The Good Neighbors, Book 2: Kith

Still not very impressed with this series. The storytelling and plot is far too condensed to really get into proper character development, and the hints at larger themes just leave me disappointed that the story isn't being fully realized. At least the art is somewhat improved in this volume, since there are more scenes set in faerie than previously. One more quickie volume to go, and then the annoyance is over! Though I sure hope that Holly Black's upcoming forrays into the graphic novel medium (the revamped Lucifer series set to come out this fall) are done better.

Rue wrestles with her newfound identity as a half-fairy, while trying to keep her friends safe from the fairy world's depredations. There's a plan to transform the human city into the fairies' playground, and only Rue has the power to see it--and possibly to stop it.

I have two problems with this. First, it's far too short. The relationships between characters aren't fleshed out, and their motivations are too mysterious and complicated for such a slim volume. Secondly, the art is great--except that I can't tell the characters apart. Everything is heavily shadowed. They look different in every panel, and most of them have one of two haircuts (angled&tangled bob or shaven with long bits in front), so I can't even tell who is who based on show more hair. Frustrating!

That aside, the gothy art really does fit Black's mixture of realistic urban youth and fairies. And the fairies and wonderfully scary and creepy, with just enough beauty thrown in to make them truly dangerous. show less

What seemed to be an interesting story in Volume 1 (Kin), ends up falling apart in this second volume, Kith.

First of all, Ted Naifeh seemed to have either lost his touch or was only halfheartedly interested in this volume, as one of the big issues was the lack of detail on many of the characters. At certain times, characters would suddenly look different from frame to frame making it easy for the reader to mistaken the new drawing for a different character. Other times, Naifeh seems to use a minimalist style for the characters so at certain moments, one can easily mistaken one character for another. There were several moments I had to reread certain sections since I had to correct my mistaken assumptions regarding character in a show more scene.

As for the story, once the mystery of the first volume was solved, the second volumes seemed to have been relegated as a filler for a future climax, as the plot doesn't really advance. Instead we're given a series of events that seem to have no real reason, other than to look "faerie" or ethereal (which Naifeh couldn't seem to pull off).

Considering the price of this item, this is not something I can really recommend to anybody other than serious fans of either Black or Naifeh. However, it is entirely possible for me to change my mind considering how the next volume turns out. show less

This graphic novel continues the story about Rue, who discovers she's half-faery in the first volume, Kin. Here, faeries are dark and capricious and dangerous, and also quite alien in their morality and behavior (which makes them more interesting, frankly). The huge cliffhanger at the end is excellent, but otherwise, I didn't think this one was as good as Kin. Also, I had a lot of trouble telling the characters apart this time -- Naifeh is one of my favorite graphic novel illustrators (for Courtney Crumrin especially) for his moody, atmospheric, gothic artwork, but the character designs (features, face shapes) were too similar. Sometimes I had to rely on hair-style and context to tell them apart and it got frustrating, and it also made show more the plot confusing at times when I thought one character was somebody else for a page or two. show less

This book did a good job of bridging the story lines between books 1 & 3. I am not a huge fan of gothic illustrations, I found the dark colors distracting (but that is just me) and I felt like sometimes the faces were distorted, not sure if that was on purpose.

Kith is the second book in The Good Neighbors graphic novel series. It's a modern day version of fairy lore, incorporating classic fairy tropes into an urban setting. Rue Silver is the main character, who finds out that her mother is actually a fairy who has been taken back to the fairy realm and her grandfather is planning to take over her city, and it's up to her to stop him.

The art fluctuates from being just okay to rather nice, but what makes me really enjoy it is Rue's self questioning and wondering where her true nature lies. Is she human? Or is she fairy?

Teen/adult graphic novel; fantasy. It's been so long since I read the first book in this series, I'd forgotten all of the characters, and had to re-read to figure out who everyone was (they all look pretty similar, even the boys vs. girls--which isn't to say that the artwork isn't still great, but well, many of the characters have the same face), and what the story was. My problem with this series is that it's something you should really just read straight through, book1, book2, book3--bam bam bam. I would recommend waiting until #3 comes out before picking up 1 and 2.