Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely Desert Tales, Vol. 1: Sanctuary

127. Wicked Lovely Desert Tales Vol. 1: Sanctuary by Melissa Marr and Xian Nu Studio (2009)
Wicked Lovely Desert Tales, Volume 1

Length: 176 pages

Genre: Graphic Novel (Manga), Fantasy

Started: 22 October 2009
Finished: 22 October 2009, less than 40 minutes later.

Where did it come from? The library.
Why do I have it? I really liked Wicked Lovely and its sequels, and I’m always on the lookout for new graphic novels.

Rika’s got a crush
on a mortal boy, but can
he deal with Faerie?

Summary: Rika used to be human… a long, long time ago. Then she was one of the Winter Girls – courted by Keenan, the Summer King, and then abandoned when she failed the test and winter’s chill took up residence in body, unescapable until the next mortal girl braved the trial. Now she’s one of the solitary fey, and has moved to the desert – far from the cold, far from the poisonous cities, and far from the intrigues of the faerie courts. Rika is happy enough with her solitary life, until she meets Jayce – a human boy who makes her want to reveal her deepest secrets. But even though Rika is unattached to any faerie court, she still has to deal with other fey, and a romance with a mortal is not something that’s likely to pass unnoticed.

Review: The story in this book is pretty simple, sweet and straightforward for the most part, only really getting interesting on the last page. Although Keenan makes a cameo appearance (and I kind of love than he snits his way into scene by kicking up a sandstorm around himself), this book is mostly independent from the main Wicked Lovely storyline. I think the whole idea of what it meant to be a Winter Girl is explained pretty well, so it could be read as a stand-alone, although it’s obviously going to mean more if you know who Keenan is, and what’s happening in the faerie courts.

My real problem with this book was the artwork. Not that it was bad – some of it was very lovely, and the storyboarding was very well-done indeed. It’s just that – with the exception of the animated Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics that aired on Nickelodeon all the time when I was younger – I’m not particularly familiar with anime/manga. In particular, I have a really hard time distinguishing boys and girls, especially when only their faces are showing (or when they’re wearing what appears to be a boat-neck t-shirt, Jayce.) Some of the zoomed-in shots were also kind of hard to figure out exactly what was going on, as well. Still, even with taking the time to admire/decipher the artwork, I zoomed through this book, and while I’m not dying for more, it was a pleasant enough diversion. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: A cute but non-essential addition for Wicked Lovely fans, and probably a fun little read for manga fans as well.

This Review on LibraryThing | This Book on LibraryThing | This Book on Amazon

Other Reviews: Books By Their Cover, Boy With Books, Karin’s Book Nook, My Friend Amy
Have you reviewed this book? Leave a comment with the link and I’ll add it in.

First Line: It’s beautiful out here. Warm.

Cover Thoughts: Meh. Jayce looks nothing like how he looks in the black-and-white drawings of the book itself… but then, even there, his skin tone would frequently change between two panels on the same page, so.

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