Craig Hamilton

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1252079.html

Here we have Fabletown under direct and vicious attack from Pinocchio's brothers, with sinister infiltration by the woman who calls herself Red Riding Hood, and wracked also by an internal power struggle between Old King Cole and Prince Charming. Which sounds really stupid but works really well; in particular, the battle against the wooden invaders is very vividly and memorably depicted.

Summary: March of the Wooden Soldiers contains the nine-issue story of the Battle of Fabletown. It starts with Little Boy Blue reminiscing about the fall of the last freehold in the Homelands to the forces of the Adversary - a battle in which he had to leave Red Riding Hood, his love, behind as he escaped into the mundy world. However, when Red shows up in Fabletown with a story of captivity and torture, most Fables are willing to welcome her with open arms. However, she comes at a time of show more turmoil - Prince Charming and King Cole are heating up their campaigns for mayor, Snow White's hugely pregnant, and mysterious goons who seemingly can't be hurt are stalking the night, beating up Fables - and Bigby's not entirely convinced that her story's on the level.

Review: Very, very good. In this volume, we not only get some new characters (Red Riding Hood, obviously, but also Robin Hood and Co.) and see some old characters come into the spotlight, but we learn more about the Fables' history, and get some more hints as to the identity and motivation of the Adversary (I'm about 98% sure I've figured it out.) The art's great throughout, if a little bit graphic by the end. Finally, while the end isn't exactly a cliffhanger, the tenuous stability and peace achieved by the end is so obviously going to shatter at the first touch, the reader's left wanting to immediately dive into the next volume.

Recommendation: My favorite of the series so far. show less

Red Riding Hood manages to escape from the hands of the Adversary and to Fabletown - the first person to successfully leave the homelands in centuries. But in quick pursuit are a trio of strangely wooden brothers with a penchant for violence. Bigby Wolf smells trouble brewing from a mile away, and the residents of Fabletown batten down the hatches for a battle they fear is coming sooner rather than later.

This book picks up a little bit after Volume 3, with a now very pregnant Snow White show more continuing to oversee the Fabletown government for King Cole, who is being challenged for his mayoral position by Snow's ex-husband, Prince Charming. Author Willingham provides a helpful who's who at the beginning of the book to bring readers up to speed / refresh their memories. As with the other three volumes, I quite enjoyed Willingham's humor, including the play on words, as well as the fun he has with updating and changing fairy tale characters to serve his purposes. Once again, I was happy with the small hints of romance for my Bigby-Snow ship. This book had a lot more action (i.e., fight scenes) than in the previous volumes, and these were surprisingly captivating for me, as someone who doesn't usually enjoy long action sequences. As with the other books in this series, this title sort of stands alone in that the story is fairly self-contained but it definitely harkens back to the previous title and leaves open some storylines that hopefully will be continued in Volume 5. I for one am excited to keep reading this series and see what happens next! show less

Seriously, this series is gold. Each volume gets even better. As if Fabletown didn't have enough drama to deal with eternally, they may have a new threat. It's been nearly two centuries since anyone escaped from their ancestral land and made it into the mundy world. Red Riding Hood shows up out of the blue, somehow having escaped the adversary, but something isn't right. Bigby Wolf thinks she might be a spy so he sets about trying to prove it. Meanwhile a very large and very pregnant Snow show more White must keep the peace and keep Fabletown going while Bigby is off collecting evidence. Love it!!! show less