This book is a must have for any fan of the comic book Fables and it's spin-offs. This contains nearly every major character in the comics with wonderfully detailed origins and very colorful pages. Two notes I should point out though. If your looking for anything stories behind the Fairest spin-off, this book covers very little...almost nothing. Also, this book has some huge spoilers, so if your only reading the deluxe editions I strongly suggest you hold this off until you finish the Cubs in Toyland arch. However, if you want spoilers then go head an get this book. Your mundy mind will thank you. ( )

For a series which has as many characters as Fables, it is almost perative to have an encyclopedia to keep them all straight. What I enjoyed about this book is that it gives a brief summary of where the characters first appeared in the real world fairytales in comparison to who they are in the Fables Universe. I'll definitely have to go and find some copies of the stories that I'm not familiar with, so this book gives me some good starting places.

I didn't like the layout 100% though, simply because many of the full-page illustrations were not on the facing page of the character descriptions. They would have been better served, I think, with small images for each of the characters alongside their descriptions instead of only providing pictures for the most popular characters. ( )

This is for someone who is a fan of the Fables series. I've enjoyed the comic series and some of the spin offs and this was a great index to all the characters that have been brought to life in the pages of the comic. You find out which ones came whole cloth out of the writer's mind and what was based off of a fairy tale. As I was reading this I could see someone using it for writing a paper on fairy tales and needing a good cross reference for some of the lesser known characters.


Digital copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss. ( )