Bill Willingham – Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince
148. Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Aaron Alexovich, Andrew Pepoy (2008)
Fables, Volume 10
Read My Review of Volume:
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Started: 21 November 2008
Finished: 22 November 2008
Flycatcher has got
an army, a kingdom, and
his own storyline.
Summary: With his memory of events in the Homelands restored, Flycatcher – or Prince Ambrose, as he’s more properly known – can no longer be content serving as the Woodland’s janitor. Instead, he plans a daring return to the Homelands with the help of the Forsworn Knight (the suit of armor hanging in the back of the Woodland business office). He must travel down the Witching Well and through the lands of Death, but he eventually raises an army and reaches his home, which he sets up as the kingdom of Haven. But the Adversary isn’t going to let him carve out an independent nation right in the middle of the Homelands, not when both sides are in the midst of preparing for war.
Review: Kudos – again! – to Willingham and company, for taking the story in a direction I wasn’t expecting, yet making everything fit together flawlessly. Up until this point, Flycatcher’s been a minor background character and mostly comic relief, but he emerges here as a multi-layered and enormously sympathetic figure – the only Fable not to need the general amnesty of the Fabletown charter. I also really enjoyed the new characters introduced, as well as the reappearance of several old characters I’d mostly forgotten about, although I should have known that in a comic book, being dead is never really an obstacle. Overall, this volume was intensely satisfying, made some major forward movement on the plot, and left me with more of a warmfuzzy “awwww” feeling than Fables usually do. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Unexpected, original, and very satisfying. Read it, and then join me in being antsy to get your hands on the newly-published volume 11.
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I, too, loved the direction Flycatcher’s character took. I definitely felt the warm fuzzies; this was one of my favorite Fables stories. :)
Nicki, it’s great that this one was even better than others in the series for you. I’ve really enjoyed your reviews of these novels.
Now I’m even more eager to read this! Come on, library, come on…
Jessi – Gosh, if I had to pick a favorite, I guess it would be The Mean Seasons, but this one was certainly up there.
Shana – Aww, thanks! I’ve really enjoyed reading them, but I have worried that I’m innundating the non-graphic-novel-readers with a flood of Fables posts.
Memory – I’m itching for the 11th version to be bought by my library… I’ve got a friend who buys the individual issues and is willing to lend them to me, but it’s not quite the same as holding the bound book in my hands.
You got me really curious about what he does with Flycatcher!
Nymeth – I was thinking about responding with my standard spoiler comeback – EVERYBODY DIES – but really what happens is that Flycatcher gets a personality… and a haircut. :)
Hopefully you can get your hands on it soon!