The caretakers guide to Fablehaven

Title: The caretaker's guide to Fablehaven
Author: Brandon Mull
Artist: Brandon Dorman

This is sort of an artbook companion to the Fablehaven series (juvenile fiction, very similar in subject to the Spiderwick chronicles) It's not super in depth, and i would have liked it not to have been so... stiff? seeming. Many different fonts and only a few different "handwritings". I do not like the way that the added in/layered pieces work, as they have no real semblance of 3d (unlike other illustrative "guides" ive have seen do.) The descriptions are pretty dull as well.

A bit lackluster and I could have done with reading the series without this companion at all. Kids might find it interesting though, especially if they read the books.

Not gonna get this one for myself. Might think about it if I gift the series to my nephews at any point though as I do love to give whole sets not just partials.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Caretakers-Guide-Fablehaven-Brandon-Mull/dp/1629720917

ISBN: 978-1-62972-091-3

Tales of the Peculiar

Title: Tales of the Peculiar
Author: Ransom Riggs
Artist: Andrew Davidson

 

The artwork that is the head page for each story is absolutely lovely. Mr. Davidson does mostly block prints and etchings I believe, and is masterful in his work. (as an artist, I can tell you that I have not the patience for that level of detail.)

There are a few in this book I actually wouldn't mind if they released as posters. I believe they'd make lovely wall pieces.

The cover of this particular book is one I like a lot. It is cloth/canvas/faux cloth bound with gold colored stamping and feels very nice in one's hands. A very good contrast to the Plasticine, shiny book covers that frequent the markets today. 

The stories within (as it is a collective of short stories) are all within the "world" of  Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children . This is a world that intersects our own, and thus makes it more believable in some senses. 

I am a major sucker for fairy tales and folklore. Doubly interested if it's a "new" story or something I've not read before. This is one of those books. The stories rather reminded me of Aesop's fables in that they had lessons hidden within them (about greed, vanity, love, kindness, etc.) but if you're looking at it from the Peculiar's point of view (which I believe is the point, to immerse yourself in the world.) serve as warning stories very much like those of Grimm and Anderson. 

I rather liked this collective of ten stories, seemingly put together by a boy who is a character in the Miss Peregrine's book. I probably will end up acquiring a copy of this for myself at some point.

BTW, the page on which you would normally find the information of ISBN, publisher, copyright, number of pages, etc. IS WORTH READING. It is a fun little easter egg that i'm sure most people would ignore due to that page usually including non content.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Peculiar-Ransom-Riggs/dp/0399538534

ISBN: 978-0-399-53853-7

A Thread of Silk

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
YAYYYYYYYY. I am turning 27 officially, and we are practically snowed in. My guy is coming over today and we will be making pizza and my friends and I will be dressed up. We meant to go out dancing in portland tonight but our car will not make it on the roads, so instead, we are staying in.



This is a short story in a compilation by Eugie Foster called "Returning my sister's face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice".

Title: A Thread of Silk
Book: Returning my Sister's Face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice
Author Eugie Foster

As I am stating on each of these, this is a review for one of the short stories in this anthology and thus the image will be the same for each of these. This is not a repeat.

This is a Japanese tale that weaves together the present and past; and is one of the longer stories in the book. A woman seeks revenge in the Heian Era (my favorite era of Japan) against a man of her family who has attempted to slay her brother and has destroyed her lands in the process. She admonishes the God of War to help her in her conquest, and he gives her a sideways gift for not asking the right questions. She also attracts a Goddess who is much more dangerous and whom gives her a gift that is also a downright curse.

I must say. The main male antagonist in this is the most goth japanese character i've come across ever. Tall dark and handsome, swathed in dark colors, emotional. Elegant, poetic, chivalrous. It is hard not to like him. 

Very soon you come to see the workings of the Goddess and why indeed hers was not a blessing.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Sisters-Face-Eastern/dp/1607620111

ISBN: 1-60762-011-1

The Tiger Fortune Princess

This is a short story in a compilation by Eugie Foster called "Returning my sister's face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice".

Do you know why I like compilations/anthologies? I like them because they include a veriety of stories (sometimes united by a common theme) and I do not have to expect that I will be sitting here reading twenty stories that are exactly the same. Its a lovely feeling.


Title: The Tiger Fortune Princess
Book: Returning my Sister's Face, and other far eastern tales of whimsy and malice
Author Eugie Foster

As I am stating on each of these, this is a review for one of the short stories in this anthology and thus the image will be the same for each of these. This is not a repeat.

This tale takes place in China, and begins with the Chinese Empress Meiying. As far as empresses in stories go, she is the same. Being beautiful, wise, and compliant. 

She follows tradition to a T, and does everything correctly when she finds herself with child. Enter the "angry fairy" trope. This comes in the form of soothsayer who is casting the future baby's horoscope. The soothsayer gets interrupted by an outside force and because she is now annoyed, changes the fortune to a curse. The Empress Meiying allows this, because fate, and  does her damnedest to keep the curse from happening. 

"Your daughter will die unborn

unless she rides the dragon's tail.

If she survives the dragon,

she will be devoured before she meets her husband,

and without a son in law,

her father will die of unhappiness."

Meiying does her best to make sure that while allowing the curse room, does not allow it to happen, while allowing its course to run. She does everything in her power to make this go smoothly including living as a peasant in the countryside alone with the baby.

This was a very good story, had a very "sleeping beauty" feel to it.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Returning-My-Sisters-Face-Eastern/dp/1607620111

ISBN: 1-60762-011-1