Soft like beeswax. [Honeycomb by Joanne M. Harris]

A lushly illustrated set of dark, captivating fairy tales from the bestselling author of The Gospel of Loki with illustrator Charles Vess (Stardust).

The beauty of stories; you never know where they will take you. Full of dreams and nightmares, Honeycomb is an entrancing mosaic novel of original fairy tales from bestselling author Joanne M. Harris and legendary artist Charles Vess in a collaboration that’s been years in the making. The toymaker who wants to create the perfect wife; the princess whose heart is won by words, not actions; the tiny dog whose confidence far outweighs his size; and the sinister Lacewing King who rules over the Silken Folk. These are just a few of the weird and wonderful creatures who populate Joanne Harris’s first collection of fairy tales.

Dark, gripping, and brilliantly imaginative, these magical tales will soon have you in their thrall in a uniquely illustrative edition.

The tales are beautifully illustrated by renowned illustrator Charles Vess (Stardust, Sandman, The Books of Earthsea).

Joanne M. Harris' Honeycomb is a fantastically pleasant and lyrical tale of kings and queens, dreams and death, and what is found in between. Over 100 chapters, Harris beautifully weaves together tales of faeries, mermaids, animals, machinery and humanity. Stories of the sinister Lacewing King, his family, his enemies, and the unknown or indirect forces that drive his destiny. Myself, I'm not the biggest fan of stories focusing on the worlds of the fae. This is that exception. I can't make the argument that anything I disliked was strong enough to take away from my rating, so this is getting 5 stars. Let's start there.

Did I like the characters as individuals? No, not really. They were entitled and hypocritical. In other words, fae. In obvious compliment, those non-magical individuals, at least those at some point possessing humanoid aspect, were generally portrayed as overly enthusiastic in their encounters with the former. The watchmaker, the engine driver, the Barefoot Princess' grandmother - always doing the most. But again, fae. Despite these innate negatives, I really enjoyed how everything fit together. How the seemingly random encounters of side characters came full circle. 

What was the story here? For me it mostly read as female queens getting shafted by horrible trickster male kings and never seeing their fully deserved justice. For me the Harlequin deserved better, as did the Spider Queen. But it was not their story. Honeycomb was the story of the Lacewing King and his journey. A beautiful told tale that captivated as one read. Again, 5 stars.

Honeycomb (ISBN: 9781534433052) was published May 2021.