Monday, March 30, 2015

Fables Volumes 5-8 and War and Pieces

Fables: Volume 5-8 and War and Pieces by Bill Willingham, 301, 217, 238, 231 and 192 pages (1179 total)

Cover image for With this many volumes you would suspect there is a lot going on, and there is. The over lying theme of all of the volumes, and War and Pieces is the continued war against the Adversary which actually concludes in War and Pieces. Like nearly all of Willingham's work the one main storyline is interwoven with numerous back histories, side stories and crossovers. Among them are undercover missions into the old kingdom, and spy missions done by the Adversary. There is a romantic love story that develops between two of the wooden people created by the Adversary, and their quest to become human and express their love. There is also a Sinbad cross over that shows the Adversary starting his conquest of the Middle Eastern fable world. But the biggest side story provided is the Adversary's. Not only do we find out who he really is, but we also learn how and why he is doing all of this.
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Despite how major the war with the Adversary is we don't get to see much of it. I was expecting a long drawn out battle with courageous feats by various fables all culminating in a final confrontation that either leaves the fables retreating into the Middle Eastern fable's lands or the defeat of the Adversary. Instead the reader gets a few well drawn minor and decisive battles. Not only is most of the action left out, but how the war ends is a let down. It was not enough to turn me off of this series but it was cheesy even for a fable story. I am not sure where this story will go now that the war is over, but it must go somewhere, there are still another hundred issues to go.

Note: A lot more happens besides this, but a lot of it would be spoilers if you are just starting the series, and thus was omitted.

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