Fables: the deluxe edition, book one

Fables: the deluxe edition, book one by Bill Willingham, 264 pages

So what would happen if all the fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters we grew up with were actually real and living in secret in New York? Bill Willingham's Fables series explores just that situation. In his series, the fabled characters have been exiled from their homeland by the ominous Adversary and are trying, in a very Harry Potter-esque way, to live among the regular folks (the mundys) without showing their true identities.

The first book of this deluxe edition, Legends in Exile, reads something like a parlor murder mystery, with Fabletown sheriff Bigby Wolf leading the investigation. It's fairly light-hearted and serves the purpose of introducing the series' main characters. The second book, Animal Farm, however, dives straight into what is sure to become the main conflict of the series — a war between the fables and the Adversary. Or maybe it's a civil war between the human fables and non-humans. I haven't read far enough into the series to really find out. All I know is that Goldilocks is not the sweet confused girl we know from the nursery rhyme.

I'm mid-way through book 3 right now, and I'm very much enjoying the series. Meanwhile, my husband's on book 10 or 11, and I'm doing everything I can to keep him from telling me what's coming up next. Hopefully, it won't take me long to catch up with him.