The Mean Seasons is a solid follow-up to The March of the Wooden Soldiers. After the Battle of Fabletown, we get a nice expositional episode that ties up a few loose ends: Snow White gives birth, there's a regime change in Fabletown politics, and we get to see behind the scenes into Bigby's operations as Sheriff of Fabletown.

We also get treated to a scene from the past, from Bigby's time serving in World War II.

And some new threads are also introduced: there's a serial killer on the loose in Fabletown, we meet Bigby's father: the North Wind, and Fabletown comes to the cusp of war with the Adversary.

There's a lot of good exposition in this volume, and I appreciated the character development. Willingham continues to introduce plenty of new characters into the story, but doesn't do so at the cost of putting any of the original starring cast on the backburner.

All in all, it's a solid volume, and it made me eager to read the next one.