It’s back to the Adversary’s lands, as Boy Blue continues his quest to rescue his one true love – Red Riding Hood. Since Fables first began, its
devoted readers (including yours truly) have anxiously – and not always patiently – waited for the day when we would finally get a look at the enchanted lands themselves, and maybe even catch a glimpse of the mysterious Adversary himself.
However, having waited so long to get to this point in the saga, I must confess to feeling a little – just a little, mind you – under whelmed by what we’ve seen far. It’s not that it’s a bad or un-enjoyable storyline, its just that something seems to missing, that spark of genius and excitement that’s typified this series so far. It’s akin to waiting and waiting and
waiting in a restaurant for a special meal from the al la Carte menu. You can smell it, and even almost taste it; and the sensations are making your mouth water and your nose twitch…but when it arrives, you discover it’s just a plain old hamburger. Is it tasty? Sure. Is it satisfying? Pretty much – it is what it is. Is it everything you thought (and hoped) it would be? Not quite.
I’m not sure why this is the case. Something I can’t quite put my finger on is missing; something just out of my line of sight that I can’t quite see clearly is stopping this arc so far from reaching previous dizzy heights.
Perhaps it’s because Boy Blue, always a very popular if slightly peripheral character, has suddenly and mysteriously morphed from a sometimes hesitant and reluctant heroic figure into a seemingly invincible fighter, armed with
wit, wisdom and some kick-ass weaponry. Perhaps it’s because in my humble opinion, this book is badly missing the rich supporting cast that we’ve
grown to know and love during the ride so far (Indeed, there’s a strong case to be made for the argument that since Bigby Wolf said his (hopefully temporary) goodbyes, an emotional core has been missing from the title). Or
perhaps it’s because with the focus solely on the one character (I’m not including the nice characterisation of the various walking exposition and plot device characters in this arc so far) the dramatic tension has been a
little missing.
Whatever the reason, this arc has yet to deliver fully on the promise of drama and tension inherent in delving into the Fables homelands and the Adversary’s territory. Having said that, Bill Willingham writing at seventy percent is still better than a lot of other writers going flat out, and this is still an enjoyable and worthwhile read – there are also some nice cameo appearances from some new Fables.
It’s just that in certain ways, it fails to hit the high standards we’ve grown used to. That’s the problem with being spoilt in the past; it’s hard to accept anything but the best in the future.
