The City on the Other Side

The City on the Other Side is a story where there aren't many good or bad creatures, but instead good or bad choices, making this adventure a fun story with a warm heart.

Featuring a diverse cast of humans (brown-skinned Isabel and her family seem to be Latinx) and fairies, Robinson's colorful, dynamic artwork crackles with spirited fun and portrays San Francisco and its fairy-realm equivalent in broad, evocative panels.

Gr 4-7--Isabel, a young Latinx girl in early 20th-century San Francisco, becomes embroiled in a war between the Seelie and Unseelie fairy courts in this historical fiction/fantasy graphic novel. After the disappearance of his daughter and heir, the Seelie king is losing the war, and he sends a messenger with a powerful and mysterious necklace that was stolen from Coscar, the Unseelie king. Meanwhile, in the human world, Isabel has been sent to the country to stay with her easily distracted artist father while her high-society mother travels in Europe. When Isabel stumbles into the fairy realm and finds the fatally injured messenger, she takes up the quest to find a Seelie general on the fairy side of San Francisco and deliver the necklace. Aiding Isabel in her mission are Button, a small, mushroom-headed Seelie fairy, and Benjie, a Filipino boy of uncertain loyalties who has moved between the fairy and human worlds since he was orphaned during the 1906 earthquake. The characters are nuanced for a mostly plot-driven adventure story, especially the Unseelie fairies, who develop beyond flat antagonists. The illustrations are dynamic, with panels varying in size and scale to keep up with the fast-paced plot. The detailed backgrounds are helpful in clarifying the switches between the more realistic human world and the whimsical fairy realm. VERDICT Recommended for any library serving middle grade graphic novel fans.--Kacy Helwick, New Orleans Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Isabel, the cosseted daughter of a San Francisco socialite, comes into possession of a magical necklace with a jewel-like heart that shields her from harm. It belongs to Seelie fairy princess Id'naress, and Isabel agrees to help return it before it falls into the hands of the evil Coscar, an Unseelie prince. As she and her sidekick, Benjie, evade one capture attempt after another, Isabel breaks free of her sheltered upbringing. Turn-of-the-20th-century San Francisco is reimagined as a city with a double existence--human civilization and fairy realm--while the 1906 earthquake functions as fallout from the fairy war. Swirling, Art Deco-flavored artwork by Robinson (The Civil War Handbook) offers a wealth of fairy splendor. Scott (Science Comics: Robots and Drones: Past, Present, and Future) crafts a story that operates smoothly and stays taut, though fairy characters lean to the archetypal, from the sneering Coscar ("Give it to me or be destroyed") to the noble Id'naress ("This war was not my desire"). There's freshness in the nonwhite main roles--Isabel is Latina and Benjie is Filipino--though the focus stays on the book's fantasy rather than on culture. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)

Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"This will be a sure hit among Avatar: The Last Airbender readers, and it could also serve as a first-time foray into GNs for faerie fans."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books