Gr. 8 and up

Things are terribly wrong in 16-year-old Rue’s life. Her mother has disappeared under dubious circumstances and her father is an emotional wreck, and when one of her father’s students is found murdered, suspicion falls upon him. If that weren’t bad enough, Rue keeps seeing odd creatures all around – creatures with wings, horns, or pointy ears that seem to be masquerading as “ordinary” teenagers.

It turns out that, thanks to her mother, Rue is half-faerie, and this is the crux of this More...

Although I do not normally read graphic novels I won a copy of Holly Black's Kin as part of my prize package from a contest on Brooke Taylor's blog. I'm so glad Brooke introduced me to this graphic novel because I probably wouldn't have found it any other way.

Rue Silver's mother has disappeared and when a student at the local college is murdered Rue's father becomes a suspect in both cases. As Rue struggles with her mother's disappearance and wonders whether her father was involved, she begins More...

Rue's mother disappears, and her father is arrested as a suspect for the murder of one of his students, and for the murder of his wife. Since that time, Rue has begun to see fey creatures. She soon discovers that her mother is a fairy, and the murdered student was a swan maiden- whose feathered coat was stolen. A broken promise caused Rue's mother to disappear, and now Rue has to figure out what it is her grandfather has planned for her, and what the truth about her father, mother, and the murde More...

Rue Silver's mother disappeared over three weeks ago and her father is being blamed for the murder of one of his students. Through all of this, Rue seeks out her family's past only to discover that their history is darker than she had imagined. When she realizes that her mother is a faerie, and that the strange people that she has been seeing aren't just coming from her imagination, Rue accepts that her life has changed for good. In the first of three books, 'The Good Neighbors, Book One - Kin' More...

Appeal Characteristics: Stunning Harsh Graphics, Diverse Characters, Faeries, Friendship, Drama, Angst, Relationships, Family, School, I-See-Dead-People



I read this trilogy in one night. I loved the concept and it just reminded me of sooo many different stories...I'd be here all night. This could definitely be a Melissa Marr read-a like...or even the less, lusty version of Laura Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. Anyway, you like faeries and Holly Black...then it's a win situation! I even liked the More...

This story just pulls you right in, and refuses to let you go. And, you keep wanting more....also wanting to know what will happen next.
I had never read any of Holly Black's books before, while I had heard lots of people say that they are always amazing. This series just goes to prove it. I am almost through reading book 2, and I absolutely do not want this 3-book series to end.
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Rue is like any other normal young adult, except that she and her friends like to drink a ton More...

You know what I am tired of? I'm tired of books that have pretty tinkerbelle fairies in them, that imagine the Fae to be these wonderful dancing little sprites who do only good and delight humans...

That is not the Fae *I* know... nor the Fae held in ancient legends.

THIS is a book that depicts the Fae races as they always were in the OLD myths... but it is a story set in modern times!

What child doesn't dream of waking up and finding out he or she is REALLY something wonderful and supernatural??

Ye More...

(note: I reviewed the trilogy together. What follows is a response to the three.)

Holly Black creates a complicated story of love and betrayal and it is necessarily dark. That the story is told in a trilogy is perfect because The Good Neighbors is all about threes; triangles are everywhere. It also all about two: author & illustrator.

In the first book, Rue Silver discovers a past that has been kept secret. In the second, the conflicts rise up to meet her in the present, with the consequences More...

"Long ago, mortals called us the fair folk, the people of peace, the good neighbors.

They called us these things not because we were fear or peaceful or good, but because they feared us.

As they should."

I really liked this graphic novel. The story line was amazing, and Rue is an inquisitive character who keeps probing to understand what is going on in her life. If this story had been written in prose format, I don't think it would have captivated my interest as much. The visuals truly made the b More...

Everything was fine, normal even, except for the fact that Rue's mother has disappeared. Missing for over three weeks with no place to go, Rue can't imagine where she has gone to. But more disturbing then that is the things Rue has been seeing, things she shouldn't be seeing; things with wings, sharp teeth, pointy ears and claws. Rue was going crazy, but besides that everything was fine, normal even.

Then the police arrived to take her father away. A student of his was dead and with her mother mi More...

This is my very first graphic novel, I know it is very hard to believe but it is. I have never before read a graphic novel or manga. I was just never interested in reading them, but I was at my local library and I saw the graphic novel section and though what the hell. I really did not know where to start so I just browsed not looking for anything specific. I came across this book, I new the author so I though I will give it a chance. I checked all three books out.

I am actually impressed, I real More...

This is the first book in series of graphic novels called "The Good Neighbors" by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh. Looks like right now there are going to be three books. The second one is called "Kith" and it is already out. The third will be called "Kind" and will be out in 2010. I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot. Both the artwork and the story are very engaging.

Rue's mom has disappeared and her dad has been accused of murdering one of his students. As if this isn't bad enough Rue is starting to s More...

Rue starts right off the bat by telling us she doesn't worry about anything. She doesn't worry about her mother who has been missing for 3 weeks, she doesn't worry about her dad who has gone into a stupor since her mother disappeared, and she doesn't worry that she might be going crazy. That's why she's seeing all of these weird things and impossible beings, right?

But when her dad is accused of not one, but two murders, and a previously unknown grandfather shows up, she knows she has to dig a bi More...

***My review is for both books 1 and 2***
I received these goodies from Scholastic to review. These are the first graphic novels I've read. I have to say that despite that I'm not a graphic novel reader, they were good. Holly's story line stays true to her form of the traditional faeries. Ted Naifeh's art work really set the mood for the books. This is a new series for Holly and I believe it's going to be a three book series.

The story follows Rue, who's mother has disappeared, her father's been More...

While I read graphic novels more for the story than for the artwork, I do realize that they are generally short stories that move quickly through the paces. So, I try not to pick on the parts that would normally be a flaw in storytelling within a novel. This book does have several of those jumps that make it hard for me to rationalize the story.

All of that aside, the idea of the story is what is best about this book. I am a fan of Holly Black’s other works and her storytelling skills carry over More...

I've always enjoyed Naifeh's art, and here, as he plays with ink washes and sexier character designs than before, his work is as gorgeous as ever. The design of main character is a dead ringer for Angela in My So Called Life -- coincidence? Holly Black's faerie story is well told, but in this flood of faerie fiction, it just feels ordinary. Rue is a pretty typical YA fantasy heroine, and the faerie characters we meet map to pretty familiar tropes. I'd be more forgiving of that if the human cast More...

A teenage girl finds out she is part Faery. Sound familiar? That's because it has occurred in scores of YA fantasies, including earlier works by this same author. As a story, this is fine, but all the elements were too familiar to me from previous reading. Turning it into a graphic novel is a somewhat novel approach, but I wasn't that impressed by the execution of the artwork. The drawing style suits the story, but the many of the characters looked too much the same, and too old for high school. More...

I really enjoyed the The Spiderwick Chronicles Box Set while my children were reading them, so when I saw this at the library I had to try it.

It was the same premise except that the age she was writing for has gone up to about 15-18. The illustrations were beautiful. Not on par with Brian Froud, but certainly in the same style. Because the premise of the book is a girl finding out as a teen that she's a fairie, she begins to see the fairie world all around her. It was fun to pour over the illust More...

***My review is for both books together***
I received these goodies from Scholastic to review. These are the first graphic novels I've read. I have to say that despite that I'm not a graphic novel reader, they were good. Holly's story line stays true to her form of the traditional faeries. Ted Naifeh's art work really set the mood for the books. This is a new series for Holly and I believe it's going to be a three book series.

The story follows Rue, who's mother has disappeared, her father's been More...

New Holly Black fey book - graphic novel even! (waring, only the first in a series *le sigh*)
Story is pretty good, kinda standard, but it is an introduction... "outsider" teenage girl finds out she's (half) fey, father broke a promise to fairy princess mother - mom took off. But there's some other odd "murder" that her father is linked to... and suddenly she's thrust into the world of fairy.

Has an interesting artist... beautiful and dark - but a bit inconsistent: am I the only one who notices h More...

With the help of illustrator Ted Naifeh, Holly Black has built another Faerie world for us to love. The first book of the Good Neighbors, Kin, begins the unraveling of a mystery (he disappearance of her mother) - which, of course, leads to a few other mysteries (Did her father kill her? And who is her mother, really?) that our main character, Rue Silver, has to follow to fruition. The problem with the mystery element of Black's narrative is that it is too fast-paced. There is no breathing room f More...

Things I didn't know about The Good Neighbors before picking it up from the library:

1) It was even out yet.

2) It was a graphic novel.

A graphic novel from Holly Black seems something like a no-brainer, and certainly the end result is pretty solid, though not as quite as fun as I would have expected.

It reads a bit like a graphic novel version of Holly Black's YA novels (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside) and a lot like a graphic novel version of what a World of Darkness (or, more appropriately, Changeling) More...

Thompson, Colin The Floods: Good Neighbors, pgs.210 HarperCollins Childrens books. Language~PG, Sexual Content~G; Violence~PG;

This is the first book in a new series. This family’s story is a mix between The Series of Unfortunate Events and the Adam’s Family. The Floods are almost the exact copy of the Adam’s Family. The family consists of a beautiful dark mother, a slightly dumb father, and several weird children one of which is completely covered in hair like Thing. Opposite of what the title More...

The illustrations made this book. If I don't like illustrations in a graphic novel, I don't even bother with it, but this is the first graphic novel I've read where I felt like the illustrations were even stronger than the story. I don't particularly care about Rue or many of the characters, but I'll definitely read on because the illustrations created such a compelling world and I want to see more of it. Also, people of colour! It's silly to applaud something as basic as realistic representatio More...

Generally I stay away from the teen graphic novels because they just don't seem to live up to my expectations. However, last weekend despite my previous let downs I borrowed sever teen graphc novels. This happened to be one of them.

Now I've never read any of Holly Black's other works, but I have heard very mixed reviews but the general consensus has seemed to be that she's an "alright" author. Not good and not bad but smack dab in the middle.

I was hoping that I would be in the minority of those More...

This is another Graphic Novel series I accidentally stumbled upon at the library and I’m so happy that I did. The story is dark, mysterious and filled with fae :0) I loved it!

A young girl named Rue hears her parents fight one night and wakes up the next day to find her mother missing. Three weeks later her mother is still missing and her father has yet to leave the house, and she’s starting to notice some strange things around town. Is she going crazy, or is the world crazy? Rue starts to see cr More...

This graphic novel is amazing! The story's interesting and throws you into the uncertain life of Rue Silver after her mother disappears. It's filled with great characters, many secrets, twists and turns, as well as an amazing array of faerie hiding from the average human eye. And my gosh! The art is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Every frame, every page is filled with beautiful, realistic-looking art. The fact that it's printed in black and white makes it so much more mysterious.

I absolutely LOV More...

The Good Neighbors: Kin (Book One) combines two of my current obsessions, young adult literature and graphic novels! I haven't read many if any fairy/faerie books so this was a nice introduction. While I didn't totally understand all the faerie lore hopefully understanding will come as the series progresses. Kin introduces several plot lines, from two possible murders, to a suspicious and probably dangerous grandfather to a boyfriend that may or may not have Rue's back.

I loved the gritty feel th More...

Em's Review: Life as Rue knows it has been drastically changing. Her mother has disappeared, her father is arrested on suspicion of murder, vines are overgrowing buildings throughout the city, and Rue is seeing things. Is she going crazy or is the world? Good Neighbors refers to faeries, beings which I must admit I know little about. Apparently back in the day they were referred to as good neighbors or people of peace. According to Rue’s maternal grandfather, who attempts to take temporary custo More...