Book Review: Vidia and the Fairy Crown by Laura Driscoll

As part of "Disney week" here is a review of one of the Disney Fairies books. If you have been following for a minute you may remember that I reviewed the manga of this book. You can read that review HERE. The book version was published long before the manga version, just to clarify on their publication order. I hope you enjoy this review! 

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Vidia and the Fairy Crown

By Laura Driscoll

Published by Random House in 2006

"Prilla looked Vidia in the eye. "I want to help you," she said, 

"because I remember what it's like to feel alone."

Central Theme:

This version of the "Vidia and the Fairy Crown" story focuses much on the same themes that were present in the manga version as well. This being that someone has to be responsible for the words that they say. In this case, don't say you are going to do something unless you are ready to be held accountable for saying that you were going to do it. In this Vidia said to two fairies (Tinker Bell and Raini) that she was going to steal the Faerie Queen Crown during an important party. When the crown comes up missing the first suspect? Vidia, of course. The other central theme is that you have to be willing sometimes to prove when you are actually right and you should defend yourself when appropriate. 

My Feelings:

This version of the story was very similar to the manga version. The main difference between the manga and the book was that due to the way that a visual representation of the story had to be presented there were moments were characters had to explain things a bit more in the manga. In the book version things seem to flow better. Between the two I would highly recommend the book version of the story over the manga. This being said though, both are very good for enjoyable reading. 

The story seemed to be quicker in the book version. I think this is because I knew were it was going due to having read the manga. Also I felt less distracted from the overall plot, even though there are illustrations within the book version. These illustrations seemed focused on providing just some visualization that children would need. The illustrations are very beautiful here, as well. I actually preferred them over the artwork in the manga. They were stunningly beautiful. The below picture is just one example of the artwork contained within. 

I really loved the message of this book. Stick up for yourself when you are right, even if it comes across as having a bad attitude. When you know that you are right and that you didn't do something you are being blamed for, let people know. Figure out how you can change mindsets. It may mean going on a wild goose chase to figure out what happened, but at the end people will know if you put in effort that you must be telling the truth. Your character will be better for it. Vidia doesn't become this instantly likable character through this, since she is really the meanest of the Disney faeries, but she has a charm to her throughout this. I also feel that Prilla really helps to make her more likable in this. Prilla is someone that helps her greatly within the context of the story. Prilla's story is explained here and lets you know exactly why she would help someone that has done truly heinous things to Pixie Hollow (the faerie's home). One of these evils that she has done to Pixie Hollow is mentioned here, so you get a glimpse of some of the other tales that have came before this particular book as well.

Who I Would and Wouldn't Recommend This Book To:

I wouldn't recommend this book to someone that isn't into the magical world of fairies. The entire book is focused around them, so why put yourself through that? Also if you are wanting to just focus on Tinker Bell you won't find that here. She is a side character and mentioned, but she is in it barely for like 2 pages for the most part. The main character of this book is in the title, which is true for any of the Disney Fairies books (see about that below). For someone looking for a serious story or high class literature do you really think this is that? If so you are mistaken. This is a children's book.

I would recommend this to people that don't mind that this a children's book and that it will be a quick read for those of us that may be older than the target audience. There is still enjoyment to be found within the pages of this book. Not every book has to be a "To Kill A Mockingbird" type of read. We, as readers, are allowed to read fun, short reads when we want. For those of you that realize this, you will enjoy this. Also if you love Disney Fairies this book is going to make you happy because as said earlier that is all there is here; Beautiful fairies are the main characters. 

Other Things to Consider:

Remember that there is a manga version of this book available as well by Tokyopop. This was already reviewed on the site previously (The link was mentioned above for the review). If you are a visual person this was published on July 25, 2017 and may be a better overall fit for you. Both, however, are enjoyable if you want to read them both. 

Disney Fairies is also a book series that has had numerous titles within it. These are covers for just a few of them. There are many others, if you are interested in reading about other faeries from Pixie Hollow. 

You Can Purchase

"Vidia and the Fairy Crown" 

on:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Half Price Books

Book Depository- Not Currently Available

Comic Book Wednesday - Disney Faeries: Vidia and the Fairy Crown

On every Wednesday of the month the Library focuses on comic books, graphic novels or manga books. These books can be enjoyed and are just as important as much longer reads. While often considered to be childish or something "bad" if you want to be a true reader, We are the Library feel that any reading is good! Cassie grew up with comic books in her house. She remembers reading "West Coast Avengers" and various issues of "Wonder Woman" growing up. This feature is grown out of that respect and admiration for this field in the reading community. On to today's review...

Disney Faeries: Vidia and the Fairy Crown (Manga)

I received this book for free from NetGalley to review. All the opinions shared are my own and are my honest feelings regarding this book. If you know me I am not one to mix my words simply because something was free. This is my feelings on the book, both the good and the bad. So lets begin!!!

A Tokyopop book 

By Haruhi Kato 

Diamond Book Distributors 

To Be Published on July 25, 2017 

ISBN 9781427856982 

SRP: $10.99 (USD)

Central Theme:

The most central theme of this manga is understand that an individual is accountable for the words that they say, so watch your words that are chosen. They may come back later to bite you in the rear. It also seems to be about fighting for yourself when you know that you are in the right. These themes are very important, in my opinion, for children to learn. 

My Feelings:

I received this book for free again from NetGalley. I love that I can get some graphic novels this way to review, but soon I will have to revert to my own collection that I have on my shelves. I have numerous and think it might be time to give some of them some love as well. 

This being said, this is my second Disney manga book that I have read. The first being "Disney Magical Dance" that I reviewed a few weeks ago. I enjoyed that Disney manga book immensely, so I thought when this was put up for "request now" on the NetGalley site I would give it a go. When I usually get a book from the same series or the same company based on nothing else but that I am often left feeling sad at the end because I am disappointed. This was not the case here. This did have bad points (i.e. artwork that I will discuss), but overall the story was one that I enjoyed. I felt transported to Pixie Hollow yet again (yeah I read a few of the main Disney Faeries books back in the day when I was younger and more beautiful hehe). 

The story revolves around Vidia (the black haired fairy on the cover) and having told Tinker Bell and Raini that she would snatch the queen's crown at a party if she had the opportunity. Well, when the crown goes missing all fingers are pointed towards Vidia having done the deed. She knows that she did not take it and the only other fairy on her side is Prilla. The two of them join forces and investigate what really really happened to the queen's crown. This is such a simplistic story and all the hilarity that ensues after they start their investigation is worth the price of reading this manga. Mistakes were made by so many people in this story that normally would have felt like "oh they were just looking for anything to write a story" but here it actually feels like it is just coincidental happenstance that occurs in these faeries lives from time to time. I think this was largely because I have read and watch some of the other Disney Faeries merchandise though. Having that lens could have potentially made me more willing to swallow the different things that had to occur to get the crown where it ends up being. 

One elements that I personally enjoyed about this is that you are not following the most instantly likeable of the faeries. You discover that she had done at least one heinous act for her own profit, so you instantly recognize you are not reading a book that the main character is someone you are necessarily rooting for. There is a moment where you are like "hmm maybe she is getting what she deserve", but I banished that thought immediately when Prilla entered the picture. She breathed humanity into Vidia very quickly by discussing how a person/faerie can feel alone in the world. Vidia may not be likable, but she is still a faerie in this world of other faeries. She still shouldn't be judged harshly and unfairly. To have this type of emotional reaction and connection made me recognize that I was very much enjoying this particular fast read. If I feel any connection to a character I know that I need to say I enjoyed the darn book or I am lying through my teeth. 

While I enjoyed the story of this book, I have to say that the artwork in spots made me roll my eyes. It clings a little too tightly to some of the stereotypical looks of the manga genre. You can tell a little of this by the picture that is posted above. The faces seem a little too "plastic" for my particular taste. The artwork seems a bit "rushed" or "forced" to get a Disney product out. Some thought into the artwork would be appreciated in subsequent volumes, in particular to the faces of the characters. I know that many mangas rely on very concise streamlined lines, but here it seems rather bland and detracts in some moments from the overall story. It isn't enough not to enjoy the overall manga though. 

When you reach the end of this story you will feel for Vidia. There is a defining character moment near the end that we do not fully see, but when you see how it is handled you will not feel like you lost out by not seeing it. There are moments that are so deep and profound in a media source that you know you didn't need to see the actual moment to fully understand the gravity that it entailed. There is a moment, in my opinion, at the end that is this for Vidia. I felt like I was getting a true character instead of a one dimensional cardboard cutout.  

Who I Would Recommend To & Who I Would Not Recommend To:

If you are looking for Tinker Bell to be a main player because the title is "Disney Faeries" you will be a bit disappointed in this. She appears a handful of times, but truly (like the title suggests) this is a story about Vidia. Thus I wouldn't recommend this to you if you are only picking it up because you love Tink. You may be a bit disappointed with the results. If you are a purist on artwork you may feel a bit taken aback with this book, so move forward and pick something else up from the shelf. 

I would recommend this to someone that appreciates the world of Tinker Bell and grasps that there was a world created by Disney that involved some of her friends in Pixie Hollow. If you bought some of the other licensed merchandise you will not be disappointed with this particular manga. You may have even read the book that this is built upon, if you have looked at other merchandise. If you enjoy a mindless and simplistic read this will be right up your alley. Understand that there is nothing wrong with these elements either. We all need some time to relax in life and this is enjoyable, so if you are a reader looking to not have to think much, this will not disappoint. You can just follow along with the story and smile at the end of it. 

Other Things To Consider:

This appears to be only the first book in a new proposed "Disney Faeries Manga Series", so before getting this book you should be aware that if you are a "have to buy the series" type and want to avoid buying another series you best be backing up slowly from this one. The back of the ebook showed at least three proposed books in the series. I personally want to read them all!

To Be Published on July 25, 2017

You may Pre-Order it here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Half Price Books

Book Depository- Currently Unavailable For Purchase Here

Netgalley Read: Disney Manga - Magical Dance Volume 1 or dancing fun with Disney characters popping up randomly...

I received this book for free from NetGalley to review. All the opinions shared are my own and are my honest feelings regarding this book. If you know me I am not one to mix my words simply because something was free. This is my feelings on the book, both the good and the bad. So lets begin!!!

Disney's Magical Dance Volume 1

(Manga)

A Tokyopop book

Written by Nao Kodaka

Diamond Book Distributors

Published on June 6, 2017

My Feelings on the Manga:

I was looking in the "Read Now" section of comics and graphic novels on NetGalley, since I just joined the site. I was not intending to get anything at this particular point because I wanted to focus on "serious material", but I still wanted to look as I am trying to become more familiar with aspects of the book blogging community as I move towards becoming an actual member of that community instead of not really being involved in any community, but still blogging about my love of different things and books mostly. A book about book blogging I just finished NetGalley, so that is how I found that site. Back to the main point, I was perusing that section and came across the above cover. The aspect that most immediately caught my eye was the use of colors that I enjoy (light pink, softer blue tint, and incorporating a bit of a sparkle to it). The aspect that most immediately caught my eye though was not the main female character, but was Stitch! Lilo and Stitch is perhaps one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. This with the sparkles made me go, "I must read this right now." Read it right now I did! I read 3/4th of this book in one sitting and the only reason I stopped is because it was time to go to bed. 

The book is a pretty quick read. The reason is that the manga is not text heavy. Simplicity is great in a book that is focused around Disney, a primarily kids company. It also allows for the artwork to speak for itself on what is going on in the main stories. There are several "chapters", my word not theirs. Each chapter focuses on a story that is presented as a Card. For example, Chapter 1 is called Card 1: Mickey Mouse. The card is the Disney character that for sure will show up in that particular section of the manga. (Sorry for the spoiler on the first character that shows up, but come on it is Disney he was bound to show up at some point in it) Each story involves the main character trying to learn a dance move of some sort or becoming more comfortable with herself. The person that helps her to learn these moves? You guessed it, THE DISNEY CHARACTER!!! Need help getting through a tournament for dancing? HERE COMES A DISNEY CHARACTER. Need help to learn ball dancing? HERE COMES A DISNEY CHARACTER Need help learning to do the whirlpool? HERE COMES A DISNEY CHARACTER Well... You get the general idea. These stories that are contained within are pretty simplistic in nature, look at those Need to help statements above and yes those are some of the basic stories told within this volume. This fits because the main intended audience is children. It does not try to be more than it should be for the intended population. 

Did I get annoyed with the Disney characters randomly popping up all over the place to help with every single problem the protagonist had in her life? Not really. The reason is that I went in understanding that this was a children's book and that it was a Disney book on top of that. Somewhere along the way the Disney had to come into the picture. These random pop-up characters actually made me feel more compelled to read on because I had to wonder when, how, and who would show up into the story. Also just so you know sometimes just because it mentions someone in the card section doesn't mean they are the only character that shows up, specifically looking near the end of the book at this (wink wink). 

Now, This is a manga and one of the things I will always do when discussing a manga/comic book that I read is a quick discussion of the artwork. The most important thing in this manga is that often characters can look so similar because of the lack of color (yes this is not colorized it is manga people!) that you cannot tell one from the other, but there is a point here to make sure that each character looks distinct and that major players have no similarities between them. The main antagonist has black hair, the main protagonist has blonde (clear hair in this), and the main male character has the blonde hair, but it is shorter than the main protagonist. This helps greatly for us to be able to keep track of who is who, which I think is vital to a series that may run for awhile (i.e. most mangas). The only complaint that I have about the artwork was the overuse of filters at times, which I think can be corrected in later volumes of the series. To have five different filters on the same page distracts the eye from the main point of the series which is about this character and her journey to be a better dancer. Sometimes putting flowers on a panel is not needed when you have four other panels with speed lines, dots, and other filters over them. The thing I have to say though is that this was my only complaint about the entire book. My one complaint was tone down some lines or flower insertions? Jeeze, that is pretty good to me. Usually I can find something else to complain about in a manga or comic book these days. I believe I didn't find more to complain about in this particular manga because it really is truly a book for children. I analyzed it based on what I thought a kid would enjoy. A kid would definitely enjoy this book, so the artwork is pretty on-point. The stories are pretty straightforward to the point a kid can enjoy and understand them. Every aspect is geared towards a population that I am not part of, but can understand. This made me enjoy the book greatly. Removing myself from my adult experiences made me say this is a darn good children's manga and if I had kids I would pick this up for them. Will I personally read the next volume? I probably will because it was enjoyable even for me, as an adult. I got to see characters that I love and I got a fast read that didn't take a lot of my personal time. I can return easily to this series without feeling like it is taking anything away from the more serious reading I want to do. It can be added into my TBR pile without feeling like I am shoving something to the side. Will I go out of my way to add it to my TBR? Not so sure on that one, but I definitely will read the next volume at my own leisure, which is why I like this book. Leisure is fundamental to it.

Central Theme:

The main theme of this book is that you can do anything if you believe in yourself. This is a great message for little kids to have. Sometimes even us adults need to be reminded of this. We forget that sometimes we have to put in a little effort to get what we want out of life, but if we work hard more often than not doors will eventually become opened to us. I loved this particular theme of this book because the protagonist wants to give up more than once on her different goals, usually around dancing. She then has to remember that this is her dream, this is her goal, and this is what she wants to do. This sense of empowerment that comes from this shows children that they can do wonderful things as well that they may not believe possible. While I often will and can deal with heavier subject matter here at the Library I feel that sometimes a simple message is also important and believing in yourself is definitely a message that we all need reminded of from time to time. We can do wonderful things, every single one of us. 

Who I Would and Wouldn't Recommend This Book To:

I wouldn't recommend this book to individuals that are not into a simplistic story. There is no material here the requires the reader to think too much. It is just a simple read, full of stories that allow you to enjoy what is being read. Some of us, usually myself included, want something though that gets us thinking and that has to sit with us to get us processing aspects of our world, but this is not that. If you want that, do not pick this up. Most people though probably understand that since it is a Disney manga. You cannot be expecting a heavy hitting manga from this title can you? That being said people who are not huge Disney fans (they exist somewhere in the world) will not enjoy this book. The constant barrage of characters will just frustrate you and make you feel that it is distracting from the simplified plots that the main character is having to deal with. 

I would recommend this to children because of the message of believing in yourself and your dreams that is constantly being presented throughout. It can really help you see that you have to push to achieve things in your life, so children definitely would enjoy it. I would also suggest it to anyone that loves Disney characters and not knowing who you will see along the way (I think of those that used to love Disney Infinity here). That fun of seeing a random character you love pop up in a volume like this is awesome, so Disney fans will rejoice at this. If you are an individual that is just wanting something that is light-hearted, simplistic in nature than this is definitely a read to add to your shelves. It is quick and effortless to read, so if you are a college student during your exams, but still want to read something this would be a good choice. If you enjoy manga you may either enjoy or not enjoy this. It depends on if you read manga just to enjoy manga or if you analyze manga. If you analyze manga and its content than steer clear of this, but if you just enjoy manga to be a part of reading manga pick this up. You will probably enjoy it enough to see the little tropes contained within many manga series and you may even laugh at how the Disney characters are incorporated into those tropes. If you like primarily positive reads this will also be fore you. It sparkles all over the place!

Other Things to Consider:

The cover art to the second volume has already been revealed meaning that it will probably be out by the end of this year possibly, so if you end up enjoying this first volume then more Magical Dance fun is right around the corner!! 

They always have ads at the end of the books and normally I do not discuss them, but I saw this cover:

Anyone that knows me knows that this cover appeals to all the bases inside of me: Cute little sidekick character? CHECK, Pretty Sparkes? CHECK, Disney Princess? CHECK CHECK and is that girl wearing a crown on her head? CHECK, this may be the best book ever. I must read it!! So in other words expect for Kilala Princess to eventually be reviewed on this blog, once I purchase it.

Where to Purchase:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository

Note: Not currently available at Half Price Books, if and when it does that link will be added!