Fables - BookWyrm

Matt K reviewed Fables by Bill Willingham (Fables Compendium #1)

Things happen one after another

3 stars

I was always recommended Fables when I talked about how much I liked The Sandman.

This isn’t a grand story about the power of story or a new perspective on old tales. It’s a lot of stories with the names of characters you’ve heard of before.

The characters are only loosely connected to their sources and they change abilities and temperament to suit the plot of the week.

We learn nothing, we don’t grow while reading it and one thing just sort of happens after another. There are real risks and losses though! The author doesn’t wiggle out of death or consequences, which gives some stakes to the conflicts.

I would not recommend this to someone who says they loved The Sandman.

popcar2 reviewed Fables by Bill Willingham (Fables Compendium #1)

Review of 'Fables' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Review of the compendium itself in the bottom
This book was a ton of fun! Not every story here is great, and the first two volumes were very blunt on exposition, but it was overall a wonderful sprawling epic that is one of a kind and full of great moments.

The art is very hit or miss. Since it's a long running series, a lot of artists come and go and while most of them are not bad, some of the art is just really simple and uninspired. Some of them even had weird quirks, like one artist who draws Bigby with no mouth and another that can't really draw faces.

The writing is also hit or miss. Though it's usually great, some side stories felt like filler (the ww2 story...) while others felt really poorly handled (farm revolution felt like it's copying Animal Farm without understanding anything about it), …

Review of the compendium itself in the bottom
This book was a ton of fun! Not every story here is great, and the first two volumes were very blunt on exposition, but it was overall a wonderful sprawling epic that is one of a kind and full of great moments.

The art is very hit or miss. Since it's a long running series, a lot of artists come and go and while most of them are not bad, some of the art is just really simple and uninspired. Some of them even had weird quirks, like one artist who draws Bigby with no mouth and another that can't really draw faces.

The writing is also hit or miss. Though it's usually great, some side stories felt like filler (the ww2 story...) while others felt really poorly handled (farm revolution felt like it's copying Animal Farm without understanding anything about it), but luckily all the poor stories are usually quite short and don't affect the overall experience.

This book is a solid 4 stars, and a must-have for anyone interested in fantasy and fairy tales.

Compendium Physical Review
The compendium itself has good binding and high quality paper, but it's underwhelming that there's no content other than the pages of the book themselves! No foreword, no afterword, no bonus art, NOT EVEN A TABLE OF CONTENTS! You open the book, see a nice cover and basic credits, then immediately start on page 1. It's disappointing. In-between every issue is also a weird page with purple mist on it. You see this page maybe 40 times, and it's disappointing as hell that they didn't use them in any way. The deluxe edition has quotes in-between every issue, why not put those in?

The compendium is a great option if you're short on money, but I'd otherwise get the deluxe edition or just the trade paperbacks.

awboonstra

rated it

Sept. 6, 2022