I’ve always been drawn to the woods. There’s something strange and mysterious about the trees. It’s a place where true magic feels possible. I enjoy stories that recreate this feeling. That keep that sense of mystery. That don’t feel the need to explain every detail or every strange occurrence within their pages. Stories that build deep worlds over time, but maintain a sense of wonder. I love stories that are funny, that aren’t afraid to be weird or dark, and that have a strong heart. They are the type of stories I try to tell in my own work and the ones I most love to get lost in.
Lightfall is a gorgeous tale and one of those wonderful fantasy adventures that takes place in a world peppered with hints of a larger mythology. One that grows and deepens with each re-read. Tim Probet has crafted a touching and heartfelt tale of overcoming fear and anxiety. He’s an author whose sensibilities are similar to my own and I immediately connected with it.
A new volume is due soon and I highly recommend this to anyone, both kids and adults, who love epic adventures in fantastical worlds.
New York Times bestselling author Kazu Kibuishi says of Lightfall: "Beautifully drawn. Tim Probert has created a world readers will want to visit."
For fans of Amulet and middle grade readers who love sweeping worlds like Star Wars, the first book of the Lightfall series introduces Bea and Cad, two unlikely friends who get swept up in an epic quest to save their world from falling into eternal darkness.
Deep in the heart of the planet Irpa stands the Salty Pig's House of Tonics & Tinctures, home of the wise Pig Wizard and his adopted granddaughter, Bea. As keepers of…
This book is an absolute joy. It’s charming, funny, adorable, and filled with wondrous and odd creatures. This first book, in what became a series, is a short read at 25 pages, but spins such a wonderful tale that you can’t help but be impressed. It’s exactly as long as it needs to be. The world that it occupies is wonderful and strange and its cast is rich with characterization. If you don’t immediately fall in love with it when the “wood man” enters the scene that’s on you. I’ll connect with any story involving a four-legged friend, a forest, or misunderstood creatures and Hildafolk delivers on all fronts.
Highly recommend this to any kid or adult that loves wonderful things.
While on an expedition to seek out the magical creatures of the mountains around her home, Hilda spots a mountain troll. As she draws it the blue-haired explorer starts to nod off. when she wakes, she finds herself lost in a snowstorm and her troll has totally disappeared. On her way home, Hilda ventures deep into the woods, befriends a lonely wooden man and narrowly avoids getting squashed by a lost giant.
Like many of my favorite stories, Amulet begins with a tragedy and descends into a mystery. Kazu Kibuishi has crafted a highly imaginative world, that has a wonderful creepy feel to it. It’s a tale of two siblings who, lost and alone in the darkness, must find their way in a strange world as they race to rescue their mother from a terrible monster.
A great read for middle grade and older and the first in a sprawling adventure series.
Graphic novel star Kazu Kibuishi creates a world of terrible, man-eating demons, a mechanical rabbit, a giant robot---and two ordinary children on a life-or-death mission. After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids' mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals. Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit…
This graphic novel is composed of three hauntingly beautiful stories written and drawn by Becky Cloonan. It’s a book that I have found myself returning to many times and it often sits on my desk as a point of inspiration when I am lettering my own work (lettering is the process of creating the word balloons and design elements in a graphic novel). Becky Cloonan’s art is something to behold and captures a spirit of dread, foreboding, and beauty. These are dark, moody tales of cursed love that would appeal to anyone who enjoys the poetic and melancholic. They are stories that will sit with you long after you’ve put the book down. If you are able to get the hardcover edition, the book itself is a work of art. Perfectly constructed and wonderfully designed.
By Chance or Providence collects Becky
Cloonan's award-winning trilogy: Wolves, The Mire and Demeter, with lush colors
by Lee Loughridge and a sketchbook/illustration section. These stories cast a
spell of hypnotic melancholy, weaving their way through medieval landscapes of
ancient curses and terrible truths that will haunt you long after you've set
them down.
I could have put the entire Sandman series on this list and called it a day, so if you are unfamiliar with it, then please consider this an invitation to start with the first volume and go from there. Sandman is one of those special things that feel like a threshold into a much larger world. A strange and mysterious realm of dreams and magic, but whose doorway remains a secret to all but those who’ve cracked its cover.
As I was limiting myself to only one collection in the series, I chose “A Game of You” as it’s very much a fantasy tale. It follows a princess named Barbie who navigates a dreamworld with a talking rat, a monkey in a suit, and a dodo bird while her friends in the “real” world contend with hurricanes, falling moons, and a dismembered talking head. Despite the Narnia-like feel, this is by no means a book for all ages and very much is intended for mature readers.
Volume five of New York Times best selling author Neil Gaiman's acclaimed creation The Sandman collects one of the series' most beloved storylines. Take an apartment house, add in a drag queen, a lesbian couple, some talking animals, a talking severed head, a confused heroine and the deadly Cuckoo. Stir vigorously with a hurricane and Morpheus himself and you get this fifth instalment of The Sandman series. This story stars Barbie, who first makes an appearance in The Doll's House and now finds herself a princess in a vivid dreamworld. Collects The Sandman #32-37.
A young, headstrong goblin embarks on a wild journey of danger, loss, self-discovery, and sacrifice in this new graphic novel adventure.
One fateful night a sinister human warrior raids the home of the young goblin Rikt and leaves him orphaned. Angry and alone, Rikt vows to avenge the death of his parents and seeks a way to destroy the man who did this. He finds aid from unlikely allies throughout his journey and learns of a secret power hidden in the heart of the First Tree. Will Rikt survive the trials that await him on his perilous journey to the First Tree? And is Rikt truly prepared for what he may find there?
My favorite fantasy novels tend to be rather complex. Winding plotlines, mysteriously interconnected characters, whimsical settings, and intricate, thoughtful worldbuilding combine to create immersive stories that stick in the mind like overworn folklore. Time travel or interworld travel lend additional layers of intrigue and mystery, forcing the inescapable contemplation of a more thrilling, alternate reality. And if it’s all packaged in artful, breathtaking prose that breeds full-color images, audible noises, indelible flavors, nose-crumpling odors, and tangible textures, I will happily lose myself in the pages, truly forgetting about the strictures of everyday life… at least until I get hungry and remember I need to consume more than books to survive.
An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction.
Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to Ride, but her destiny will pit her against her uncle and king, who have scorned her since before her birth.
In the Exchange, the waystation between realms, Emmelyn fights the G’Ambit, a gambling ring with members more intent on lining their pockets than protecting the realms—or their own lives.
Realm-devouring parasites threaten all existence. The Exchange is desperate to destroy them. But could their radical plans endanger the realms, too?
Soul-sucking parasites are overwhelming the realms.
Rhoswen of Stanburh is of age to train as a Realm Rider—a defender of the realms. Riders and their dragons work together to burn away infiltrating Narxon as they swarm in through tears in a realm’s fabric. But it’s not an easy battle: the mere touch of the smoky, dragon-like adversaries can reduce the lively winged beasts—and their Riders—to ash.
Becoming a Realm Rider is Rhoswen’s dream, but she carries far more responsibility…
