Amy Unbounded: Belondweg Blossoming

The subtly wry humor and wit of this collection will charm even the most hidebound traditionalist. There are echoes of Dickens, Austen, even Chaucer here. Hartman's characters, lively on their own and only in text, vibrantly dance with solidly human expression across the panels of this graphic novel. Amy herself is a heroine cut from the same fabric as Anne Shirley, Hermione Granger, Dorothy Gale, Lessa, and, as Linda Medley points out in her nostalgic introduction, Jo March; yet uniquely a 21st Century girl living in a mostly medieval fantasy. This is absolutely the book for those who shun and dismiss the graphic novel as a legitimate literary form; minds will change! A must-have for any comic art or graphic novel collection, readers of Neil Gaiman, Terri Windling, Ellen Datlow, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Patricia Wrede, and Anne McCaffrey, to mention only the merest few, will love this effort. We must have more from Ms. Hartman and soon.

I love Belondweg Blossoming, I wish there were ten more books just like it. I'm showing it to all my friends and making them buy copies!I love the characters -- real people, good people, with complex lives that have profundity and humor. I love the drawings. I love the writing -- poetic, real, able to spin that web of good literature, where the words feel magical.This is great! I'm in love! (With Foughfaugh, gosh what a hunk!)

I borrowed this book knowing nothing about Amy Unbounded, but after the first two chapters I was hooked. It is deceptively simple at first: a fun and interesting story told by a child who doesn't necessarily pick up on all the subtleties of the adults' conversations around her. Though I enjoyed reading the book the first time from Amy's perspective, I enjoyed re-reading it even more when I knew what to look for.I highly recommend this book. It may take a chapter or two to keep the characters straight (the guide at the beginning helps) but once the story gets going it's very enjoyable!I immediately sought out the prequel mini-comics so I could find out how it all started. Hopefully they'll also be released as a matching book some day...

I'm not a big fan of graphic novels, or comics in general. But when a friend told me that Hartman's "Amy Unbounded" had the literary merit of Dickens, in spite of being full of cartoons, I had to try it.First of all, this is not a cheap flimsy comic. This is a *thick*, 200+ page paperback, professionally bound and printed. It's the sort of thing meant to keep for years, or give as a gift."Amy Unbounded" tells the story of a somewhat precocious 10-year old girl living in the fictional medieval land of Goredd. Amy's friends include Bran the Icky Boy Next Door, a scholarly dragon travelling incognito, her uncle the exiled knight, and a plethora of fascinating Goreddis.Through the eyes of young Amy we see the hopes, disappointments, limitations, and human character of women and men living in a medieval society.In spite of its fictional setting, the book seems packed with extremely well-researched tidbits on medieval life, farming, clothing, and society.I approached this work as a novel, and not as a comic book. The story is outstandingly strong on its own. But for those who are more visually oriented will enjoy the carefully rendered artwork.I would give this book an even higher rating if the web site would let me!