. While this is supposed to be the stories of the females, the writers did a lovely job of leaving them out of this. Hadeon was the only strong female in here. The rest were lame, having their stories told for them and taking no part in the action.
*The rest of the art. It was just people looking at each other. On every panel.
*The plot. Was there a plot?
*The writing. There were literally copy/paste sentences. At least reword your redundancy.
I haven't ever read Fables (though I've wanted to) and the only thing I'd read so far from this world was Fairest: In All the Land, which I really liked. I'm going to give Fables another chance but again, only because I loved In All the Land and Lamia at the end of this one.
What I liked:
*The covers by Adam Hughes are so pretty. I mean I really love his art and he did so well with these
(I'd put a picture but I'm not sure how and it's just not worth the effort. But you can google: Adam Hughes Snow Queen if you'd like.)
*The premise. And that the love story didn't end as expected (well, it probably was as expected but not the normal way I guess)
And that's all that I liked. Let's go ahead and just have the ranting. I apologize now as I generally try to stay nice but I don't even know what anyone was thinking with this one.
What I didn't like:
*The lack of females. While this is supposed to be the stories of the females, the writers did a lovely job of leaving them out of this. Hadeon was the only strong female in here. The rest were lame, having their stories told for them and taking no part in the action.
*The rest of the art. It was just people looking at each other. On every panel.
*The plot. Was there a plot?
*The writing. There were literally copy/paste sentences. At least reword your redundancy.
I haven't ever read Fables (though I've wanted to) and the only thing I'd read so far from this world was Fairest: In All the Land, which I really liked. I'm going to give Fables another chance but again, only because I loved In All the Land and Lamia at the end of this one.
gentlemanbeggar's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
4.0
This first volume of Fairest follows Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty. I felt like it deserved more than 3 stars but was a little reluctant to go as high as 4. The reason is that there's no real main character--you would assume Briar Rose, as it's her back story we really get into, but we actually get to know Lumi, the Snow Queen, better than Briar Rose.
The book starts out following Ali Baba, and then we kind of switch to Briar Rose, and then by the middle we're kind of torn between Lumi and Briar and Ali Baba. The book finally ends on Briar, but Lumi is the only one who's changed.
I didn't have a problem with the story itself, and in fact quite enjoyed it, it just felt not-quite as put together as I'd have liked.
The book starts out following Ali Baba, and then we kind of switch to Briar Rose, and then by the middle we're kind of torn between Lumi and Briar and Ali Baba. The book finally ends on Briar, but Lumi is the only one who's changed.
I didn't have a problem with the story itself, and in fact quite enjoyed it, it just felt not-quite as put together as I'd have liked.
gohawks's review against another edition
4.0
Fun little meditation on the Sleeping Beauty story. Art is better than the regular Fable series. The noir Beauty/Beast story at the end was pretty okay for a guest writer.