Think happy thoughts. This isn’t your friendly neighborhood Tinker Bell.
The Good Neighbors – Book One: Kin
Publisher: Scholastic (Graphix)
Writer: Holly Black
Artist: Ted Naifeh
Letterer: John Green
Book Design: Phil Falco
Summary: Rue Silver’s mother has disappeared . . . and her father has been arrested, suspected of killing her. But it’s not as straightforward as that. Because Rue is a faerie, like her mother was. And her father didn’t kill her mother — instead, he broke a promise to Rue’s faerie king grandfather, which caused Rue’s mother to be flung back to the faerie world. Now Rue must go to save her — and must also defeat a dark faerie that threatens our very mortal world.
Review: Do you believe in faeries? What first comes to mind? Is it the tiny little Disney gals with the pretty wings or is it the mischievous devils that will lead travelers astray or possibly even steal your baby? Holly Black (Tithe, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and Ted Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin, Polly and the Pirates) would have you believe there is only room for one. Better find that happy memory and hold on tight.
Rue is a regular teenager. She lives at home with her parents, goes to school and dates the lead singer of a rock band. Rue, her boyfriend Dale, friend Lucy and Lucy’s boyfriend Justin spend most of their time drinking lots and lots of coffee and breaking into abandoned buildings to take pictures. She likes to act like nothing bothers her but when her mother up and goes missing for three weeks she starts to crack at the seams. Not that she hasn’t always been a little cracked to begin with mind you. Rue sees and hears things that can’t be real. It used to just be out of the corner of her eye but with her mom gone it’s been happening right out in the open. What would you think if a woman with a goat head walked by you? Disturbing doesn’t even begin to cover it.
To make matters worse, one of her father’s college students has been found dead and they believe him to be the killer. A family friend named Amanda stays with her while her father is in custody and tries to assure her everything will work out but Rue is determined to find the truth. Little did she know that truth would turn her world upside-down. Rue’s mother is a faerie, which means so is she and everything she’s been “imagining” is very much real. She even has powers she’s not aware of. Her grandfather Aubrey? Oh yeah, he’s the faerie King. The reason her mother went missing has to do with faerie customs and law and he wants Rue to take up her birthright. Like any normal teenager, she’s confused. Along the way she meets several other creatures, some are sympathetic to her plight while others are just downright scary and dangerous. Her friends believe her ranting but they may never look at her the same way again.
The Scholastic website says this is for ages 8 and up but it feels far more adult than that. The unfortunate thing about the teenage characters is that besides Rue, none of them are fleshed out enough for my taste. This is the first book in a series and it may turn out to be an adventure Rue needs to take on her own, so finding out more about them may be a moot point. The great thing about those same characters though is they all act relatively normal. Sure, they all have their quirks - one of them is a faerie after all - but they seem to have grown out of or skipped past the stage of pretending to be something your not so others will like you. They like each other, that’s enough.
The Good Neighbors – Kin is nominated for an Eisner Award this year for the newly updated “Best Publication for Teens/Tweens” category. I have never read Black’s work or seen Naifeh’s art before but I enjoyed both. There’s definitely room for growth but Black quickly and deftly created an alternate world that just screams to be discovered and obsessed over. Just one thing is unbelievable; that Rue never thought something was seriously wrong with her mother who NEVER AGED. Naifeh creates some stunning close-ups of our main character and nails the undiscovered dark side of the world. The book is in black and white but the overall theme is heavy and shadowy. You can almost feel the world closing in on Rue. Now where’s that damn bright and shiny Tink when you need her?
Rating: 3/5
June 19th, 2009 at 8:42 am
The name “Rue” just reminds me of Rue from Threads of Fate. Not that that has anything to do with this book.
Wow, that’s a gorgeous cover!
Despite the problems you mentioned, this sounds like a really interesting graphic novel. I’ll add it to my list of graphic novels to buy when I’m done with the gazillion I still have to read.
Great review, Jill!
June 19th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
That definitely sounds like something I’d like to get my hands on. Spiderwick was okay but I felt the artwork was better than the story. I had the chance to meet Ms. Black at NY and she was really nice to talk to and wrote a riddle in my sketch/autograph book.