A charming and enjoyable fairy story that a very welcome edge. Two thieves, Blaise and Lassart make a fine living in the town of Sherbourg. Then they find that someone else is getting to their targets ahead of them, a very capable thief who is also robbing from people who have paid protection to to Blaise and Lassart. They hset out to discover who the thief is and when they do they realise that there is much more going on that they had thought.
Eric Menge uses the genre of charming rogues who find that they are playing for higher stakes than they had counted on to great effect by confidently making the rogues rather less charming and rather more thoroughly criminal. They are professional thieves, they may be able to be charming, they are also professionally hard and willing to act harshly to achieve their aims. This gives the story a greater bite and force and means that those who are equally professionally putting pressure on Blaise and Lassart are a genuine threat. Putting the new thief into this mix is skillfully done, a very different motivation pushes the story nicely and sets up the story possibilities in a very engaging and enjoyable way.
The art is engaging and enjoyable, the faux historical context is drawn with detail and energy, this is a costume adventure story with taverns, merchant houses and tricorn hats. Brittany Michel takes advantages of the possibilities to dress the cast with care and the relevant details are provided to ensure that the action is always given the setting it needs. The cast are strongly individual and full of expressive personality, they move through the context with physical force and speed. The fairy tale elements are very nicely integrated within the story and they do not overwhelm or undermine the story.The colours capture the tone of the story with subtle care and give the details of the story shape and clarity.
The creators confidently mix genres and drive the story with deep skill, balancing the elements so that the reader is engaged and charmed while the story has enough depth and possibilities to leave them waning to see how it will unfurl.
