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Liked It “I'm so glad that I was recommended this book! Castle Waiting is the story of what happens have Sleeping Beauty's curse is broken and she and her prince take off, leaving the castle and all those townfolk who have been sleeping for the past several years. The castle becomes a haven for strange...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Collects first 12 issues of the Castle Waiting comic, which combines likeable illustrative style, fairy tale mythology, feminism, and gentle humor. A nice world to be in while you're there, but you might not feel compelled to stay? Many questions remain unanswered by the end of this collection, but I didn't want to seek out remaining comics to find out answers. ”
Karam wrote this review 13 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Wonderful illustrations, but the story is disjointed. It is really several stories with a very loose connection (the castle). Part fairy tale, part circus story. Not at all predictable, but wordy at times for a graphic novel.”
Annie O wrote this review Thursday, November 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Different - it begins as a twist on the Sleeping Beauty tale and morphs into a vignette of tales that revolve around many things, including: pregnancy, birth, bearded nuns, demons, friendship, love...
chodgens wrote this review Sunday, October 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Castle Waiting is waiting for you.”
“It was okay, I mean I am still pretty confused on a lot of things, but I think it is a series. Um, the drawings were really good though, and I think some people would troughly enjoy this novel”
Reading in the Rain F wrote this review Thursday, June 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Castle Waiting looks like it's going to be a novel ... then you open it, and it's a graphic novel! This book is the only thing like it I've ever read, and that's saying something, as I"m a fan of graphic novels, fairy tales, and fantasy, and this book combines all three. The book is about a castle filled with characters with varying backgrounds and histories, all of whom have come to Castle Waiting because they need to seek refuge. I highly recommend this lovely tale.”
Sara G wrote this review Thursday, April 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“From RA for ALL:http://raforall.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-im-reading-february-2009.html
Becky S. wrote this review Monday, March 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This month I also picked up the graphic novel, Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. This volume is a collection of comics which begins with a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and evolves into a modern fable about an abandoned castle and its eccentric inhabitants. Many reviews say that this work is a "feminist fairy tale." I don't know if I agree, but it does use the fairy tale format to tell the story of strong, independent women who do not need to be saved, instead they save themselves with the help of wonderful friends. I was completely engrossed by this graphic novel and could not put it down for the few hours it took me to read it.
I do have to warn readers though that although the ending resolves the major plot points, overall, the end has an very open feel. I still had many questions about the characters and situations that were evolving throughout the book. Some readers may be turned off by this. But on the plus side, this graphic novel is completely acceptable for adults and young adults.
Jane Yolen wrote a wonderful introduction to my edition of Castle Waiting, and I would highly suggest any of her novels to readers who enjoyed this graphic novel. Try Yolen's own unique retelling of Sleeping Beauty as a holocaust survivor's tale in Briar Rose. I also thought of Robin McKinley's numerous retold fairy tale novels as I was reading Medley's book. Try Rose Daughter, McKinley's retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I also really like Just Ella, an after-the-happily-ever-after retelling of Cinderella by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Finally, don't forget about The Princess Bride either the movie or the novel by William Goldman.
In terms of other graphic novels which I would suggest to readers of Castle Waiting there is the popular Bone series by Jeff Smith beginning with Out From Boneville or Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham which according to NoveList, "(P)resents the back stories of storybook and nursery rhyme characters who live side-by-side with humans."”“I'm so glad that I was recommended this book! Castle Waiting is the story of what happens have Sleeping Beauty's curse is broken and she and her prince take off, leaving the castle and all those townfolk who have been sleeping for the past several years. The castle becomes a haven for strange characters who share their own stories with the reader and each other.
Bonnie S wrote this review Monday, October 13 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I hadn't heard of this series before and got my hands on the gorgeous, hardbound collection. You really do feel like you're picking up an old book of fairy tales. While I liked the entire cast of characters, I loved Sister Peace and the Solicitine nuns. An order of kick-ass bearded nuns may just be the best thing I've ever heard of. The artwork is well done and can look fairly simple while actually being very detailed.
I didn't realize that this was a continuing story (or at least, it was recontinued recently) until I finished and realized I'd only heard Sister Peace's story. I can't wait to read more. If you want to read something like The Canterbury Tales, but with magic and a little less bawdiness (no one has a hot poker shoved where the sun don't shine). I can't recommend this enough!”
“(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
jasonpettus wrote this review Tuesday, September 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Like any self-respecting obsessive book nerd, at any given moment I'm actually in the process of reading three or four books simultaneously; there is the deeper and more complex novel, for example, that I will read only at a cafe during the day, a less complex one I read in more distracting environments like the bus, some giant nonfiction book that I will read only a page or two at a time in the bathroom, and then of course whatever book I'm reading in bed those days, which by definition tends to usually be the lightest and least consequential of them all, since I'm always falling asleep while reading it. And thus have I found myself reading more and more graphic novels these days, especially since the Chicago Public Library system started making them more of an acquisitional priority, although admittedly I don't write reviews for most of them, simply because most aren't weighty enough to justify a full analytical write-up.
Ah, but I did want to mention a delightful title I recently made my way through, comics-industry veteran Linda Medley's postmodern fairytale Castle Waiting, a self-published personal project of hers throughout the '90s that once won her the prestigious Xeric Grant. See, turns out that Medley actually studied folklore as well as illustration when in college, and so has spent a lot of time in her life asking weird questions of these old tales that other people usually don't; for example, what happened to Sleeping Beauty's kingdom once she got whisked away by Prince Charming? Turns out that this mammoth (500-page) book is what happened; the "Castle Waiting" mentioned in the title is no less than Sleeping Beauty's old castle fallen into disrepair, a semi-abandoned and semi-mythical place on the edge of the known world where all of folklore's most lovable losers have gathered, making a funky alternative life for themselves there and sharing their backstories Canterbury-Tales style.
And in fact, it's important to understand that Medley means for this entire situation to be a highly metaphorical one, reflecting her time when younger as part of the radical feminist circles of the San Francisco Bay area; these stories are not just cute and smart twists on traditional fairytales, but also a celebration of uniqueness, of alternative families, of women who don't fit the usual stereotypical feminine norms of mainstream society. (In fact, the entire last half of this book is dedicated to a story about a group of nuns who all have beards, and how they have built themselves a fortress to protect them from the abusive men they all ran away from; and if that's not a grand metaphor for a lot of what you see within radical-feminist circles in the Bay area, I don't know what is.) Sadly, financial burdens originally shut this self-published title down in 2001; happily, our friends at Fantagraphics have picked it up again as a regular series, and decided to put out this compendium of the self-published issues first to get everyone up to steam. It's a bit pricey, also a bit preachy at times; in general, though, it gets a solid recommendation from me, and especially to all you smart female genre fans who have always wanted to read a funny, warm fantasy tale written to exactly suit your particular sensibilities.
Out of 10: 8.6”
“Very interesting, it's a comic book. Enjoyed the story but now I want more, there are several subplots that the author could follow. Let's hope she does!”
Ms. McKellips wrote this review Thursday, July 31 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“smog said: 4 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Friday, December 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A graphic novel about what the "ordinary people" in the fairy tales do while the princess are being rescued. Very fun with quite witty use of fairy tale characters.”
