4 out of 5

For no particular reason, I do not do half star ratings, otherwise this might be a 3.5.  But due to the overall smile factor Farlaine produces, we’ll round up.

Let’s acknowledge something I liked about this book: it sits in the middle of an intended seven books, and functions as a sort of one-shot between longer three-part stories.  This unfairly biases me, because I dig how the number seven breaks up in exactly this way – three odds; two comfortable trios and one odd man out.  Enhancing this, Farlaine and Tink’s stopover in the Twistlands – when Ehrenwort gets caught up in a twister – is rife with circles, going ’round and ’round, as well as a moment in which we’re told stories within stories, all sort of underlining that we’re right in the middle of things.  Whether this layering was purposeful or instinctual or a happy accident, it was enjoyable symmetry.  That being said, the story does feel like a halt.  There’s an errant mention that there’re no forests in the Twistlands, so it wouldn’t have been a place for Far to stop, thus the Ehrenwort-chase is truly just a plot device to introduce some new characters and concepts.  That it all exists within the bubbly world of Farlaine makes this enjoyable – and it’s amazing how quickly j tosses off inventive concepts with just enough development to make them feel grounded (relative to our story, of course) – but book 4 just lacks a bit of the forward momentum of books 1 through 3.

The art maintains the pleasingly simple / scraggly line-style with clean layouts and a good balance of basic panels vs. detailed ones, and j handles the roundabout tribulations of traveling with twisters well, flipping our characters up and down and left and right, although some panel placements don’t pay off, leading to my perceiving the layouts out of order here and there.  But: this is the creator-owned built-from-scratch polished-but-rough look that won me over previously, still wholly in place.

Farlaine is a great discovery.  It’s absolutely kid-friendly, but doesn’t feel written down to an age level, exactly.  Book 4 has some great ideas and gives us some fun Tink background (and a curiosity to ponder which I hope come back in the final books); it’s a slight halt in the pacing, but sets us on our way again for what I’m confident will be a thoroughly enjoyable 3-book conclusion.