Alexander Utkin, The King of Birds (Gamayun Tales), Walker Books Australia, 1 May 2018, 72pp., $27.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781910620380
The King of Birds starts with a mouse finding a golden apple, and escalates into war between the animals and the birds before the story threads its way through the more familiar folktale elements of a merchant who finds and saves the great King of Birds and is rewarded for his aid.
This book is a lavish graphic novel based on Russian folktales, and I found the rich artwork reminded me strongly of some of the illustrators and graphic artists I grew up with in the 70s. The art style is strong and dramatic with a very primary colour palette, but I felt that the story narrative was a little disjointed and difficult to follow in some places at the beginning.
While I got the impression that the narrative was supposed to suggest the sense that the reader is listening to a storyteller around the fireside, the story jumped from one element to another rather abruptly. The graphic novel starts with several pages given to the theft of the golden apples that the mouse eventually finds, but these characters don’t enter into the story again, and it felt as though valuable story real estate had been given to something that had little to do with the true story. Other story threads drop out abruptly, but are picked up again later in the book. The strongest thread in The King of Birds lies in the story of the great Eagle being found by the merchant, and how the Eagle eventually rewards the merchant for his help. There is a satisfying conclusion, but plenty of room for the next story in the Gamayun Tales.
The style of this book should appeal to readers aged 8 to 11 who have an interest in folktales, or who enjoy comics and would appreciate something to stretch their interests a little further into other narrative sources.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
