Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Trippy, fine-lined ink drawings, with creatures looking like something out of The Yellow Submarine, set the tone of this idiosyncratic take on fairy tales. Beaked, scale-covered Aglaia is an oceanide, but she's been banished from her father's underwater kingdom for getting pregnant, and she finds herself in an inhospitable country ruled by a megalomaniacal tyrant who punishes single mothers. To protect her, Mr. Kite, a kind, catlike circus owner, marries her, and for a while, things are fine. But when the tyrant captures Aglaia's daughters, she quickly seeks her revenge and, in doing so, accidentally becomes the new leader. Simon's artful comic has many fairy-tale elements, but she compellingly undercuts those moments with realistic human fallibility. Aglaia never finds a happy ending, her daughters are basically forgotten, and she can be rather heartless. Her animal character designs add to the fantasy feel, but their sometimes-menacing expressions and aging, haggard appearances by the end reveal even more of their human characteristics. Readers might search for parable or meaning, and Simon hints at them when she touches on feminism, revolution, and the nature of power and corruption. But she resists a tidy message or resolution, instead landing on a whimper of an ending, which is both heartbreaking and all too believable. Haunting, odd, and sharp, this will appeal to lovers of literary comics.--Sarah Hunter Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This bizarre and beautiful fantasy weaves mythological storytelling with references to music and literature as it follows the rise and fall of a mighty sea nymph, Aglaia. Simon (Marx, Freud & Einstein: Heroes of the Mind) draws a surrealistic landscape in black-and-white, where her animalistic creatures almost blend into the detailed backgrounds, in settings like a busy circus, a blank landscape full of holes, or an intricate and detailed palace. In the beginning, Aglaia lives in a simple grove with her sisters but longs for more adventure. One day, she meets a flighty merman whom she hopes can provide a little excitement in her life. Unfortunately, after impregnating her, he is never seen again. Her father banishes her to the outside world, where she joins a traveling circus and marries the ringmaster, and gives birth to three girls (whom she shows little interest in thereafter). When the tyrannical king kidnaps her daughters to make them his household servants and concubines, Aglaia rallies to rescue them and overthrows the monarch. Aglaia rises in power, liberating the world's women to become their queen, only to fall once more in disgrace. Her story is told in the style of an epic Greek hero myth like those of Heracles and Odysseus, unfolding in vignettes and left with an open ending. This expertly woven saga of triumph and disappointment explores human relationships, connections, and what women must do to survive. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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