Charles Vess

Rebellious teenager Janet is rescued from harm by a man riding a Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle, and then it turns out that her knight in shining armor is actually a knight in the Otherworld, at the court of the Faerie Queen. Alas for him, the Queen has gone mad, and it is the knight’s quest to find her and heal her, with the help of the mortal Janet and her family…. Charles Vess is well-known to fantasy readers as one of the premier artists of that genre, gracing the works of modern masters with his amazing art; this is his first foray into writing in the field. The story is a modern retelling of the folk tale Tam Lin, with a few sly nods to that story’s history (I particularly liked his hommage to Richard Thompson, who as a member of Fairport Convention recorded a version of “Tam Lin” and who in his solo career had a lovely song about a motorcycle called “Vincent Black Lightning” - I was proud of catching that reference until I saw that Mr. Vess mentioned it specifically in his acknowledgements). There is some repetition in the book, particularly with respect to Janet’s poor vocabulary and her relationship to her father, but those are minor quibbles in a generally enchanting book. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Vess’s work in the future, although I would hope that he would also illustrate his own writing (not done in the e-book version here); recommended!… (més)