6. Fables: Sons of Empire

Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham (Canada) - (US)
Fables, Volume 9

Pages: 200
Ages: 18+
Finished: Jan. 15, 2010
First Published: 2007
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

That summer there was a great fire in the restricted hills, northwest of the Imperial City.

Acquired: Through Interlibrary Loan.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

Summary: Starts of with four issues of the title story where the Adversary has a meeting to describe possible attacks on the Mundy world. Switches are made to Fabletown and the Farm where new plotlines are forming. Each issue ends with a short 3-4 page story of someone outside of Fabletown that we either have never met before or don't know much of. Then we have a Christmas Issue spent on the Farm and with the Wolf family, this starts with a quick flashback to 1956, where we see enjoy a scene with our long banished Fableton, Jack. Then onto a two issue story where Bigby and family go visit his father. The story is called "Father and Son" and has meaning in several different ways than the obvious one. And finally the book ends with a fun issue called "Burning Questions" where short stories are presented to answer readers questions about things that have never been explained so far, such as " What is Frau Totenkinder knitting?"

Comments: This is a great volume. Nice and thick with lots of action and forward motion of the plotline as well as some plain fun. All sorts of new characters are introduced on the Homelands side, some of whom are obviously going to be big players from now on. Also throughout this whole volume a lot of familiar faces show up, some we haven't seen for a long time. I'm left with a feeling that something new is about to happen in the next volume and am quite eager to continue on. I can't believe I'm getting so close to catching up with this series!