Book Review: Witches (Fables #14) by Willingham & Buckingham

Title: Witches (Fables Vol 14)
Author: Bill Willingham
Artist: Mark Buckingham
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: 12/7/2010
ISBN: 1401228801






Since I usually catch up with the adventures of our beloved Fables when the individual issues are collected into volumes, when I got this in the mail today (literally about an hour prior to writing this review) I immediately sat down to read it. After all, important stuff happens in this volume.

Where to begin? First we've got the problem of Mister Dark, the embodiment of everything you are & should be afraid of. He's preparing himself for something sinister, something that will undoubtedly effect not only the fables but mankind in general. If that's not bad enough, the tensions on the Farm are rising. Totenkinder has run the witches of the 13th floor for years, but now she's got competition for her leadership in the form of Ozma. Things aren't going all that well for Bufkin either- he's trapped in the remnants of Fabletown's office with a whole host of newly released monsters- including a powerful djinn & a very, VERY mad Baba Yaga. Meanwhile in Flycatcher's kingdom there's trouble as well. A drunk goblin has eaten one of the other citizens of the kingdom. The other goblins are threatening to revolt if the offender is put to death, but pardoning the gob's crimes might be just as bad.

This volume is awesome. Not only does it have the reappearance of several people and items mentioned in past volumes, but the artwork is as stunning as is par for the course in this series. Oh, and you get to see how Bufkin reacts in an emergency situation. It doesn't get much better than that. (Until the next volume, anyway.) Also cool is that this volume draws upon the whole Rose Red situation, emphasizing the showdown between good & evil that's undoubtedly coming in the next volume.

If you've been collecting the series so far, you absolutely cannot miss out on this volume. I have to admit, I was a little suspicious about what would happen after the fall of the Empire, but this current story is awesome & is a nice change after the previous Jack-centric volume.

Book Review: Alison's Wonderland by Alison Tyler & others

Title: Alison's Wonderland
Author/Editor: Alison Tyler
Publisher: Spice
Release Date: 07/01/2010
ISBN: 0373605455





Have I ever told you how much I love you, Harlequin? Because I do. Completely & totally. I want to thank you for not only putting out a collection of well written erotic stories, but putting out erotic stories based on & inspired by some of the best loved fairy tales out there. The only problem? Well, several readers are going to find it hard to put this away & others might not realize how incredibly difficult it is to write erotica. (Hey, you try writing a sex scene & find ways to describe the same body parts & actions without repeating yourself!)

Alison's Wonderland is a compilation of erotic stories written by several different authors, each of which lend their own personal style & tastes to this exotic blend. There's stories here based on Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Red Riding Hood- even the Billy Goats Gruff! (Don't worry, there's no goats in that story, although there is a woman with the last name of Troll!)

I'll warn people that if they don't like a good heaping of BDSM, they might want to skip a few of the stories in the book. (Hey, some people like it, some don't.) No worries though- Tyler made sure to include just about everyone's tastes in this book. It also doesn't hurt that she also made the book cover into something that you can openly display on your shelf without worrying about anyone looking at it & immediately thinking "oh, porn on display". What will really intrigue readers is that Tyler tries to make sure that she collected stories that have deeper meanings to them. Whether it's Belle finding the will to assert herself or two women finding love with each other, it is nice to see that these stories have more to them than just sex.

While I'll admit that I didn't fall in love with every story in this book, I will say that I did love the book as a whole. Readers will find this book a scintillating read that they'll be returning to time & time again! You'll read through it once for the hot sex, but you'll come back for the wonderful tales of people claiming their own personal freedoms (sexual and otherwise) and/or finding that one person that's just for them!

(ARC provided by Netgalley)