Realm of the Blue Mist (The Rema Chronicles, #1) is a familiar fantasy, but this first in a series has new twists and turns to the action we all know and love when it comes to magical tales. There are the warring nations, an “Us vs. Them” (The “Good Guys” vs. The “Bad Guys”), magic, little romance (in a most chaste manner, the most exciting thing is they hold hands!) and a bit of action. There is mystery, Godfathers in their late 30s who look 10, and are generals, and even a maybe not so friendly ghost.
Fun illustrations (I had a reader copy so not sure of final product/final coloring) that move the story along as they show action, and the “little details” you cannot see in text alone. They seem to be nicely colored (from what was in the book) and not overly detailed in places, but terribly busy in others. The theme and feeling of the scene comes alive (even in the black and white version I had).
Amy Kim Kibuishi’s new fantasy series is a about a young girl whose father died a few years before, a mother who seemingly does not care and wants to move on and is drawn to the spot of her father’s death. It is the lab her father worked out, now closed. Or more importantly she’s drawn to the tree that he was found under, the one with the odd mist tht never seems to affect humans but does affect animals. One day Tabby sees the ghost of a woman. Does she have the answers to her father’s death? And soon after an uncommonly handsome (possibly Asian) blue-hair, blue-eyed stranger appears and disappears out of thin air. What does this mean? Tabby is not one to let this question go unanswered and finds herself thrown into a magical realm that might have more questions than answers.
A fun aged 10 and up realistic fantasy graphic novel adventure.
