Customer Reviews

Elfquest 02: The Quest Begins

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This is the second book in the series. Written in text form, it covers book 2 of the graphic art series. It is, if anything, even richer and better written than the first book in the text series. The book covers what happens to the Wolfrider elves after they settle down with the desert elves. After a traumatic encounter with stray humans, the Wolfrider chief decides to see if he can find other elves to unite them against what is clearly becoming a major problem -- human invasion of the elves' homes.

The idea is simple, but mythic. Covering much land, the questing elves run into not-so-hostile trolls and friendly humans of various sorts, forcing them to go against their grain in many ways. As usual, the writing is lush and descriptive, painting evocative pictures with words. Elves are more than capable of bigotry, false assumptions, and violence, as well as fear and hesitation. One elf has to confront his longstanding hatred of humans; another has to confront her terrible fear of the unknown. The conflicts set up in this novel are amazing to watch unfold.

Best of all, the novel stands on its own easily. It expands very much on what happened in the graphic novel, to the point that it doesn't feel like a novelization at all. I would suggest this book wholeheartedly both to people who don't own the graphic novels, and to those wishing to learn more about what happened in the graphic novels.