Kin ~ Holly Black and Ted Naifeh

"Hey everyone! Guess what? Faeries are real! Totally real and all around you. You know, Faeries. The Little People. The People of Peace. The Good Neighbours. We're going to take over your town."

Series: The Good Neighbours: Book One

Published: 2008

Pages: 117

Where I got it from: Library

Format: Graphic Novel

First Line: "My name is Rue, like Kangaroo or like "You'll rue the day we met, mwa-ha-ha!"

~*~

Rue Silver doesn't worry. Not ever. It's pointless, and only makes a person feel sick. So when her mom disappears for weeks, and her dad sits at home doing nothing, she's not worried. When she starts seeing strange creatures that no one else can see? Nope. Still not worried. But she doesn't have to be worried to find out the truth. And when her father is taken in as a murder suspect for the disappearance of one of his students as well as his wife, Rue knows it's time to stop ignoring the hallucinations that might not be hallucinations. The strange world that's always been just next door, filled with not-so-good neighbours.

~*~

I don't really know how I feel about this book. It was well put together, and the art was neat, but it just didn't grab me like I thought it would. I mean, faeries? Missing mothers? Swans??! How could this not be awesome?

But yeah. Just didn't do it for me.

I'm a little bit jaded, I think, because of how many times I've read the girl-secretly-faerie story. Rue was a good character, and I especially loved her friends, and the strange faerie boy who helps her! But I wasn't really sympathetic with her problems, or her mother and father's relationship, or the missing girl's brother. At all. I just didn't FEEL for them.

On the other hand, this was the first book. It had a lot to do in terms of setting up the plot, the backstory, and the world. Both worlds. When it was done, I DID have a good firm foundation about these things. And I will totally read the second book!

The art was good for the story, I think. The grayscale ink drawings are all angular and have a goth/punk/grunge feel to them. It made the story feel down to earth and gritty, without taking it too far.

And I LOVED the Spiderwick Cameo! :D

Overall, I think I'd give it two and a half stars.

~*~

Some Good Quotes:

Lucy: "I need a quadruple shot. I want my blood to run black with java."

Rue: "Do you know where she went? My mother? Did something happen to her?"
Tam: "Over the river and through the woods."

Aubrey: "Control that, Tam."

Tam: "Sorry."

Justin: "This is the part in the movie where that guy says, "Zombies? What zombies?" just before they eat his brains. I don't want to be that guy."