It is rather like Margaret Hodges' Merlin and the Making of the King, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, a novel with illustrations that enhance the work (as opposed to a novel with set illustrations)--even more so since on several occasions, Lynch's illustrations cover a full page.
It isn't a case where the illustrations take okay text to another level, however. Colfer's text is beautifully rendered. The classic tropes--3 tasks--may at first seem simplistic, and there is nothing wrong with that!--but in fact, a sense of fleeting joy, pathos without dread, suffuses the narrative. It did not go exactly where I expected yet was satisfying nonetheless.
A dragon, as mentioned earlier, is a meta figure. The dragon, Lasvarg, has a definite rough and someone sardonic personality (one could see him being played by Timothy Omundson). Within the story, he operates as a full character. Yet at the end, he gains a memory that puts him beyond the tale. The memory isn't delivered in a heavy-handed manner. Colfer is too good a storyteller. Still, the sense of dragon as judge (and storyteller) remains.
Highly recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment