Quest's End (Elfquest Graphic Novel, Book 4) [Hardcover]

Richard Pini (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Warp Graphics Pubns; Revised edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936861150
• ISBN-13: 978-0936861159
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,895,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The culmination of the Quest, revisited, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Elfquest Reader's Collection #4: Quest's End (Paperback)

For the first time since the original Elfquest story was released as a 20-issue series (from 1978 to 1984), it has been published in the original black-and-white format; the new Reader's Collection printing of Book 4 includes issues 16 to 20 (the last five), dealing with the elves' campaign to wrest control of their ancestral home, the Palace of the High Ones, from a hostile, heavily armed tribe of trolls.

By now much ink has been devoted to the originality and emotional conviction of the Pinis' tale, and of course Wendy's artistic skills need no further explanation. However, it is good to see, once again, the sheer quality - and expressiveness - of the artist's pencil-work as originally presented; some of this was obscured by the mediocre coloring of the editions published since the late Eighties (quite unlike the elegant coloring-work of the earlier Donning versions of the first four volumes, still worth having after all these years).

It has been said many times before, but it should be said, again, that the Pinis demonstrate their storytelling prowess by breaking the conventions of fantasy fiction; most importantly, the fulfillment of the quest is seen to be costly, even in the loss both of lives and innocence; and the battle, though necessary for the elves to reach their goal, is not their be-all and end-all - the truly life-changing events lie further ahead. The climax of this story possesses a nuance and thoughtfulness worthy of "real" fiction, and this, even more than the superlative artwork, gives the tale its substance and emotional power.

A final note on the presentation: some printing errors have unfortunately crept into this Reader's Collection book (as they also have in volumes 5 and 12a (the first printing only) of the series) - many pages are out of their proper order, so if you are new to EQ, try to find and earlier edition of Book 4 to enable yourself to follow the plot correctly. That caution aside, it is good to have the original EQ storyline again - now priced to gain a new audience.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST work ever produced from the "Elfquest" couple!, April 8, 2000

By 

R. Garcia "Beeyotch" (Brockport, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elfquest Reader's Collection #4: Quest's End (Paperback)

Believe me, you just won't believe this! This is the most skillfully drawn and written part of the whole "Elfquest" series next to the part about the adventures in the Blue Mountain. In fact, you won't see anything like this ever again in any Elfquest tales, nor even the future ones yet to come, I suspect. The great epic of war against the bloodthirsty Trolls of the Great White North begins right after the imprisonment of elves in the Blue Mountain by the witchlike Winnowill - a real teeth-rattling clash of so many different characters, old or new with their individual personalities and differences. In additional, a whole galaxy of the fantastic environment on the far-off World of Two Moons really opens up for the very first time to your mortal human eyes - from the monstrous labyrinth of the Troll lair to the shimmering walls of the long-lost Palace of the High Ones - with a whole bagful of earth-shaking surprises to boot! If you already have this rare book or are lucky enough to get your hands on a copy, I sincerely promise you that you just won't be able to put it down, nor read it just once!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best powerful elfquest book of the original series!, July 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Quest's End (Elfquest Graphic Novel, Book 4) (Hardcover)

I think that ElfQuest #4 is the best book of the original four. I also think it is the best book because it's the conclusion. I've read also "The Secret of Two Edge" and it also is a very important book. In this graphic novel we see Rayek, and he tells the story of how he grew in the arts of the High Ones. His friend Ekuar,the rock shaper, teaches Rayek how to float himself. Cutter and the Wolfriders find the palace of the High Ones after a battle with the trolls to regain it. Two Edge returns in this book and the Wolfriders and the Go-Backs find his 'Golden Hoard' which really is armor: they use it to battle the trolls.