| Title | : | The Book of Ballads and Sagas |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1782763325 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781782763321 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1995 |
The Book of Ballads and Sagas Reviews
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Vess adapts a series of songs and folktales from English, Irish, and Scottish traditions. Each comic has the original verse in the end. Some are really faithful adaptations and just provide illustrations for the verse, others are much more interpretative (one having the action happening in the modern world).
All have Vess's trademark pen line in wonderful B+W but the art style varies as well. I really like when Vess goes full fantasy on us.
Nothing really stood out. I think I prefer Vess as an illustrator as opposed to a comic artist. -
This is a difficult book to rate. It would be 5 stars easily for the art, and perhaps 3 stars for the writing. If it were simply the art and the text of the ballads themselves it would likely be a higher rating altogether. What the book is, unfortunately, is not just that, though. It's something altogether a bit different.
This book holds within it the text of many traditional ballads, along with a rather jarring bit of Norse saga stories near the tail end that I still don't quite understand. Every story within it contains a comic that's retelling the story - sometimes through a different lens, sometimes not.
Charles Vess provides the illustrations throughout and they are truly breathtakingly beautiful things. The line drawings bring to mind woodcuts or old horror comics - they are detailed and evocative. Just great. The comics themselves, though...
Some made the stories interesting and a bit more inventive. They provided some context and made them their own things. More often, unfortunately, the stories were just... word for word the ballad. It seemed superfluous and odd. Just didn't quite do it for me. I'm not entirely certain what the value of it really was.
At any rate, it was an interesting introduction to ballads for anyone unfamiliar with them. Just a bit odd way to do it. Definitely leaf through it for the art if given a chance. "Tam Lin," "The Black Fox," and "Thomas the Rhymer" are well worth reading in my book. "Skade" just confused me a great deal. -
This was a very interesting graphic novel.
It's not something I probably would have picked up myself - it was a gift, and I was very excited when I opened it!
The art isn't my typical graphic novel art aesthetic, but it was very reminiscent of the classic fairytale-type art, so it made it more interesting to me. The idea that these all follow songs was endearing, too.
I enjoyed it, but would have never gotten it for myself.
Don't judge this book by that fact - pick it up, you might learn some interesting things!
You also cannot deny that this has a killer cast of authors - Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and more?
They know their stuff. It was lovely.
Thank you, Ben. -
The art in this was lovely, and it was interesting getting some insight into the ballads that served as source material. But the introduction and the bonus art were my favorite parts. I wanted more from the individual stories.
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Llevaba más de 20 años deseando leer este tebeo y se ajusta a lo esperado: Vess, en ocasiones acompañado por profesionales de postín (Yolen, De Lint, Gaiman...), recrea una serie de baladas clásicas anglosajonas a las que incorpora alguna propia. El texto suele ser el original, adaptado para sincronizarse con el fluir de las viñetas. Generalmente funcionan mejor aquellas donde se deja ayudar con los guiones ("King Henry", con Yolen; "Sovay" con De Lint; "The Galtee Farmer", con Jeff Smith, donde Vess sorprende con un estilo cartoon muy alejado del resto del tebeo), que aquellas en las que el Vess lleva todo el peso. El dibujo carece del color, especialmente las acuarelas, que hace brillar su arte, pero con el entintado acierta a dar la atmósfera adecuada a cada balada.
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Feels like a longer read because of the repetitive feel. But still a great way to learn about an old form of literature.
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This book of comic-depictions of classic ballads and songs is spectacular! There is so much research and care and love that went into the creation of each ballad, each song, each folktale. It has lust, demons, harrowing adventures, and fairies- all things that make a ballad memorable.
My favorite stories in this collection were “Twa Corbies”, a rhyme about two crows; “Thomas the Rhymer”, an absolute classic; and Vess’ “Skade”, a comic saga about the goddess from Norse mythology whom I love. A fabulous collection all in all! -
Creative portrayals of traditional Scottish and Irish fairy tales.
I didn't love this. The art wasn't my style, and everything being black and white made it hard to look at.
The stories are very OG Grimm-style. Also, felt like there were too many stories. Some of the more interesting ones should have been longer.
I expected to like this because of Emma Bull, Neil Gaiman, and Jane Yolen, but I couldn't see their authorship. This was just not enjoyable. -
estas ilustraciones 🥵
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Charles Vess teams up with several authors to compile a series of comics adapting ballads and folklore in The Book of Ballads and Sagas, largely focusing on fantasy and mythology, almost exclusively within historical (or fantasy/pseudo historical) contexts.
With an ink style (that sometimes reminded me of something like wood block cut printing or engraving), Vess accompanies the scripts written by authors (including some by himself). The ballads and sagas seem to come primarily (entirely?) from Western cultures, leaving little room for diversity. One "exception" comes from Lee Smith's story, retelling a ballad of a prince to be married, who chooses a woman described only as "brown" (illustrations suggest South Asian/Middle Eastern) and is, to an extent, a sort of antagonist of the story (bummer, especially since Smith attended my alma mater). I was most excited for Emma Bull's story, which retells a folksong about fox hunting, especially as a huge fan of Bull's "War for the Oaks." This story, too, disappointed some, with an unbalanced plot and no inclusion of the faeries I've seen Bull excel so well with. Famed fantasy author Neil Gaiman also provides a comic, along with other popular names in the fantasy genre. Readers are treated to some of the expected references ("Tam Lin," naturally) as well as ones that, at least to me, were lesser- or not-at-all-known.
One of the last pieces, "Skade," simply went on for too long, including not just the adapted story, but also sketches for further chapters and several pages of prose. This particular story was not (at least for me) especially interesting, and thus felt like a particular drag on the latter half of the book.
Vess is skilled at drawing and is able to suggest a good deal with simple strokes of the pen, but ultimately the panes were too busy for my tastes, and I sometimes struggled to follow the action in a pane. The speech bubbles, too, were difficult to read, with a stylized font that, while it fit the theme of the book well, just made the book harder to get through.
This one just wasn't executed as well as I'd hoped, though I was introduced to some new folklore. -
I actually read this weeks ago, but working in healthcare during a pandemic has meant that all of the free time that others are desperately trying to fill during isolation has gone up in smoke for me and has also rid my brain of any remotely intelligible thoughts, but I’ll give it a whirl.
The Book of Ballads and Sagas is a collaboration between Charles Vess and numerous other writers, such as Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith, Sharyn McCrumb, Jane Yolen and others. Each writer takes on a telling of a folk tale or ballad – some tell them straight, others approach them from the perspectives of different characters within their tale, and others imagine what might have happened before, or after. Each of these is illustrated by Vess.
The black and white drawings were rather enticing to someone with a penchant for colouring in, but I managed to keep those tendencies reigned in throughout the reading – although I can’t say for certain whether they’ll still just be black and white by the time we’re finally allowed out into the world again.
I did find that I got more out of some tales than others, and preferred those that brought something new to the telling – Twa Corbies and The Great Selchie of Sule Skerrie were probably my favourites.
It is a rather slight read – I nailed it in under a couple of hours and I didn’t quite get out of it what I hoped – but would be a good diversion if you can’t take anything heavy right now or want something that you can dip in and out of while doing other things.
**Also posted at Cannonball Read 12** -
The Norns have declared that Ragnarok, the doom of the worlds, will begin with neither gods or kings.
It will begin in the soul of a young girl, Skade, whose name means snow and ice and death.
You may find it strange that I took my quote from the unfinished Skade, but it was the saga that resonated the most with me as I do like all things Norse mythology. It is a shame that this was never finished as there is a lot of potential there.
As for the book as a whole,
Charles Vess takes old ballards, mainly, and gets famous fantasy authors to write a fuller story around them to which he then adds his unique style. The stand out ones for me are:
The False Knight on the Road retold by
Neil Gaiman;
The Daemon Lover retold by
Delia Sherman; and
Sovay retold by
Charles de Lint
A very interesting read but it lacked something overall for me. Only 3* -
“The Book of Ballads and Sagas” gathers together master illustrator Charles Vess’s graphic novel series of the same name, in a very handsome hardbound edition. Each chapter takes on the story behind an ancient ballad (i.e., “Barbara Allen” or “Tam-Lin” or “The False Knight on the Road,” among a dozen or so others), and the graphic novel aspect is written by a series of important fantasy writers such as Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, Delia Sherman, Midori Snyder and Jane Yolen. At the end of each chapter, the original ballad is reprinted, presumably the oldest version that has (yet) been found although I’m not certain what criteria were used for that. In addition, an unfinished original saga by Mr. Vess is included, along with a discography (which mentions in particular many bands whose renditions were the first I ever heard of these songs, like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span). One can’t really be said to “finish” a book like this, because it’s meant to be savoured over and over again, for the beautiful artwork to the amazing storytelling, after which one simply must listen to the songs again too. Very highly recommended!
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Love the black and white illustrations that perfectly highlight each story. Some stories include the original ballads with dialog interspersed among the sketches. Others are just the original ballad/story, and they come off as brief and sparse, requiring the reader to read between the lines and fill in the gaps. It would do all readers well to read the introduction as this provides an overview and explanation. I don't see teens picking this book up to read unless they do so because of Neil Gaiman, but his name is not prominent on the cover. The graphic dialog is often taxing to read, and teens may find it difficult to interpret the stories. This is more for those who enjoy old folktales where evil lurks behind every corner and in every wood, and fairy folk and other creatures prey upon human folly.
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This was such a fun and interesting book to read. The illustrations are beautiful and imaginative, as are the dramatizations of each folk song. The discography in the back of the book was especially great, because it allowed me to search for each song and listen to it after reading each story. I spent a whole evening sitting and reading/listening to the tales. I do wish there were more than just the thirteen stories included in the book and it did seem to veer a little off topic at the end by including a few non-folk music related works by Charles Vess, which although beautiful and really interesting in their own right, felt like they were only there as fillers.
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Beautifully illustrated collection of "Ballads and Sagas." The mix of Graphic Novel and an actual version of the Ballad in lyric form is great. You get a sense of the ballad through the illustrations, but when reading the lyrics I often had wildly different images in my head. Very nice collection. The "Discography Notes" is highly fascinating. I'll definitely try to reference some of those listed. Short read.
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This was lovely. Vess's art works better for me in color (as with Perez, the detail of his linework can become cluttered unless the inking is perfect), but every page has something beautiful on it. The interpretations of the classic songs, with the lyrics following the story, land from "neat" to "woah" in their execution. Worth tracking down if you like the classic ballads or Vess's distinctive style.
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Charles Vess has an artistic style that blends do well with magic and myth and in this book he takes the stories of centuries of classic ballads and illustrates them. Charles works with tons of different writers in this volume and even includes the original texts of some of the adaptations.
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I enjoyed this collection of illustrated folktales EXCEPT for the bizarre and disjointed version of Skadi’s story at the end. Apart from that it was a very enjoyable read. I’m a longtime fan of Steeleye Span so I had a soundtrack rolling through my head as I read the book.
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Illustrated versions of some Child ballads -- tends toward the adult one. Some are given more background to make more sense, of which some work better than others.
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Vess’ artwork is gorgeous. The subject is highly niche and like most collaborative work it was at times not of my interest and at other times wonderfully engaging.
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The art is gorgeous, but I get the feeling some of the stories work better as songs.
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Captivating art
