Fairies, a necklace, and a little girl on a quest: The City On The Other Side Book Review

I’ve been really getting into graphic novels lately and The City On The Other Side did not disappoint.

The city on the other side is a middle-grade fantasy about a girl called Isabel who lives in San Francisco with a mother who isn’t interested in her and a father who is too busy with his sculptures. One day during a visit to her father she stumbles upon a fairy on a mission to deliver a magical necklace and is thrust into a war between fairies. With a new friend Benjie and mushroom faerie Button, Isabel must embark on this quest with the fate of the faerie world and the human world on the line.

First of all the graphics are really gorgeous. It really added to the book and made the world of the fairies feel much more real. The art is vibrant and colourful. The faeries come in different shapes and sizes which make the faerie world more intriguing.

The characters were well written as well. Isabel is a smart brave girl who is in love with her city and feels she’s unwanted because her mother neglects her. She initially goes on the quest partly because she feels no one would miss her in the human world. Benjie is an orphan who can move between the two worlds and lives on the street, he’s more concerned with doing anything to survive. They come from different sides of society but bond over their mutual feeling of being unwanted. They slowly become friends and stick together till the end.

“No one thinks I can do anything, No one cares as long as I don’t mess up my dress. But they’re wrong, not us. We’re not worthless or useless. Id’naress saw that Benjie. She saved you. Now she wants someone to save her! Don’t you at least want to try?”

the city on the other side

The plot is quite predictable and was resolved too neatly at the end but I really enjoyed reading it. This will be a great read for children who are thrilled by magic and adventure in books.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I really would love to read a sequel if there is one. I feel there is still much more to explore in the fairy world. I recommended it to those who want a fun read with great graphics, oh and it has fairies in it and who doesn’t want to read a book with fairies in it, right?

Author: Mairghread Scott

Illustrator: Robin Robinson

Published: April 24th, 2018

Synopsis:

When a wealthy and sheltered young girl stumbles into a pitched war between two fairy kingdoms, the fate of San Francisco itself hangs in the balance!

The first decade of the twentieth century is coming to a close, and San Francisco is still recovering from the great earthquake of 1906. Isabel watched the destruction safely from her window, sheltered within her high-society world.

Isabel isn’t the kind of girl who goes on adventures. But that all changes when she stumbles through the invisible barrier that separates the human world from the fairy world. She quickly finds herself caught up in an age-old war and fighting on the side of the Seelie — the good fairies.

Source: Goodreads

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Chat time! Got any graphic novel recommendations for me? I’m all ears. I need to read more. How’s your day going? Do you read middle-grade books?