Aliera Carstair was happy enough with her life. She fenced, she had her cousin and best
friend Caroline to think up awesome magical adventures with, and she was even
more or less used to the nightmare that is high school. Then one of the most
popular boys in school just HAD to ask her out.
Then he just had to be a troll! Her cheap practice epee just HAS to
really be a mystical sword and she just HAS to be a defender of the faeire
realm against the Dark Lord. Now that
all that nonsense has been revealed she doesn’t know who to trust and who the
real enemy is.
I love this series (read my review of Foiled!) and hope the next volume comes out
far quicker than the gap between the last two books. Jane excels at writing young female
characters and Cavallaro’s art complements it so perfectly Yolen (if you
haven’t already you MUST check out her excellent novels and her breathtakingly
beautiful graphic novel The Last Dragon
in YP FIC YOLEN). His art feels loose
and fun, but with a lot of expression to really sell the humor and the
emotions. I really loved Aliera, because
she handles the insanity with a fun mix of acceptance and annoyance. She reminds me of any sort of dreamy maybe a
wee bit nerdy kid that enters the teen years and isn’t sure what to do with
that left over sense of magic. We’re taught to leave that with childhood, but
it’s definitely something lost without much gained in return. Yolen really understands this transitional
period and uses the theme to great effect.
I think Yolen really does a great job of giving a
feeling of a huge magical world that we are just barely seeing and only having
revealed a little at a time. This kept me interested to always know more, but
not get bogged down by loads of exposition. She is very dubious of all this
magic and fights to at every turn, which makes for some great humor. I also love all the trolls. They are dumb in the best possible way. They are classic comic bumblers and their
antics amuse without seeming superfluously silly. Just the right amount of silly. So if you want a wonderful comic that is just the right amount of silly, check this one out.
You can check our catalog for Curses! Foiled Again here.
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